School assigns 11-year-old girl to sleep in same bed as boy who identifies as trans, parents NOT notified: report

Joe and Serena Wailes have, via Alliance Defending Freedom, called on Jefferson County Public Schools officials to explain why they failed to disclose the fact that their daughter would be sharing a bed with a boy after making it very clear that students would be segregated by sex during the overnight portions of the trip.

In a letter to the JeffCo School Board and Superintendent Tracy Dorland obtained by the Daily Signal, the ADF did not mince words, asking "whether JCPS will continue this practice of intentionally withholding information about rooming accommodations from parents like the Waileses, who object to their children rooming with a student of the opposite sex, regardless of the other student's gender identity."

"This practice renders it impossible for these parents to make informed decisions about their children's privacy, upbringing, and participation in school-sponsored programs," the ADF continued, adding that the Waileses, who have two other children in Grade 4, sought to know how they could opt out of the rooming policy, which allows students to bunk according to their gender identity, for future trips.

In an interview with the Daily Signal, Mrs. Wailes explained that she was "really upset," and hadn't even considered it a "possibility" that her daughter would be sleeping next to a boy. Her husband said he felt "helpless."

The incident took place during the school trip to Philadelphia and Washington, DC in June 2023. When the Wailes daughter went to her room, she discovered that her bunkmate was a biological boy who dressed and presented as a girl.

Uncomfortable with the thought of laying next to a male, she went to the bathroom and called her mother, who was on the trip as well. The boy's trans identity was confirmed via his parents, and after some back and forth, chaperones eventually moved him to another room, now leaving the girl with a female bunkmate.

"Throughout the entire evening, [the male student's] privacy and feelings were always the primary concern of JCPS employees," the ADF stated, referring to the Wailes daughter as "DW." It continued, "After JCPS disregarded DW's privacy and the Waileses' parental rights, JCPS then silenced DW, thus infringing on her freedom of speech, when a JCPS teacher told the three girls that they were not allowed to tell anyone that [he] was transgender, even though [he] voluntarily chose to share this information."