Teachers at an elementary school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were instructed by their assistant principal to stop referring to their students as “boys and girls.”
The instruction, which left teachers at Carlos Rey Elementary School confused and parents frustrated, was developed from a new transgender-friendly policy in the Albuquerque Public School district. At least four mothers picking up their children at school expressed their concern.
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“It’s going to confuse the kids and may even bring [gender confusion] on early,” D’tundra Cordova told Fox News.
Another mother, Tausha Cordova, noted that “there’s going to be a lot of irate parents going to the school when their kids come home telling them what they saw.”
The instruction was reportedly a misinterpretation of a policy called “Non-Discrimination for Students: Gender Identity and Expression.” The policy mandates that students must be called by a name and pronoun that matches their chosen gender identity without having to first get a court-ordered name, gender change, or to change their official records.
“The school has acknowledged the mistake and has rectified it,” Rigo Chavez, spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools, told Fox News.
Transgender Resource Center’s Adrien Lawyer tried to justify the assistant principal’s instruction.
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“What the principal was trying to say is, let’s think about how we address students and all of the gendered language that we use all day, every day, and whether or not we really have to do that,” Lawyer said.
The situation mirrors the confusion that ensued in Charlotte, North Carolina — where teachers were advised to call children “students” or “scholars” instead of “boys and girls.”
The new gender identity policy also falls on the heels of a Texas judge’s nationwide injunction blocking the Obama administration from enforcing a federal guidance on transgender bathrooms in schools.
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