LUDLOW, Mass. - Two sets of parents filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month. It names the Ludlow school committee, an interim and former superintendent, a school principal and two school staffers.

The suit alleges the school district violated their parental rights for talking to their children about their gender identities without their permission.

“The Ludlow middle school apparently has a policy that says if students come out with a discordant gender identity, so if they start saying that they’re a girl who believes they’re a boy or vice versa that the school is going to hide that information from parents,” Andrew Beckwith, president and general council of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said.

Beckwith said it was December 2020 when a Ludlow middle school teacher informed parents of a conversation with their child. The then 11-year-old had told the teacher about feelings of insecurity and low self-esteem.

The parents followed up with the school and said they were getting counseling for their daughter and asked the school to stop the private conversations.

The suit says school leaders dismissed the parents’ instructions, continued to have private conversations, and also began addressing the child by an alternative name and pronoun the child had requested.

“Affirming a child’s discordant gender identity is a mental health treatment intervention that the schools are not qualified or competent,” Beckwith said. “And in this case, were not authorized to make because they did not have consent from the parents.”

Beckwith said the families are looking for the school to drop its policy of not notifying parents about a child’s gender nonconformity status and for the schools to work with the parents. Spectrum News 1 reached out to Ludlow school leaders and they said because of the impending litigation, they can’t comment.