Orange teachers can use students’ preferred pronouns with parental OK, supt. says

Public school teachers in Orange County will be able to use transgender students’ preferred pronouns if parents provide written permission, despite the state’s refusal to clarify whether such a policy is legal.

Orange County Public Schools’ new guidance comes after months of discussion and debate and will be shared with teachers Monday, according to a Friday email from Superintendent Maria Vazquez to the Orange County School Board.

The guidance will tell teachers they may use pronouns that correspond to transgender students’ gender identity and not their sex at birth. Teachers will not be required to use those preferred pronouns, however. Several other districts, including those in Broward and Pinellas counties, have issued similar guidance.

OCPS’ decision comes after several unsuccessful attempts to get clarity from the Florida Department of Education about the new state law that in public schools limits the use of pronouns that do not match a person’s biological sex.

In her email, Vazquez said she had spoken individually with the eight school board members and a majority believed, based on a Nov. 16 letter from Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, that such guidance was allowed, and they wanted it issued.

District leaders have wrestled with the issue for months, worried that failing to use pronouns that matched the gender identity of transgender students was upsetting to those youngsters but also fearful of having teachers violate the new law.

The law (HB 1069), passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May, went into effect in July. It forbids school districts from requiring employees to refer to anyone using titles or pronouns that do not match that person’s sex, employees from telling students their preferred titles or pronouns and employees from asking students about their preferred pronouns.

But the board’s attorneys viewed the law — an expansion of the 2022 law critics dubbed as “don’t say gay” — as unclear on whether it was acceptable for a teacher to choose to use a student’s preferred pronouns, if parents gave permission. Because violations of the “pronoun rule” could lead to sanctions against teachers, or even the loss of a teaching certificate, OCPS advised educators in August not to use any that did not match sex at birth.

But they continued to discuss the issue as some teachers, parents and students urged the use of preferred parents with parental approval.

On Nov. 15, Teresa Jacobs, the school board’s chair, wrote Diaz seeking clarification and explaining the district planned to tell teachers that starting Dec. 4 they could, but would not be required to, use preferred pronouns with parents’ permission — unless the state said “that such practice is contrary to law.”

Diaz’s reply letter to Jacobs defended the law, and criticized the use of “false” pronouns, that is those that did not correspond to sex at birth, but it did not say the OCPS plans was illegal. Jacobs said she read Diaz’s letter as confirmation that the district’s planned guidance to teachers was appropriate, though she conceded that one sentence gave some district staff pause.

The following week, Diaz and Vazquez spoke, and that conversation prompted another request to Diaz to clarify what he meant in his letter.

Other districts also have questioned how to interpret the new law. Hillsborough and Pinellas have approved the use of preferred pronouns with parental permission, but the Pasco County school district has told employees that is not allowed, the Tampa Bay Times reported. “Utilizing a student’s preferred pronouns, which do not match the student’s statutorily defined sex, would be a ‘false’ act by you” and subject to disciplinary action by the state,” Pasco told its staff.

Vazquez asked for clarification in writing on Wednesday, as did OCPS attorney John Palmerini, according to emails both sent to Andrew King, general counsel for education department.

The emails did not specify what Diaz told Vazquez about the pronoun issue during their conversation, and neither Vazquez nor the OCPS media relations office responded immediately to questions about what the commissioner said.

“During my conversation with the Commissioner last week he brought up issuing a clarifying letter and my response was that I believed it would be needed,” Vazquez wrote to King. “Has the Commissioner changed his thoughts on the letter?”

King responded, “At this point, there is no plan to issue another letter.”

Palmerini in his email noted that some other districts had already issued the same guidance on pronouns that OCPS planned to give its teachers. “Do these practices in Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Pinellas and St. Johns school districts comport with the new law as outlined in the Commissioner’s November 16, 2023 letter?”

He also asked for clarification of the sentence in Diaz’s letter that concerned some staff. That sentence from Diaz read: “In sum, the statute prohibits people from being forced to refer to others by false pronouns, and it prohibits school district employees from taking an active role in exposing students to these falsities.”

Did the last part of that sentence mean “teachers who use pronouns which do not correspond with a student’s biological sex at birth would be taking an active role in exposing other students in the class to those pronouns which the law deems to be false” or “is this a misreading of the language from the Commissioner’s letter?”

King responded, “I took a minute to re-read the letter, and I do not believe there is any reason to clarify it.”

Vazquez in her email to board members said a majority of them interpreted Diaz’s letter “to mean that staff is able to use a student’s preferred pronoun with parental permission” and the guidance to teachers will reflect that view.

The education department has not yet responded to the Orlando Sentinel’s Nov. 20 request asking to clarify Diaz’s views.