“It is ridiculous that schools would hide a “gender transition” from a student’s parents,” says DeSantis
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seized on a recent federal appeals court decision involving teacher pronoun policies to argue that schools should not keep information about a student’s gender identity from parents, as the national debate over parental rights and transgender policies in education continues to intensify.
In a post on X, DeSantis said Florida had “stopped the pronoun wars” and called it “ridiculous” for schools to hide a “gender transition” from a student’s parents. The governor was reacting to commentary about a Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case out of Maryland involving a substitute teacher who challenged a public school system’s rules on student pronouns.
We stopped the pronoun wars in Florida.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) February 11, 2026
It is ridiculous that schools would hide a “gender transition” from a student’s parents. https://t.co/K3LoWKt5wc
The case, Polk v. Montgomery County Public Schools, involved Kimberly Ann Polk, a Christian substitute teacher who argued that Montgomery County Public Schools’ policy requiring staff to use a student’s requested name and pronouns violated her First Amendment rights. In a 2-1 decision issued Jan. 28, the Fourth Circuit declined to grant her request for a court order that would have allowed her to teach while refusing to comply with the policy, siding with the school system at the preliminary injunction stage.
A dissent by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III drew particular attention after he warned the ruling could leave teachers “completely vulnerable to becoming the unwilling mouthpieces of government messaging,” language that has been widely circulated by both advocates and critics of school pronoun policies.
Cases involving schools aiding children's secret gender transitions are popping up across the country. Last month, the Fourth Circuit decided that a public-school district can refuse to hire a teacher who objects to hiding a child’s transition from their parents.
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) February 11, 2026
“‘The majority… pic.twitter.com/EEi03N1r7M
Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, amplified the dissent in posts that framed the case not only as a pronoun dispute but as a broader fight over whether educators can be required to keep certain information from parents. In one post, Severino argued the ruling means a district can refuse to hire a teacher who objects to “hiding a child’s transition from their parents.”
The legal questions are part of a widening patchwork of disputes playing out across the country: some parents and advocacy groups argue schools must notify families when a child adopts a new name or pronouns at school, while some educators and student advocates argue mandatory disclosure can place vulnerable students at risk depending on their home situation. Courts have been weighing related issues in multiple jurisdictions, and the differing outcomes have fueled predictions that the Supreme Court could eventually be asked to step in.
DeSantis has made education culture fights a defining feature of Florida politics, signing legislation in recent years that restricts certain classroom instruction and limits the use of preferred pronouns in some school settings, as his administration has argued for stronger parental involvement and clearer guardrails for districts.
For now, the Fourth Circuit ruling remains limited to its procedural posture and the specific claims before the court, but its language — and the competing political interpretations surrounding it — has quickly turned it into a fresh flashpoint in the broader national argument over speech, school policy and parent notification.
