COLUMBUS, Ohio — A group of eight parents have filed a lawsuit against the Hilliard City School District claiming "activist teachers" are having "intimate conversations" with students about sexual behaviors or attitudes.
According to the filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, these conversations are taking place with children as young as 6 years old without consent and the teachers are taking steps to hide them from parents.
The lawsuit claims these events are "a recipe for indoctrination and child abuse."
The parents claim they have filed the lawsuit after the district's legal counsel refused to explain the policy on these matters.
In addition to these conversations, the parents cite a survey given to students asking what pronouns they prefer at school and what pronouns the students prefer the teacher use when speaking to parents.
The parents also cite “I’m here” badges worn by teachers in the district. The badges were made to designate those teachers as a "safe person" for LGBTQ students.
The lawsuit claims the badge and its holder has a QR code linking to material giving "instruction on sexual positions" and suggested books that are not part of the district standards.
They claim the codes can be scanned by students from far away and one student testified at a school board meeting that she was given one of the badges only meant for teachers.
A third incident cited in the lawsuit says a teacher posted “sexual materials” on a bulletin board.
According to the lawsuit, the parents are asking for an injunction to put an end to these conversations being done by teachers or employees who are not trained, supervised counselors.
Attorney Josh Brown represents the parents and says the conversations have "led to a very dangerous outcome."
"The parents were contacted one day and told that the student was suicidal at school. And when they got to the school and talk to the social worker, they were told that the school was counseling and treating the child for gender dysphoria, and never informed the parent,” Brown said.
The lawsuit states school leaders and several teachers were “treating the daughter as a boy while their daughter was at school,” and parents were never informed of this. Brown said this situation has led other parents to fear for their children’s lives.
“They feel scared that what happened to the one young lady could happen to other children as well,” Brown said.
Brown says there needs to be a clear distinction between counselors and teachers and a clear precedent set indicating that teachers are not allowed to have intimate sexual conversations with students without parental consent.
“The district distinguishes as we do between counselors and teachers, counselors are supervised, they're trained to handle this. Teachers are being instructed by the teachers union, specifically to hide this information from parents and how to do it,” Brown said.
According to Brown, The parents are not seeking monetary damages, but would like the court to declare their rights and clarify the rights of teachers, eliminating the badges and inappropriate conversations that are being kept from parents.
10TV reached out to Hilliard City Schools for a comment in response to the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the district has not seen any legal filing at this time and would not be able to comment.