JeffCo Public Schools is facing the threat of legal scrutiny following an incident involving a female student who was assigned to share a bed with a biologically male student who identifies as transgender without notifying the girl or her parents, according to a release from attorneys representing the family.

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday to Jefferson County Public Schools on behalf of the Colorado parents to inform the district that its policy of allegedly hiding information from parents and lying to students is unconstitutional. ADF attorneys are representing Joe and Serena Wailes and their 11-year-old daughter.

The alliance bills itself as “the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights.”

The organization previously represented Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece Cakeshop lawsuit against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

The letter addressed to Superintendent Tracy Dorland and the JeffCo school board outlines an incident which took place during a fifth-grade cross-country trip this past summer and expresses concerns over the district’s overnight rooming policy.

According to the attorneys’ letter, the Wailes family was assured at parent meetings that male and female students would be roomed on different hotel floors during the trip. However, their daughter was assigned to share a bed with a biologically male student, who identified as transgender. The parents’ claim they were kept in the dark about this arrangement and it took multiple requests to move their daughter to another room.

The Wailes family said they were told at multiple parent meetings prior to the trip that female and male students would be roomed on different hotel floors, and on the trip the students were told by chaperones that boys were not even allowed to visit the girls’ floor, and vice versa, without permission, according to the letter.

The family and attorneys asserted that several of their rights were violated including freedom of speech, parental rights and a right to privacy, as outlined in the document.

JeffCo’s policy on transgender room accommodations states that, when it comes to sleeping arrangements, the needs of a transgender student will be assessed on a “case-by-case basis with the goals of maximizing the student’s social integration, providing equal opportunity to participate in overnight activity and athletic trips, ensuring the student’s safety and comfort, and minimizing stigmatization of the student.”

“In most cases, students who are transgender should be assigned to share overnight accommodations with other students that share the student’s gender identity consistently asserted at school,” the policy says, adding, “Any student who is transgender or not, who has a need or desire for increased privacy, regardless of the underlying reason, should be provided with a reasonable accommodation, which may include a private room.”

The policy adds: “Any alternative arrangement should be provided in a way that allows the student’s transgender status to be kept confidential.  Under no circumstance shall a student who is transgender be required to share a room with students whose gender identity conflicts with their own.”

However, according to ADF, the policy does not address situations where a girl might be required to share a bed with a boy who identifies as transgender.

The letter concludes by requesting action from the district by Dec. 18 which includes:

1. Clarification of the policy regarding room assignments for students and state whether parents of all students will be informed of the sex of their children’s roommates on school-sponsored trips before the trip.

2. Whether parents can opt their children out of any policy that rooms children by gender identity rather than sex.

3. Any documents related to JeffCo’s transgender policy, including related policies, training materials, emails discussing the policy, and documentation of previously granted accommodations. “We also expect assurances that any such clarification be included in the written policy going forward,” according to the letter.

They also requested that clarifications be included in the written policy going forward.

JeffCo Public Schools did not immediately respond to The Denver Gazette’s request for comment on the case.