A whistleblower video confirms that, contrary to protestations, USD 500 Kansas City appears to continue flouting state and federal law concerning “social transitioning” of students by having the conversations “be like underground railroad conversations…so not stopping the work, just not making it so public.”
Another speaker says.”Everybody’s kind of in the same garbled mess of figuring out where can we find the loopholes, where can we sneak things in.”
The audio recording played in the video shared by “Libs of TikTok” — audio obtained independently by The Sentinel as well — has Canise Salinas-Willich, the assistant superintendent of organizational development and library services, stressing that the district does not have a “policy” but rather a set of tightly gate-kept “guidelines” on transitioning students.
“I just wanted to give you one more update on that transgender guideline, not a policy that we, we do not have a transgender policy that you heard at the last board meeting, Salinas-Willich is heard saying in the undated audio. “We do have a guideline, and that guideline is an internal document that will not be shared out to the public, it won’t even be shared to staff members. Angela (Dunn) , Dr. (Anna) Stubblefield, Greg Goheen are kind of the gatekeepers. Lisa knows a little bit about it, knows a lot about it as well, but this won’t be something that we just start to put out there for the system.
“We have a group who wants to come and support. There will be a group on the 13th who will come and support students and staff, but they will not have access to our transgender guidelines, because they had asked if they could use that in support of, and that is a no, and I have directed anyone to Angela Dunn or Dr. Stubblefield if they want more about that guideline.”
Stubblefield is the USD 500 superintendent of Schools, Goheen is the district’s attorney, Dunn is the administrative coordinator for student services, and “Lisa” would appear to be Lisa Walker, assistant superintendent of federal programs.
A second speaker, unidentified, said the USD 500 document in question was “not even like guidelines, it is just a document for when different situations come out.”
The Sentinel filed a request under the Kansas Open Records Act for the document in question, which was provided. The document entitled “USD 500 TRANSGENDER AND GENDER NON-CONFORMING STUDENTS INTERNAL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT” clearly states that decisions to notify parents will be made on a case-by-case basis.
The document metadata indicates it was created on Sept. 19, 2025, just a few months after Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach asked the United States Department of Education to investigate USD 500 — along with the Olathe, Shawnee Mission, and Topeka school districts for violating both Title IX and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
While stating the substantive documentation provided by the districts was lacking, the Department of Education found:
“The districts had policies that were likely to prevent schools from notifying parents of their child’s so-called ‘gender transition,’ even if the parent requested their child’s records, thereby violating parents’ rights under FERPA to access school records pertaining to their children. The Districts’ policies allow schools to conceal from parents whether their children are using different pronouns, going by different names, or even having different names printed on their diplomas.”
In addition, the Department also cited USD 500 Kansas City and USD 501 Topeka with Title IX civil rights violations because the two districts had policies:
“That allow male students to use female restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms, as well as participate in single-sex athletics, based on ‘gender identity.’ OCR (Office of Civil Rights) also concluded that Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools denied OCR access to information in violation of federal law. Additionally, OCR found that Olathe Public Schools and Shawnee Mission Public Schools violated Title IX with policies that allow students to use restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms based on “gender identity.'”
USD 500 guidelines on parental notification of gender transitions and gender identity
The USD 500 guideline state that “A student or a student’s parent or legal guardian should contact the school principal if a student is transgender or gender non-conforming and the student or the student’s parent or legal guardian are seeking any related accommodations. If any staff member learns a student is transgender or gender non-conforming, that information should be relayed to the school principal without delay. The school principal should discuss available accommodations and resources with the student or the student’s parent or legal guardian, (emphasis added) including the availability of a planning meeting.”
The document goes on to state that “If it becomes known that the student does not want the student’s parent or legal guardian included at this stage, that request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
However, under FERPA districts are required to allow parents access to all student records — which would include records of “gender transition.”
Moreover, Kansas law “mandates that state buildings and agencies (including public schools) shall not use resources to promote or advocate for social transitioning—such as using preferred pronouns or allowing dress inconsistent with the child’s sex assigned at birth, unless required by the First Amendment.”
It also states, “If the student asks to exclude the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s) from the school planning meeting, that request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Likewise, if the student does not want his or her transgender or gender non-conforming status disclosed to the student’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s), that request will also be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
The requests will then be evaluated by “the Executive Director of Student Services & Family Support, Director of Student Support Programs, Assistant Superintendent of Organizational Development, and the district’s attorney. When reviewing the request, the district will consider the student’s age, the student’s grade level, the student’s welfare based on the information available to the district at that time, and any other relevant information.”
