A federal investigation now under way could change the rules at Van Nuys High School about who finds out when a student begins a gender transition. The U.S. Department of Justice is examining a 2019 Los Angeles Unified School District policy that gives school staff discretion over whether to tell parents.

Van Nuys follows that policy. The outcome will not just affect families in Pacific Palisades, where the case began. It will affect students here.

The investigation follows a lawsuit filed by parents who say the policy contributed to their child’s death.

LAUSD’s 2019 gender identity policy, which runs about 11 pages long, directs school staff to respect student’s chosen names and pronouns and allows them to use facilities that match their gender identity. When it comes to notifying parents, the policy provides no single clear rule.

Instead, it says staff should consider the students’ safety, health and well-being before deciding whether to share that information. It also suggests that school employees work with students to figure out what is best in each situation.

The policy was created to support students who do not feel safe being open about their identity at home. Those who support it say some students could face serious consequences, such as rejection or harm, if they are outed without their permission. Since every student’s situation is different, the district chose to give administrators flexibility rather than enforce one strict rule.

The Justice Department notified LAUSD about the investigation in a March 2026 letter, according to The New York Times. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said the administration would not “tolerate policies that deny parents’ fundamental rights.”

An LAUSD spokesperson said the district could not comment on specifics because the investigation is still open.

The investigation began with a civil lawsuit filed by the parents of Aria Parke, a former Palisades Charter High School student who is identified by her legal name, Dylan, in court documents.

Palisades Charter is an independent school within LAUSD. Van Nuys High School, by contrast, is operated directly by the district.

A sophomore at Palisades Charter in 2019-20, Parke told staff she would use she/her pronouns and the name Aria, according to the lawsuit. She graduated in 2022 and committed suicide in March 2024 at age 19.

According to the lawsuit, the district’s policy, which the family calls a “secrecy policy,” kept important information from Parke’s parents and damaged the family’s relationship with her.

The family claims the lack of communication played a role in her declining mental health. LAUSD has not publicly responded to the allegations made in the lawsuit.

The parents’ attorney argues that schools usually require parental permission for major decisions, such as medical care or field trips, but did not involve the parents in a decision as significant as Parke’s social transition at school. The lawsuit claims that by supporting Parke’s name and pronoun changes without notifying the family, the school went beyond its role and excluded the parents from something they believed they had a right to know about.

“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,” Kathleen Mulligan, the student’s mother, wrote in an email to school staff that the lawsuit later included as evidence. “He has so much potential and I worry about his mental health,”

LAUSD’s investigation is part of a larger legal conflict between the federal government and California over how schools handle gender identity. In 2024, California passed Assembly Bill 1955, which barred schools from requiring staff to inform parents about a student’s gender identity or pronoun changes without the student’s consent. The Trump administration has argued that both this law and similar district policies violate the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which gives parents the right to inspect their children’s school records.

The legal ground has already shifted. On March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta that temporarily blocked AB 1955 from being enforced.

The ruling means that for now, California school staff can no longer be barred from telling parents about a student’s gender identity for the families who sued.

The court did not make a final decision on whether the law is constitutional. Lower courts will keep hearing the case.

In a separate case, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has challenged the federal government’s interpretation of FERPA. In a lawsuit filed in February against the U.S. Department of Education, Bonta argued that FERPA does not require schools to automatically inform parents about a student’s gender identity.

He also said that forcing schools to share that information could put some students at risk, especially if they are not in a safe home environment.

The lawsuit claims the federal government is trying to twist the law to force schools into “outing” students, arguing that FERPA only grants parents access to records if they specifically ask for them.

The issue is not limited to California. The U.S. Justice Department has opened similar investigations into school districts in Michigan over their LGBTQ+-related curriculum and parental opt-out rights, and the U.S. Department of Education is conducting similar FERPA investigations of Maine and Washington state, according to EdSource. These investigations have left school districts nationwide in legal uncertainty.

The Justice Department’s investigation into LAUSD also includes a separate complaint from a female student who says she was sexually harassed, according to The New York Times.

Van Nuys High School operates under the same LAUSD gender identity policy that is now under federal investigation.

“The policy lets students have the opportunity to find comfort with staff such as counselors,” freshman Gwen Cartena said.

For students at Van Nuys, the question of who gets to know what is not abstract.

“I think the policy allows students to be able to talk to their counselor about their sexuality and not be outed to their parents,” she said.

Sophomore Eli Augustine sees the policy differently.

“It seems like it’s formulated mostly on personal opinion and bias,” Augustine said. “More leniency should be instilled because it seems like a very opinionated enforcement.”

Research has linked being outed without consent to worse mental health. A University of Connecticut study in the Journal of Research on Adolescence found that one-third of LGBTQ+ youth who were outed without their consent were more likely to report major symptoms of depression, 69% described the experience as extremely stressful.

The Trevor Project’s 2023 national survey found that 41% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously thought about suicide in the past year, with transgender and nonbinary youth reporting even higher rates.

Students at Van Nuys can talk to a trusted adult. Psychiatric social workers, academic counselors and support counselors are available if they are struggling with mental health or identity.

Specialized Student Services counselor Jacklyn Freyberger said she works hard to make students feel heard before anything else.

“In my communication with students, I try to understand where they’re coming from,” she said. “One of the questions I ask is, ‘Do your parents know?’ because I never want to out a student. Whether they’re trans, gay, bisexual, or any of those sensitive topics, I make sure that I’m not outing that student to their parents.”

Psychiatric social worker Talia Silver said how she handles when a student comes to talk about gender identity.

“My office is a welcoming space for all students to talk about all facets of identity, whether its race, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity, I welcome all those conversations,” Silver said. “It’s a safe place and it’s a confidential place. So students can tell me if they don’t want me to share the information with anyone and I honor that. The only times I cannot honor confidentiality or privacy is if a student is sharing something around safety concerns, such as thoughts of hurting themselves or others or someone harming them.”

For now, the policy at Van Nuys remains in effect while the Justice Department conducts its investigation. Federal civil rights cases of this scale typically take months or years to resolve. Until a final ruling is issued, the district will continue to use its current rules for communicating with families.

Cartena says there is a middle ground.

“What I think should happen is when students talk to the counselor, the counselor should motivate the student to talk and open up to their family,” she said.