"I was worried your mom interfered before you saw my messages"
Olympia teacher secretly transitions ten-year-old student under cover of district policy
On June 17, 2023, I received an anonymous package from “ACP” (A Concerned Parent) in my mailbox. Inside were a dozen pieces of paper with typed messages. Also enclosed was a handwritten letter that read in part:
“I have been sitting on this info for several months now, unsure of what to do next. After seeing you on the news I was impressed by the things you are doing in our community and thought you may be able to help shine some light on this issue.”~ACP
The letter went on to describe a “class secret” in Ms. Knight’s 5th grade classroom at Centennial Elementary, in Olympia. A secret that ultimately ripped a family apart, and drove a fellow teacher to resign.
Public records from the Olympia School District revealed that Ms. Knight both encouraged and facilitated a gender transition of a ten-year-old female student in her class, while also going to great lengths to keep this secret from the child’s parents.
(The student will be referred to as “Tia” for anonymity)
In April 2022, Ms. Knight wrote an email to school staff proclaiming that Tia had “opened up” to her over the past few months and would go by a new male name and he/him/they/them pronouns going forward. The expectation was made clear that all staff would hide this from Tia’s family.
Ryan DeFant, a 4th grade teacher at Centennial, whose own daughter was a student in Ms. Knight’s class at the time, remembers a particular staff meeting in which they were instructed to hide student information from parents in the record system, Skyward.
“We talked about name changes and gender changes and how do we hide that from our families, specifically their parents. I remember Jennifer Knight getting up and talking about here’s how we hide that information…so staff can see it but not parents.”~Ryan Defant
Tia’s classmates were also instructed by Ms. Knight to call Tia by her “new” name and pronouns at school, but not outside of school. In other words, a classroom of ten-year-olds were instructed by their teacher to deceive others, including their own parents.
Julie DeFant, Ryan’s wife recalls the anxiety this caused their daughter.
“She (Julie’s daughter) was ten years old at the time and she started to hyperventilate trying to get out whether she was supposed to say “she” or “he” because when she’s inside of school she has to use a “he” and when she’s outside of school she has to use “she”…and she said no mom I have to get it right and I’m like no, you don’t have to do any of this. She told me they had to do it the right way or they were going to get in trouble…she said we’re not allowed to tell our parents.”~Julie DeFant
Julie and Ryan describe in detail what transpired in this one hour interview with podcast host, Brandi Kruse.
Below is a small portion.
The Knight agenda
Ms. Knight has been a teacher in the Olympia School District for years. Many parents have described her as a good teacher with a gift for students with disabilities. However, by 2022 Ms. Knight was making no secret about her mission to teach social justice and gender ideology to her elementary students. According to some parents, she went as far as instructing students to make protest signs for causes she deemed important, regardless of the student’s ability to make such decisions for themselves.
Ms. Knight gave public comment at a June 2022 school board meeting in which she congratulated the district for taking a firm stance against parental opt-outs on gender and sexuality related material.
“I am here to speak thankfulness for the OSD Proclamation (Pride Month). It has set a framework for myself and other teachers to work with…I’m very proud to work at Centennial where opt-outs (by parents) are not allowed and I employ all schools to vocalize this firm stance…I employ our district to expect every OSD teacher to be equipped and expected to teach LGBTQ+ history and include queer individuals and families in classroom narratives. I employ our district to remove the red tape around securing gender neutral bathrooms in each of our schools. Please help us order the signs we need and ensure our trans youth have a private space where they feel safe and protected in.”~Ms. Knight
Parents were indeed denied requests to opt their children out of material they deemed inappropriate for their child (with the added insult that it’s offensive to even ask).
How did we get here?
Kindness and respect for all, regardless of sexual preferences, has evolved into a much more totalitarian belief system in Gender Ideology. Coercion is often required in tandem with removing parents from the equation. Many public schools now operate under the premise that a parent is not only an obstacle, but in some cases an enemy to what they have adopted as doctrine to teach. There is an underlying presumption that a parent is either too bigoted or unenlightened on these topics to make decisions for their own children, so the school must do it for them.
District policy on transgender students advises secrecy from parents. This policy is also recommended by OSPI. Under the guise of “protecting” trans students, parents are denied pertinent information about their own children’s mental health and well-being.
This practice continues under the auspices of student privacy laws such as FERPA, as stated in the policy.
But this is untrue.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) ensures student records for students and parents, while protecting those records from the public. A parent is not considered “public”. In fact, FERPA expanded parental access to student records.
The law prohibits educational institutions from disclosing “personally identifiable information in education records” without the written consent of the student, or, if the student is a minor, the student’s parents.
Under FERPA, it is again the parent who has the right to their children’s records until the student is 18. The purpose of FERPA is to ensure access to educational records for students and parents and to protect the privacy of such records from the public at large, not keep the records from the parents. (Bauer v. Kincaid (W.D.Mo. 1991) 759 F. Supp. 575, 590-591.)
To be abundantly clear: FERPA is to protect public disclosure; not disclosure to parents.
Regardless, lawmakers in our state continue to introduce and pass legislation codifying more and more restrictions on parental access to their child, primarily around the evolving definition of “mental health care”.
Consequence
By May 2022, Tia was showing signs of depression and academic decline. Her parents were deeply concerned and tried to help, but Tia would only talk to Ms. Knight.
In an email sent to Tia’s parents, Ms. Knight expressed concern about Tia’s mental health and self-esteem issues. Notably, she referred to Tia as a female throughout. The parents were still being kept in the dark about the fundamental factor in Tia’s mental health decline.
This raises serious questions about how genuine the desire to “support” Tia really was. How could any parent properly help their child through a mental health crisis with critical information being withheld from them?
On June 3rd, during a traditional graduation walk for 5th graders to the local middle school, a classmate referred to Tia by a male name. Tia’s mother, who had come to be a part of the field trip, asked the classmate why he did that and to use her name.
Julie was at the same field trip with her daughter and recalls feeling terrible for Tia’s mother, who appeared rejected and alone while Tia walked with Ms. Knight, instead of her mother.
“It was very uncomfortable how Ms. Knight would favor (Tia) over the other students while (Tia’s) mother trailed behind like she was unwanted. Nothing about it felt right.”~Julie DeFant
It was not long after this field trip that everything came to a head, and Tia finally broke down to her parents. According to Julie, whom Tia’s mother had confided in, Tia was in tears and said that she did not want to go to school as a boy anymore and wanted to just be normal with her friends…but was worried Ms. Knight would be upset with her.
This revelation by Tia solidified her parents’ resolve to withdraw both Tia and her little brother from the school immediately, almost two weeks before the year ended.
Julie had reached out to Tia’s mother by phone to see if they were ok and on June 23rd she received a call back. Tia’s mother went into full detail about what had transpired. Julie put the phone on speaker with Ryan and says they were absolutely floored by what they were told.
Tia’s mother said they were living in “hiding at a safe house” while trying to figure out what to do. She went on to describe multiple red flags throughout the year and accused Ms. Knight of grooming her daughter in a “cult-like” atmosphere in which she intentionally put a wedge between mother and daughter. They felt powerless to help their daughter who was under “a spell” from this teacher with whom Tia desperately wanted to please.
Most concerning to Tia’s parents was the fact that Ms. Knight continued to pursue their daughter via her student email, long after she was withdrawn from the school.
These are some of the messages sent by Ms. Knight to Tia.
Wednesday June 15 9:29 a.m.
Friday June 17 4:34 p.m.
Saturday June 18 5:17 p.m.
Saturday June 18 5:44 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:19 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:33 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:33 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:34 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:35 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:36 p.m.
Saturday June 18 6:39 p.m.
Friday June 24
The following screenshot and texts were sent to Julie by Tia’s mother, who was upset that Ms. Knight tried to meet Tia in person. In a separate phone conversation with Julie, Tia’s mother expressed worry that Ms. Knight could try to kidnap Tia. Another reason they felt the need to flee.
Other staff involvement
Public records confirm that other staff members went out of their way to participate in the deception of Tia’s parents as well, including altering the yearbook.
A paraeducator consulted with her daughter’s trans partner, who had a “Masters in Gender Studies”, to provide unapproved resource material for Tia on transgenderism.
Mr. DeFant
Meanwhile, Ryan, who was going through his own battle as a teacher, was receiving multiple reprimands in 2022 for: Notifying classroom parents about teaching material, bringing a Thin Blue Line flag as part of a BLM lesson, and accusations of “bigoted” comments about gay/trans people (only to be found false).
By the end of the year, Ryan received a formal letter of reprimand in his file which was the final straw for him. He no longer felt he could continue working in what he describes as “a hostile work environment where he was forced to impose ideological and political beliefs on students.”
“That’s not what I signed up for as a teacher.”~Ryan DeFant
Tia
Julie maintained contact with Tia’s mother during this tumultuous time. She says the family moved back to India so they could heal and focus on resettling elsewhere. It’s unclear where the family is now.
Below is a text to Julie from Tia’s mother in August with an update.
Ms. Knight
Ms. Knight currently remains an elementary teacher in the Olympia School District as well as a Teachers Union Representative. The Olympia School District maintains that they do not discuss staff personnel matters.