America First Legal (AFL) just announced a lawsuit filed against Mesa Public Schools for secretly transitioning a female junior high student as part of a district-wide gender affirmation program. The plaintiffs, which include MPS Board Member Rachel Walden and “Jane Doe,” mother of “Megan Doe,” one of the secretly transitioned students, seek undisclosed damages and cessation of the use of loopholes that circumvent parental notice requirements.

The suit, which names the district and Superintendent Andi Fourlis as defendants, claims that at least one of the district’s schools used loopholes in the state’s Parental Rights laws to help students with their “transition journeys” behind parents’ backs. It cites one school’s transition spreadsheet, dubbed the “parent concealment cheat sheet,” to track as many as twelve students. The tracking sheet noted, among other data, which parents were supportive and which should be “kept in the dark.” The tracking is part of the district’s Transgender Support Plan (TSP), dating back to its 2015 district-wide gender policy. The lawsuit further claims that the district failed to properly incorporate the program through public notice and hearings and that it violates the U.S. Constitution, as well as state laws.

The district released a legal opinion from one of its attorneys, insisting it did nothing wrong. It states, “The current version of the MPS Guidelines do not violate state or federal laws and follows MPS policy. Additionally, we see no contradiction between what the law requires under the Arizona parents’ bill of rights (A.R.S. 1-602) and what the Guidelines recommend to staff as a tool to assist in addressing the students’ needs.”

The lawsuit is at odds with the district’s legal viewpoint. It states, “The principal admitted that school personnel intentionally had not changed Megan’s name in the [Synergy] system to avoid any notification being sent to Jane and that there were no plans to change Megan’s name in the system. The principal told Jane that even if Jane had asked to be notified about any name changes, pronoun changes, or other choices related to a transgender identity by her child, it was official MPS policy not to tell parents and that school personnel would not notify Jane about any further developments related to these issues.”

The Arizona chapter of AFL is part of a national organization founded by Trump advisor Stephen Miller to fight against liberal social issues. Republican Blake Masters, a candidate for outgoing congresswoman Debbie Lesko’s CD8 seat, is listed among AFL’s Arizona board members.