Dallas Independent School District continues to delay an open records request about its partnership with an organization that provides “health and wellness” services specifically for members of the LGBTQ community.
The school district provides a training program for teachers through a partnership with the Resource Center, the host of the Nelson-Tebedo Sexual Health Clinic on Cedar Springs Road. The clinic enables transgender hormone usage and provides referrals for sex alteration surgeries.
Dallas ISD’s program, Out for Safe Schools, teaches educators how to “‘come out’ as visible allies for LGBTQIA+ students and staff,” according to the organization’s website. The training includes intervention strategies for cases of harassment and name-calling, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
The Dallas Express filed an open records request in October prior to the publication of the article about the program. The request was for “all documentation from August 1, 2022, to October 30, 2023, that includes the following terms: ‘Out for Safe Schools,’ ‘Resource Center,’ ‘Genecis,’ and ‘Nelson-Tebedo Sexual Health Clinic.'”
Genecis was a transgender youth clinic in Dallas that dissolved in 2022.
A Dallas ISD public information officer told The Dallas Express Tuesday that the request is still being processed. The officer, JoAnna Talley, said the aim is for the request to be completed by the last day of business before the Christmas weekend.
“Your request is still being processed. The District will make a good faith effort to provide records responsive to your request on or before December 22, 2023,” Talley said.
The public information officers initially said the request was “too broad” and needed to be narrowed to individual employees or departments. They did not answer questions asking for a justification for the requirements.
The request was edited on November 28 to apply to the following departments within Dallas ISD: Communication Services, Coordinated School Health Program, Counseling Services, Family and Community Engagement, LGBTQ Youth, Mental Health Services, Parent Advocacy and Support Services, Partnership and Volunteer Services, Professional Learning and Development, School Health Advisory Council, School Leadership, Special Services Behavioral Health Clinician, and Student Engagement & Support.
Dallas ISD charged The Dallas Express roughly $9,000 for an open records request on gender identity terms earlier this year. This request was then modified, and the charge was lowered to $668. The charge was later waived after public information officers determined the emails identified through the request were largely spam.