Dallas ISD is seemingly dragging its feet in responding to an open records request about its partnership with a group that facilitates transgender hormone usage and provides referrals for sex alteration surgeries.
The school district is partnered with the Resource Center, which runs the Nelson-Tebedo Sexual Health Clinic on Cedar Springs Road. The clinic offers “gender-affirming services.” The Resource Center also directs the Out for Safe Schools program at Dallas ISD, which purportedly helps teachers better work with LGBTQ students, The Dallas Express previously reported.
An open records request into this partnership was filed after a story was published in October but has since been delayed. The Dallas Express requested “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 the transgender youth clinic in Dallas that was dissolved in 2022.
Dallas ISD public information officers told The Dallas Express the open records request was “too broad” and that it must be narrowed to individual employees or departments. They did not respond to questions asking how the request was overly broad.
The request was then narrowed on November 28 to the following district departments: 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.
The Dallas Express has yet to be sent any updates since the specification.
Dallas ISD attempted to charge The Dallas Express roughly $9,000 for an open records request concerning gender identity terms earlier this year. The request was subsequently modified, and the charge was lowered to $668. This fee was later waived after the emails provided to The Dallas Express by Dallas ISD turned out to be largely spam.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, many parents with students in the district have expressed that they think Dallas ISD should be more transparent.
