LAUSD torn apart for trans ‘secrecy policy’ after teen’s suicide: ‘Dangerous and avoidable’

Los Angeles Unified School District has been slammed for a “secrecy policy” that kept a couple in the dark about their only child’s gender identity before they died by suicide.

Dylan Parke was already struggling to fit in as a sophomore at Palisades Charter High School in 2019 – 2020 when he told school staffers he would use she/her pronouns and go by the name “Aria.”

The 19-year-old had been diagnosed with depression and was “preoccupied with how others perceived him,” his parents Kathleen Mulligan and Andrew Parke said in a California federal court lawsuit.

But despite their proactive involvement in Dylan’s life, staffers kept his trans declaration a secret — driving a wedge between the child and his desperate parents, they said in court papers.

California State Superintendent candidate Sonja Shaw tore into the school’s decision on Sunday, saying “the government should never replace a parent.”

She told the Post: “This story is heartbreaking and my heart goes out to this family. No parent should ever experience a loss like this.

“But it also exposes the dangerous consequences of the policies that leaders like Gavin Newsom and the political cartel in California have been pushing for years.

She said school districts like hers have been attacked for simply believing parents should be told about major issues impacting their kids.

She continued: “This was avoidable. Many of us have been warning that pushing parents out and driving a wedge between children and their families would lead to tragic outcomes like this.”

She added: “This tragedy should be a wake up call for California. Policies that deliberately exclude parents are reckless and dangerous.”

Mulligan assured a school staffer she was “not transphobic” but noted her concerns that Dylan may have been on the autism spectrum, was “easily influenced” and reeling from being left off the baseball team.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

The worried mom voiced “her belief that Dylan was particularly vulnerable to social contagion related to gender identity, as his ‘trans identity’ appeared to provide him with a sense of belonging and validation from peers who were being celebrated for similar disclosures,” she said in the lawsuit.

“If I thought Dylan was really trans I would have a different mindset but I know my son better than anyone and I know he is struggling and I want what is best for him. He has so much potential and I worry about his mental health,” she wrote.

But educators did not answer Mulligan’s message and “further . . . denied them the opportunity to participate in the care of their minor son,” the parents said in the legal filing.

Staff treated Dylan’s transition “as an absolute directive and affirmed and reinforced it enthusiastically and with praise and support,” while also giving him information on housing for LGBTQ youth, according to the lawsuit. It’s unclear if the teen transitioned physically.

The school’s interactions with the teenager allegedly destroyed the Parke family — leaving the parents confused and “walking on eggshells” and Dylan “withdrawn, oppositional, and distrustful.”

Palisades Charter High School listed Dylan in the June 2022 graduation program as “Aria Parke.” He committed suicide in March 2024.