NE Valley Times

Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) has denied the claims of parent, Jill Dunican, regarding the implementation of gender support plans in SUSD schools.

In addition to raising several concerns about the plan itself, Dunican has criticized SUSD for not requiring staff to alert parents about mental health issues in students related to gender dysphoria.

However, when NE Valley Times presented SUSD with Dunican’s claims, a district representative denied them. Dunican again responded.

“Per Occam’s razor, the simplest of competing theories should be preferred. While the district’s taxpayer funded PR department is skilled at damage control and canned responses aimed at obscuring the truth, emails reveal that SUSD staff discussed and planned use of a gender support plan in 2022,” said Dunican, a member of Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity, in a follow-up interview. 

“Superintendent (Scott) Menzel has also taken recent actions aligned with the intent of SUSD’s gender support plan, including allowing children to select a restroom based on their imagined gender, instructing staff not to disclose a child’s social transition, tolerating teachers who give pronoun surveys to children, and defending a secret transgender closet. The district can attempt to spin this as a one-time event in 2019, however the evidence shows otherwise. Occam's razor would point toward an institutional mindset of affirming gender confusion among students with intent to hide information from parents.”

According to SUSD's Director of Communications & Marketing, Kristine Harrington, “There is no SUSD gender support plan. There never has been one and there are no plans for one.”

In an email to NE Valley News, Harrington elaborated on the false nature of Dunican’s remarks. 

“It is disappointing to hear that a community member has shared misinformation with you despite the multiple times we have provided a response to these same questions. Thank you for reaching out so we can, again, clarify,” she said.  

“In 2019, a District parent provided a plan created by an outside organization regarding how a school district might support a transgender student.  This form was then transferred to District letterhead as a draft only.  The District has not used that draft or any other form to create a written plan of support for any transgender student. As required by federal law and District policy, SUSD supports all students.”

“I thank you for inquiring so that the District could, once again, correct the record. We greatly appreciate your help reporting the facts and correcting the misinformation,” said Harrington. 

Dunican said the response by SUSD is insufficient.

“I am not surprised to hear that SUSD has denied the claims, however, the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming,” she said. “It remains fact that SUSD staff possessed a gender support plan, which was printed on district letterhead, and that there are district emails from 2022 showing staff discussing the use of the plan. There is a parent email to the district from 2022 in which a concerned mom states that SUSD staff told her children sleep in overnight camp cabins (at Unitown) aligned with their gender selection. That staff member who affirmed sleeping arrangements was Mr. Gary Griggs, the same SUSD staff who possessed the gender support plan.”

“Add in staff whistleblower reports from 2023 that social workers are not required to inform parents of their child's gender used at school, Menzel's own public confession in 2023 that staff may hide children's social transitions, Menzel's public support in 2023 for staff creating a pride detention closet, libraries in 2024 filled with gender selection books, parents' public comments in 2023 that kids are using SUSD restrooms that align with their imagined gender, and it certainly appears that the district is committed to teaching children that gender is a "social construct" and to hiding information from parents.”

In a previous interview with NE Valley News that set off SUSD’s response, Dunican emphasized transparency issues, noting that parents learned about the gender support plan through public records requests after encountering difficulties to obtain the plan directly from the district.

“Gender support plans, such as the one used by Scottsdale Unified School District staff, aim to assess whether a child’s parents are aware of or supportive of the child’s gender confusion,” said Dunican. 

“Based only on the child’s input, the plan then guides school staff in handling any anticipated parental uncooperativeness. The message to the child is that their parents may not be a safe, trusted resource."  

Dunican said that the implementation of the gender support plan is part of a broader effort.

“Gender support plans are just one tool used in a full-court press by our government schools to teach children that gender is a ‘construct’ and not a biological reality,” she added.

“The American School Counselor Association has taken an official policy position that all school counselors should affirm children's imagined identities, and that children should be allowed to shower, change, sleep and engage in sports based on their self-declared gender. Teachers’ unions, such as the National Education Association, Arizona Education Association and Scottsdale Education Association, promote pride flags, accuse parents of ‘banning’ books when they raise concerns about sexualized content, and encourage districts to include gender ideology propaganda in school curriculum, clubs and libraries.”

“Parents learned about the SUSD gender support plan’s existence through district emails obtained via public records request,” she said. “In an email titled ‘Two things …’ SUSD social worker Amanda Turner asked Scottsdale Online counselor Gary Griggs, ‘Where could I find the transgender support plan at?’ Despite this, multiple follow-up public records requests for a copy of the plan were denied by the district.”

The Arizona Daily Independent published a copy of the email exchange between Turner and Griggs.

Other documents obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent also revealed that school staff engaged in discussions about students’ gender identities, hinting at the district’s active role in promoting gender ideology.

Concerns were also raised regarding SUSD Superintendent Scott Menzel’s position on gender-related matters and the allocation of resources away from education-related initiatives.

Replying to a social media post, the Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity group highlighted transparency and parental involvement in student well-being within the district.

“@lacenagao Thank you for exposing this. @ScottsdaleUSD has a gender support plan and the supt openly admits that staff are not required to inform parents of student’s mental health issues,” Dunican’s group posted on X.

The tweet linked to the organization’s article which discusses the SUSD’s support plan. 

SUSD has faced scrutiny and criticism for its handling of the plan. Parents voiced their frustrations at the lack of information available to them regarding the gender support plan.

In a video, Menzel firmly asserts that school staff are not obligated to inform parents if a child changes their gender identity while at school. Arizona law affirms parents' authority to make all healthcare decisions for their minor children.