As Dover considers pronoun policy, ties emerge between ILC and firm suing district

The Dover Area School Board heard public comment Tuesday, May 21 on a proposed policy developed by a Harrisburg-based religious law firm that would also address a lawsuit brought by another religious law firm earlier this month.

The school district contracted in February with the Independence Law Center on a pro bono basis to review policies on “student records, athletics and privacy,” two months before a parent filed a lawsuit against the district over its “ad hoc” policy on student names and pronouns.

The attorneys representing the parent in that case are from the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, a Georgia-based law firm that has played a prominent role in the parental rights movement nationally and seems at the very least politically aligned with the firm now guiding Dover’s policy.

Recent lawsuit between Dover and ILC

The lawsuit filed in federal court on April 3, 2024, alleges the district violated the parent’s parental rights and religious beliefs, including that “the natural created order regarding human sexual identity cannot be changed,” when the district used a different name and gendered pronouns at one of her children’s requests without parental consent.

The student, referred to as O.G. in the lawsuit, asked Dover faculty to refer to them as “Caleb” starting sometime in the 2021-2022 school year.

In August 2022, the mother first learned the child was being affirmed as a boy at school by district staff after her son, then a student at Dover Area School District, was asked by a staff member, “How is your brother doing?"

The mother, represented by attorney Andrea Shaw, in addition to Ernest Trakas, Mary Elizabeth McAlister and Vernadette Ramirez Broyles on behalf of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign in Johns Creek, Georgia, sent a text message to the middle school principal, saying her child was to be addressed as a female. "There is NO room for discussion about this matter," the complaint read.

Dover sued over 'ad hoc' pronoun policy: Dover Middle School parent sues district for using male pronouns to refer to her child

Nearly two weeks later, the mother met with Hufnagel and other district personnel, where it was confirmed that during the 2021-2022 school year district staff had in fact affirmed the student as a boy and used a different name and male pronouns.

Currently, the district doesn’t have an official policy regarding transgender students and social transitioning; however, mental health organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American School Counselors Association recommend only informing parents of a child’s gender identity, sexual orientation and similar details if the child gives consent.

The lawsuit is seeking an injunction preventing the school district from following what CRPC described as an internal directive and requiring parental consent and notification if a child appeared to be questioning their gender identity.

Coincidentally, a policy on student records drafted by ILC was listed under “discussion items” at the school board’s planning meeting last week. While there was no discussion among the board members in attendance — board member Terry Emig was absent — board President David Conley said the agenda items at that work session appear in this week’s meeting agenda.

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The draft records policy is almost identical to one the ILC drafted in Beaver County’s South Side Area School District in February requiring parental consent before staff could use a student’s desired name or pronouns.

When the policy comes for a vote, Dover officials will not just be voting on a new policy, but a new policy that could quash a lawsuit before it goes much further.

Harrisburg attorney Joy Ramsingh, who specializes in government transparency issues, says the timing of the case, the policy vote and the fact the two law firms share more than a few political views should raise concerns for residents.

“It’s important for the District’s board to understand that ILC, who seems to be aligned with CPRC, is now in a position to solve the ‘problem’ that CPRC’s lawsuit has created for the District,” Ramsingh said. “It’s important for taxpayers to understand that outside forces may be influencing the policies of the Board.”

Ties between ILC and CRPC

There’s no evidence to suggest the ILC and CPRC are working together to pass any particular policy through the Dover school district, but the two firms aren’t entirely disconnected either.

As with other districts where ILC has worked, the policies suggested by the firm tend to be updated copies of policies they’ve used in other districts. Dover is also poised to vote on an athletics policy adding sex-based distinctions to sports teams similar to one proposed in South Side.

Similar versions of that athletics policy have been adopted or considered by several school districts in Pennsylvania, including in Penncrest School District, Crawford County; the Pennridge School and Central Bucks school districts in Bucks County; and Hempfield School District, Lancaster County.

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Since the group was founded in 2019, CPRC has filed several similar lawsuits to the one against Dover, where parents argue their religious beliefs and constitutional rights have been violated when they were not notified that their children expressed confusion over their gender identities.

The firm was founded to respond to a “radical new ideology” that was endangering children and threatening parents' rights to direct the upbringing of their children, according to the group’s website.

“Children are being led to believe a powerful untruth about their bodies – that they could be ‘born in the wrong body,’” the website adds.

One of CRPC’s most notable cases is when it represented parents of children enrolled in the Leon County School District in Florida in 2021.

The Leon County lawsuit helped state lawmakers crafting the “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” a bill that would more commonly be referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” that prohibits Florida teachers from discussing gender and sexuality in public schools.

Politico reported in 2022 that, while lawmakers denied suggestions that outside groups worked on the bill, CPRC founder Vernadette Broyles said her group helped “tighten the language” of the bill.

CPRC also sued the Ludlow Public School District in Massachusetts in 2022 in a similar suit to the the ones in Leon County and in Dover.

One noteworthy addition to that case, however, was that the initial complaint filed included the CRPC and the Massachusetts Family Institute.

The Massachusetts Family Institute has described itself as a "sister organization" to the Pennsylvnia Family Institute, the parent organization of the ILC.

Both the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania institutes appear to be part of the Family Research Council, a national “biblical world view” advocacy group that’s also designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Family Research Council lists on its website the names of 36 “state Family Policy Councils,” or FPCs, that share common beliefs and “accomplish at the state level what Family Research Council does at the national level - shape public debate and formulate public policy.”

Broyles was a guest on the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch program in February discussing the “erosion of parental rights” in several cases and one she was “about to file.”

While PA Family has maintained previously it has no affiliation with the national Family Research Council, the group in a 2011 post on www.patownhall.com, identified itself as a "sister organization" of the national organization.

Broyles and PA Family Institute member Judge Cheryl Allen also spoke on separate nights during of an event hosted by the Christian Families Against Destructive Decisions national conference in 2023.

One final connection between the CRPC and the ILC: Broyles is Facebook friends with Jeremey Samek, ILC senior counsel and often the author of the policies that ILC provides to school districts.

A possible remedy

While all of these connections might not rise to an outright conflict of interest, Ramsingh said the apparent ties between the two are at the very least “worth reporting on” and some pointed questions from concerned citizens.

“In Pennsylvania, citizens have a platform of public comment at board meetings, where they can ask their elected officials for clarity on how these firms are influencing policy, whether a new policy is truly in the best interest of the local community,” Ramsingh said. “I would advise any citizen who is concerned about outside influence or conflicts of interest to take their concerns directly to their local board, which they have the right to do.”

The board’s next meeting is May 21, at 7 p.m. in the Board Meeting Room on the first floor of the Dover Area School District Administrative Office Building, located at 101 Edgeway Road.

Chris Ullery is the Philadelphia Hub Data Reporter for the USA Today Network. Reach him at cullery@couriertimes.com or find him on Twitter at @ulleryatinell.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Firm suing Dover over policy may have ties to firm writing new rules