California mom takes legal action against school district ‘after two teachers secretly manipulated her daughter, 11, into believing she was a transgender boy and gave tips on how to bind her breasts’
- California mom Jessica Konen took action against Spreckels Union School District
- She claiming two teachers manipulated her daughter into changing her gender identity
- The legal claim states the district was responsible for ‘extreme and outrageous conduct’ that led the student on a path toward transitioning as a boy
- It is a precursor to a possible lawsuit
- Konen said two middle school teachers who ran the school’s Equality Club planted the seed that her daughter was bisexual in 6th grade
- The mother claims the she was kept in the dark by the school about a ‘gender support plan’ created by administrators
- She said her daughter was taught how to keep her breasts from developing
- Konen said that during remote learning away from school, her daughter was one again happy to identify as a girl
- The district hired a law firm to investigate, and the UBU club was suspended
- The teachers were placed on administrative leave in November
A California mother is taking legal action against a school district, claiming that two teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into believing she was a transgender boy.
Jessica Konen filed a legal claim against Spreckels Union School District last Wednesday – with that claim a likely precursor to a lawsuit. She alleges that Buena Vista Middle School teachers Lori Caldeira and Kelly Baraki ‘planted a seed’ in her daughter’s head that she was bisexual, then went on to convince the youngster that she was actually a transgender boy.
Konen also claims that Caldeira and Baraki – who ran the school’s ‘You Be You’ equality club – provided information for her daughter on how to bind her breasts to stop them developing. She says the school kept her in the dark about what was going on until a December 2019 meeting.
After schools closed and went remote during COVID in March 2020, Konen says her daughter, who has not been named, was once again happy to identify as a girl when away from the influence of the teachers and school bosses she is now on the verge of suing.
Jessica Konen, left, with her attorney and CEO of The Center for American Liberty, Harmeet K. Dhillon (right) filed a legal claim against Spreckels Union School District last Wednesday, alleging that two Buena Vista Middle School teachers ‘planted a seed’ in her daughter’s head that she was bisexual, then tried to convince her that she was a transgender boy
Parent Jessica Konen speaks out against the two teachers during public comment at the Spreckels Union School District board meeting in Spreckels, Calif., on December 15, 2021. Konen, who claims teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into changing her gender identity and name, has filed a legal case against the school district
Teacher Lori Caldeira, pictured, has been accused of manipulating an 11 year-old girl into believing she was a transgender boy
Caldeira and Baraki are also said to have ‘stalked’ social media for children they believed may have been transgender, but insist uncovered communications between them were only made in jest.
A legal claim filed Wednesday states that Spreckels Union School District was responsible for ‘extreme and outrageous conduct’ that led the student on a path toward transitioning as a boy and drove a wedge between mother and child. Konen is being assisted in her claim by free speech group The Center for American Liberty.
Attorney Harmeet Dhillon told DailyMail.com that since filing the case, she’s heard from parents across multiple states, who describe ‘secretive trans grooming’ by school officials – similar to what Konen has claimed.
One of Konen’s chief complaints was that she was kept in the dark by the school about her daughter’s participation in the club, literature teachers provided, and a ‘gender support plan’ created by administrators.
‘Parents are supposed to have access to all the educational records of their children,’ said Dhillon, who filed the case. ‘The concept that the schools have a right to be running secret, don’t-tell-your-parents clubs and don’t-tell-your-parents programs and actively coaching children how to mutilate themselves, which is you know, not growing your breasts, is certainly not consistent with California law.’
I’ve heard from parents in other areas who describe similar secretive trans grooming by school officials. Did this happen to your family?
While Konen said her daughter had revealed she was bisexual, the mother was unaware she was identifying as a boy until she was called to a meeting at the Buena Vista Middle School principal´s office in December 2019 when her daughter was in 7th grade.
She wasn’t told the purpose of the meeting until her daughter entered the room and sat across a table from her and teacher Lori Caldeira broke the news.
‘I literally was caught off guard. I was blindsided,’ Konen said. ‘I didn’t even know what to feel like because I didn´t even know where it came from.’
Konen said she began to cry.
Teachers Caldeira (pictured) and Baraki are also said to have ‘stalked’ social media for children they believed may have been transgender, but insist uncovered communications between them were only made in jest
She said her daughter was also caught by surprise. She had told teachers she wanted to notify her mom, but didn’t know they set the meeting up that day.
Konen said she gave the school permission to use a boy’s name for attendance purposes and tried to be supportive, but it was difficult.
When schools went to remote learning during the pandemic in March 2020, Konen said her daughter began returning to her ‘old self’ and now uses her given name.
But it wasn’t until this fall that Konen began to question how her daughter got on the path to a different identity, after an article by journalist Abigail Shrier circulated around town.
Shier’s book, Irreversible Damage, has documented the explosion in children claiming to be transgender – particularly the sharp rise in girls claiming they are actually boys.
The tome has railed against decisions to prescribe young children with hormone therapy, or push them towards a path of gender reassignment surgery. Shier has won multiple awards for the book, but has also been met with howls of outrage from some pro-transgender campaigners over what they claim is baseless scaremongering.
Spreckels is a speck of a town in the agricultural Salinas Valley, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) south of San Francisco. It was once home to the world’s largest sugar refinery and was the setting for some scenes in the 1955 film based on John Steinbeck’s ‘East of Eden.’
In a leaked recording from a California Teachers Association conference, Caldeira and Kelly Baraki were quoted discussing how they kept meetings private and ‘stalked’ students online for recruits.
‘When we were doing our virtual learning – we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work,’ Baraki said. ‘One of them was googling ‘Trans Day of Visibility.’ And we’re like, ‘Check.’ We’re going to invite that kid when we get back on campus.’
The Spreckels Union School District board listens to public comment during a board meeting in Spreckels, Calif., on December 15, 2021. A mother who claims teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into changing her gender identity and name has filed a legal case against the school district. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
Thomas Perry, son of teacher Lori Caldeira, speaks in support of his mother during public comment at the Spreckels Union School District board meeting in Spreckels, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021
Neither Caldeira nor Baraki could be reached by The Associated Press for comment. Caldeira told the San Francisco Chronicle the quotes were accurate but taken out of context or misrepresented. The stalking comment was a joke, she said.
Caldeira, who has been awarded as a role model for inclusion, defended their work, saying students set the agenda and the teachers were there to provide honest and fair answers to their questions.
The teachers were placed on administrative leave in November. They had attended the conference on their own time, but the district said, ‘many of the comments and themes stated in the article are alarming, concerning, disappointing’ and didn’t reflect their policies.
The teachers were placed on administrative leave in November. They had attended the conference on their own time, but the district said, ‘many of the comments and themes stated in the article are alarming, concerning, disappointing’ and didn’t reflect their policies
The district hired a law firm to investigate, which is ongoing, and the UBU club was suspended.
Konen was applauded when she blasted school board members at a meeting in December, saying the teachers took away her ability to parent.
Superintendent Eric Tarallo said the legal claim would be addressed in the judicial system and personnel policies prevented him from revealing if the teachers were back at school. He said the district was reviewing and updating policies on student clubs.
The California Teachers Association said the conference was one of dozens each year that, in part, help educators understand the need to protect students from discrimination, including sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
It criticized the group bringing the lawsuit, which it noted is using the case to raise money for its cause.
‘We are concerned about a political climate right now in which outside political forces fuel chaos and misinformation and seek to divide parents, educators and school communities for their own political gain, which is evident in this complaint,’ spokeswoman Lisa Gardiner said. ‘The Center for American Liberty is concerned with pushing its own political agenda through litigation and has filed multiple lawsuits against various school districts and communities.’
Under state and federal law, students have privacy rights that extend to sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Only in limited circumstances can a school notify a parent of their child´s sexual identity against their wishes.
‘Outside of school, these students may similarly face potential hostility at home because of who they are,’ said attorney Peter Renn of Lambda Legal. ‘For example, involuntarily outing a student as LGBTQ to their parents can very well lead to them getting kicked out of the home in some circumstances.’
Konen said her daughter is now doing well in high school.
‘She still deals with confusion,’ Konen said. ‘She feels like she can breathe, you know, like she doesn’t have pressure on her.’
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