DOJ Sues Anne Arundel Schools Over Gender Policies
State of Maryland - The U.S. Justice Department has filed a federal lawsuit against Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS). The Department claims the school system's gender identity policies keep parents from knowing what is happening with their own children.
The lawsuit was announced on October 27, 2026 by the Department's Civil Rights Division. It is based on two federal laws, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
FERPA gives parents the right to look at their child's school records. It also lets them ask for wrong information in those records to be fixed or removed.
PPRA deals with personal information that schools gather from students under 18. Under that law, parents get to say yes or no before a school collects sensitive details from their child.
The Department's complaint claims AACPS policies tell staff to ask students what name, pronouns and "gender identity" they use. According to the complaint, staff are told to write that information down and act on it without telling parents.
The complaint also claims AACPS labels this information "confidential." It says staff are told to keep it from parents if they believe telling parents would be a "safety concern" for the student. The Department calls that belief "unilateral and unfounded."
The Department also claims AACPS sends this information to the Maryland State Department of Education. According to the complaint, parents are not told and are not given a chance to challenge whether it is correct.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, spoke about the case.
"Schools should not discuss preferred pronouns or 'gender identity' with a student without parental notification and consent," said Dhillon. "Parents should not be lied to, stonewalled, or branded as 'safety concerns' when they ask to see the education records that reveal what schools are secretly doing to their children. This Department will end illegal school policies that keep parents in the dark."
The complaint includes the story of one family, who are not named and are called Jane and John Doe. The complaint says that during the 2025-2026 school year, AACPS spoke with students one-on-one about the names and pronouns they wanted to use.
After that, the complaint says, the parents got two emails from teachers that used a male name and pronouns for their daughter. The family questioned the school system each time. According to the complaint, AACPS was not truthful about helping the student present as male at school.
The complaint says AACPS later admitted it had not told the truth. Even so, it claims the school system would not share details with the parents and refused to hand over their daughter's school records.
The Department says this lawsuit is part of a larger effort by the Civil Rights Division to end school policies it believes break FERPA and PPRA.
These are claims made in a lawsuit and have not been proven in court. AACPS's response was not part of the Justice Department's announcement.
Anyone who wants to file a FERPA or PPRA complaint can do so with the U.S. Department of Education at studentprivacy.ed.gov/file-a-complaint.
Source: Formal Court Complaint/Document
