A school district in the transgender “sanctuary state” of California settled for $100,000 with a mother who said her daughter was “socially transitioned” to a boy without her knowledge or consent.
Jessica Konen said the school in the Spreckels Union School District in Monterey County told her 11-year-old daughter Alicia that she could be experiencing negative emotions because she did not know who she “truly was inside,” Fox News reported on Wednesday. Subsequently, the school allegedly allowed Alicia to use the boy’s bathroom and identified her using male pronouns.
When Konen found out that the school was allegedly treating her daughter like a boy without parental knowledge or consent, she sued the district. Alicia has “since decided to re-identify as a girl, and the California single mother vowed to keep fighting for parental rights after the settlement in which she was represented by the Center for American Liberty,” according to the report.
“They need to understand their place, and they need to stay in their place. And schools nowadays, they’re awful. So, I’m going to fight this fight and keep fighting this fight,” Konen told Fox News Digital. “I am not going to allow this to keep happening to children. I feel that the fight, it has to continue.”
The outlet noted that while the settlement does not equate to the school district admitting fault, it is still a “significant moment” amid a “nationwide debate over parental rights related to schooling decisions that affect children.”
Mark Trammell, executive director of the Center for American Liberty, said that the case, at its core, is about “upholding the sacred bond between parents and their children.”
“Parents have an inherent right to be involved in pivotal decisions concerning their children’s lives,” Trammell said.
Konen said she avoided using her daughter’s preferred pronouns in favor of terms like “sweetie” and “kiddo,” and there had been some strain in their relationship. After Alicia embraced being a girl again, Konen said their relationship has been much better, and the two are working together to eliminate “the parental secrecy” in schools.
“I think it took a lot of guts for both of us to be able to open up publicly and explain what is happening,” she said. “Parents, be vigilant, you know, pay attention. Those gut feelings you have, they’re real. I feel like this just opened doors.”
Konen added that she hopes other parents will learn from her and her daughters’ experience.
“We definitely are going to be at peace and be able to try to move on from this. But parents, pay attention, ask the questions that are offered. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations because you don’t know what someone’s going through. You don’t know what they’re teaching in schools anymore,” Konen said. “Just be active in your kid’s lives and don’t be scared to speak up.”
The Spreckels Union School District did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
