Kiel 8th-graders accused of using ‘incorrect pronouns’, law firm demands district to dismiss complaints
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Kiel 8th-graders accused of using ‘incorrect pronouns’, law firm demands district to dismiss complaints
KIEL, Wis. (WFRV) – A Wisconsin-based law firm is asking the Kiel Area School District to drop the complaints against three eighth-grade students who are accused of calling a classmate by the wrong pronouns.
According to the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), three eighth-grade students in the Kiel Area School District were made aware of a Title IX complaint. The students were also notified of a sexual harassment investigation regarding the alleged use of the wrong pronoun when referring to another student. WILL’s letter says the investigation is ongoing.
Title IX is a federal law that protects people from sexual discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding. More information on the details of Title IX can be found here .
The students reportedly didn’t use “they/them” and instead said a different pronoun to the classmate.
WILL claims that using ‘biologically correct pronouns’ doesn’t constitute sexual harassment under Title IX or the district’s own policy.
The letter is addressed to the following three people at Kiel Area School District:
- Kiel Area School District’s Superintendent
- Counselor and Title IX Compliance Officer
- Principal and Title IX Investigator
In the letter, it is claimed that the district failed to follow Title IX procedures and its own process.
The families reportedly asked for more information and were eventually given a one-page Title IX complaint and a statement from a music teacher.
All of this leaves the impression that the District is weaponizing its Title IX process to strong-arm minor students into compliance with its preferred mode of speech. This is wrong and illegal. STATEMENT FROM THE WILL’S LETTER SENT TO KIEL AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT.
“School administrators can’t force minor students to comply with their preferred mode of speaking. And they certainly shouldn’t be slapping eighth-graders with Title IX investigations for what amounts to protected speech. This is a terrible precedent to set, with enormous ramifications,” said WILL Deputy Counsel, Luke Berg.
Kiel Area School District District provided the following statement to Local 5:
The KASD prohibits all forms of bullying and harassment in accordance with all laws, including Title IX, and will continue to support ALL students regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, sex (including transgender status, change of sex or gender identity), or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability (“Protected Classes”) in any of its student programs and activities; this is consistent with school board policy.
We do not comment on any student matters.
KIEL AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
On WILL’s website , it mentions that they ‘litigate, educate and participate in public discourse.’ WILL’s General Counsel, Rick Esenberg, has reportedly argued more cases in the Wisconsin Supreme Court than any other private lawyer in the state.
The full letter sent by WILL can be viewed here .
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I can recall from when I was a kid an elderly doctor telling my father that the only reason that people are locked up in insane asylums is because they're the minority, and we're the majority. That may have sounded crazy back then, but when I read stories like that one, I'm beginning to think he was right.
Insanity is too mild a term to describe this silliness.
Are you fucking serious? Suck it up you bitch, kids are mean and the world is cruel. Things won't really get better.
Could someone please tell me how an individual can be referred to as they/them? Do they have multiple personalities; or multiple sexual identities- which in an eighth grader should be considered disturbing either way. Or are they doing it just to stand out?
When I went to school that type of shit would get someone ostracized; or physically destroyed- if not both. That happened to me for a hell of a lot less.
Dude, I don't know. I'm as liberal as they come but all this pronoun bullshit is just getting absurd. If you wanna be referred to as a dude then look like a dude, same thing for women, but don't start with this they/them shit. I am flat out not going to make that effort.
And yeah, you tried to pull some shit like that when I was in school you would get your ass kicked.
They, them has been used for a long time. It is nothing new.
Look at that person, I wonder what they are doing.....
It is indeed absurd.
PC taken too far.
Just because someone thinks they are a man or a woman doesn't actually make them one.
I will always call a person by what they are, a man or a woman.
Political correctness run amok.
Again.
Sigh.
“To the classmate?” I’m curious as to the specific facts about how this happened. How do you use a gendered pronoun when talking to the person you are referring to? “You” has no gender. Third person pronouns only come into play when you are talking about a person to someone else. So unless they are standing right there while you talk about them, how does this affect the “victim?” How do they even know about it?
It doesn’t seem like something that would come up a lot in a casual conversation, so I wonder if there really wasn’t something more going on in the way of bullying.
Having said that, I try to address people or refer to them in whatever manner they prefer (I remember when society was getting pissy about Ms. vs Miss vs Mrs.), provided it isn’t too burdensome. Why? Because it’s polite and it costs me very little or nothing to be nice. I have bigger things to worry about in my life than judging someone else for their particular gender issues.
We may all have different opinions, but I think we're all on the same page on this one.