10/06/2026
Federal complaint challenges South Kingstown gender policy
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — A new federal complaint against the South Kingstown School District is challenging a policy that allows a student’s social gender transition at school without guaranteeing that parents will be involved or even informed. The filing arrives only months after the U.S. Supreme Court said parents challenging a substantially similar California policy will likely succeed on constitutional grounds.
America First Legal filed the complaint Sept. 21 with the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education, asking both agencies to investigate South Kingstown Policy 1236. The filing alleges that the district unlawfully allows school employees to facilitate a student’s social transition while withholding information from parents.
Policy 1236 says secondary students should generally be able to determine when and with whom information about their gender identity is shared. When a student does not want a parent informed, administrators are directed to consider whether disclosure carries risks for the student and, if so, determine with the student the degree to which the family will be involved. The policy does not require a court order, abuse finding or determination that a parent is legally unfit before that can occur.
The policy also provides for a Gender Transition Plan when a student expresses an intent to transition. That plan can address names, pronouns, privacy, records and other accommodations at school. The practical result is that a student can be treated under one identity in school while a parent may remain unaware that the transition is taking place.
That is where Mirabelli v. Bonta becomes important. In California, parents challenged policies restricting schools from informing them about a child’s gender transition at school without the child’s consent. A federal district court ruled for the parents and entered a permanent injunction. The Ninth Circuit later stayed that injunction while California appealed, prompting the parents to seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.
On March 2, the Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit stay as it applied to the parent plaintiffs. The Court has not issued a final merits decision, and the underlying appeal continues, but its reasoning went directly to the constitutional issue now surrounding South Kingstown. The Court wrote, “Under long-established precedent, parents – not the State – have primary authority with respect to ‘the upbringing and education of children.’”
The Court also concluded that the Mirabelli parents were likely to succeed on their substantive Due Process claim and treated parental participation in consequential decisions involving their children’s mental health as part of the constitutional protection. It also found the parents likely to succeed on their Free Exercise claim.
Mirabelli does not automatically invalidate South Kingstown Policy 1236. But the parents in Mirabelli challenged a system that allowed schools to conceal a student’s social gender transition, and the Supreme Court concluded that those parents were likely to prevail on constitutional grounds.
South Kingstown maintains a policy with a substantially similar feature, allowing school officials to support a social transition while limiting parental involvement and disclosure. That makes a constitutional challenge to Policy 1236 more than theoretical. A federal district court has already ruled for parents challenging similar policies, and the Supreme Court has concluded that those parents are likely to succeed while the appeal continues.
Schools can protect students from bullying and discrimination regardless of how Mirabelli ultimately ends. The unresolved issue is whether those protections can include withholding information from a fit parent. If federal authorities act on AFL’s complaint, South Kingstown could be required to defend their policy.
The School Committee therefore faces both a legal and financial question. It can reassess Policy 1236 in light of Mirabelli, or defend the existing policy if the federal complaint develops into litigation. No court has ordered South Kingstown to change the policy yet, but if the dispute reaches the court system, taxpayers would ultimately bear the cost of defending it.
