How to find out what’s going on in your local schools:
- If you have inside allies, i.e. sympathetic teachers or staff in your local schools, ask them what they can share with you. Try to find out if there are local feminist groups that have already begun compiling information.
- Google search to obtain what policies your school, your school district, and your state have adopted regarding students and teachers who identify as “transgender” or “non-binary.” You should be able to easily find policies addressing pronouns, affirmation, locker rooms, sports, keeping information from parents, and more.
- File a FOIA request. See the chart in Appendix 2 of our methodology document to find your state’s Public Disclosure law. You’ll want to cite that state law in your FOIA request. Also review or copy the sample FOIA request in Appendix 1.
Make a strategic decision regarding how widely or narrowly to cast your net. If you cast too wide, your district may dump tons of irrelevant information on you. If you make it too narrow, the district may leave out information you want. In the sample FOIA request, we have included a list of terms and books to help make sure those providing the information don’t leave out important items.
Make sure to check your spam folders periodically when you are waiting for a reply from your school district.
- As you wait for a response to your FOIA request, engage in other research:
- If there’s an online Sex-Ed curriculum that you can access, read through that. Pay special attention to the units on SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity), Reproductive Anatomy, Puberty, and Sexual Reproduction.
- See if any other curricula are searchable online. And do a general search at the district and state websites for terms like “Gender Identity” or “Reading Lists for Gender Identity.”
- Search online for news articles pertaining to your school, school district, and state related to gender identity ideology.
Your FOIA request will itself become part of the public record. Others may be able to obtain it through their own FOIA requests. Thus, if you are hesitant to have your name known to others, or your address and other contact information made public, consider carefully who is safe submitting the request.
Schools are legally required to share curricula and school policies under FOIA laws. However, schools may not deliver everything they should, or in a timely manner. This is especially true in times of stress, when school staff are busy with other tasks. Also, “gender identity” indoctrination in a lot of schools is so pervasive that staff will have a hard time providing you with all the information they should.
Moving Forward: Adding to the Archive, Joining the Fight.
As you find out about your school’s “gender identity” curricula, let us know so we can consider adding them to the archive. Teachers and other school staff, we are especially eager to hear from you.
Whoever you are, if you want to be part of the fight to get gender identity ideology out of the schools, volunteer with WDI USA and join the Team!
