Published: January 27, 2022
By: Natasha Anderson
- Wendell Perez and his wife, Maria, are suing several staff at their daughter's elementary school after she attempted to twice to kill herself while on campus
- Perez told DailyMail.com the school violated their parental rights by failing to inform them of their daughter's alleged gender identity crisis
- He claims school staff 'created a double life for my daughter' by having her assume a male name and pronouns and attend weekly gender crisis meetings
- He compared the school staff's behavior to that of sex offenders who 'try to keep things in secret and make them do things that they are not supposed to do'
- The school has denied all allegations made by the family
The parents of a 12-year-old Florida girl who tried to hang herself twice at her school after 'months of secret meetings about her gender identity' are slamming the district staff who allegedly went behind their backs and 'created a double life' for their daughter.
Wendell Perez, and his wife Maria Perez, allege the staff at at Paterson Elementary School - where their daughter was enrolled - violated their parental rights by failing to inform them of the alleged gender identity crisis and developing a plan to help her address it without their consent.
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'We're talking about the staff from school this information and developing a plan of several sessions with my daughter, for months, talking about issues that are related and that the parents need to be involved,' Wendell Perez told DailyMail.com on Thursday. 'They basically created a double life for my daughter.'
'We're not talking about an isolated incident that a little kid mentioned something. They acted - they acted on it, for months. What is next? If we let them do that, what is next?'
He also likened the staff's behavior to that of sex offenders, saying: ‘If we allow this to happen, we are admitting that the sex offenders - the models operating of the sex offenders - is correct, because that is actually what they do. They take advantage of a child, they try to keep things in secret and make them do things that they are not supposed to do.'
He added: 'There should be no secrets. That’s a red flag. When there are secrets, that's a red flag.'
Perez said the lawsuit seeks to protect all parents from having their constitutionally provided rights violated.
‘This is about parental rights. This is not about any other issues. It’s about our constitutional rights and rights under the laws of our state of Florida,' he said.
'They have been violated. Our fight for those rights will benefit any parent out there regardless of their race, regardless of their religious beliefs, their political affiliation. It will benefit everyone. Hopefully justice will be served.’
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The complaint alleges that school counselor Destiney Washington held secret weekly meetings with Wendell Perez's daughter about her alleged 'gender identity crisis' but neglected to alert her parents. It also claims school leaders encouraged other students and staff to refer to the young girl as a boy and even gave her a new name.
It remains unclear why the 12-year-old was seeing the counselor or how the gender identity meetings come of fruition.
Wendell Perez (left), and his wife Maria Perez (right), allege the staff at at Paterson Elementary School - where their daughter was enrolled - violated their parental rights by failing to inform them of the alleged gender identity crisis and developing a plan to help her address it without their consent
Attorney Vernadette Broyles (pictured), who is representing the Perez family, said the suit is asking for 'declaratory judgement that the school's actions were unlawful' and 'injunctive relief to change the practices and policies'. She also noted school officials are 'not competent or authorized' to make decisions about a child's wellbeing and 'it is imperative for them to immediately involve the parents'
Attorney Vernadette Broyles, with the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, filed the federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of the Perez family. It names several Clay County School district members including Superintendent Davis Broskie, Paterson Elementary School Principal John O'Brian, Assistant Principal Courtney Schumacher and Washington.
According to the complaint, the changes to the girl's identity increased bullying on campus, which resulted in a level of 'distress escalated to the point of attempting suicide at school,' and the girl attempted to take her life on both January 4 and 5, according to the lawsuit.
The family said Thursday that after they were notified of their daughter's attempted suicide, she was taken by police to a nearby hospital for mental health treatment.
Perez said they had limited contact with her and 'were not able to comfort her' during that hard time. About a week later, she was later released into their and is receiving proper treatment by medical professionals. He said his daughter is 'fragile' but 'happy.'
The family and their counsel also claim that the 12-year-old girl had not exhibited any signs of mental health crisis prior to the alleged meetings with Washington.
'Unlike many other parents we’re hearing from, this child did not have a history of mental health issues. There were not other signs of gender dysphoria before this, there was not depression, anxiety. This was generally speaking, a mentally healthy, happy, child,' Broyles told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
'One of the things that's so distressing and makes so clear the school’s liability and fault here is they took a healthy child and after months of meeting with her, in secret, they caused her distressed and in conflict with herself that she felt the desire to end her life.'
Broyles said the suit is asking for 'declaratory judgement that the school's actions were unlawful' and 'injunctive relief to change the practices and policies' so that parents will be contacted about an issues pertaining to their child's well-being or mental health.
She notes that school officials are 'not competent or authorized' to make decisions about a child's wellbeing and 'it is imperative for them to immediately involve the parents'.
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