Will County Gazette

Will County Board Member Steve Balich is raising concerns about Community Unit School District 300 (CUSD 300) in Kane County following allegations that elementary students have been allowed to socially transition their gender identities at school without parental notification.

Balich’s comments follow claims from an anonymous whistleblower alleging that at least three children were using new names and pronouns in the classroom without their families being informed.

The whistleblower said the secrecy was intentional and systemic.

“We have three elementary kids whose parents don't know that they call them different genders when they're at school,” the source told the Kane County Reporter. “Could you imagine if that was your child and you found out about that?” 

In one example, the whistleblower reported that a student identifying as a "furry" was allowed to lick themselves in class as a calming behavior. That case reportedly had parental approval, but it has added to concerns about the boundaries schools are willing to cross.

“I'm disgusted when I read that,” Balich told the Will County Gazette. “I mean, it was so outlandish that it's actually happening.”

He stressed that the responsibility for shaping a child’s values and identity lies with parents, not schools.

“The school thinks that they should raise your children, but it's not their job,” Balich said. 

Reflecting on similar issues closer to home, Balich pointed to past controversies in local school districts.

He cited districts 92, 33C and 205 as examples of schools facing comparable situations, noting that during the COVID-19 lockdowns, parents protested after discovering sexualized curriculum being taught to their children.

“[Parents] started screaming and taking their kids out of school,” he said. “I think they probably still have their classes, but they don't really talk about it. I'm not saying they're hiding it from people, but at one point, well, they hired a transgender person who was violent at District 33C. After people found out about it, they went nuts, and the guy was let go.”

In Illinois, state law requires public schools to teach topics such as gender ideology to children as young as eight years old. Critics argue that such mandates strip families of control and expose young students to age-inappropriate content.

“What I hear from other people is that schools kind of push the idea of changing your sex and schools think that that's a wonderful thing to be transgender,” Balich said.  

Meanwhile, a 2024 bill sponsored by State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Downers Grove) intensified the debate over gender identity in Illinois schools. 

House Bill 4876 proposed redefining “abused child” to include minors denied gender-affirming care, allowing minors to consent to such care without parental approval, and shielding providers from legal liability, raising further concerns about parental rights.

Although the bill did not pass, its goals remain relevant amid ongoing controversies like those in Community Unit School District 300. 

At CUSD 300, officials, including Superintendent Dr. Martina Smith, have not responded to the allegations made by the whistleblower.

Laurie Parman, a former teacher with 26 years in CUSD 300 and a current political candidate, backed up the whistleblower’s claims. 

She described a training session before the Covid pandemic where teachers were allegedly instructed to hide students’ involvement in LGBTQ-related clubs and activities.

“If a parent called and asked, ‘Where was my student after school on Tuesday?’ and the student was at the LGBTQ club, you were told to say, ‘They were at the Swans Club. It’s a writing club.’ They even said, ‘Because we do writing in there.’ That was the exact wording,” Parman said. 

Parman said school officials justified the secrecy as a way to protect students’ mental health, an argument she rejects. 

“It was to prove the point that we definitely needed to be dishonest with parents because parents could not be trusted,” she said.  

Balich criticized the district’s secretive approach.

“What are we, a communist now?” Balich said. “That's what it reminds me of, like what we used to think of Russia in 1950s.” 

Documents obtained by Defending Education show that CUSD 300 uses a “Student Gender Support Plan” based on a model developed by the nonprofit Gender Spectrum. 

The plan allows students to determine how much of their gender identity is shared with others, including parents, and asks school staff whether the student’s guardians are “aware and supportive.” If not, staff are advised on how to proceed without disclosure.

Under the policy, school employees must use students’ preferred names and pronouns and grant them access to facilities and activities in line with their declared gender identity.

Secretly transitioning students has occurred in several school districts nationwide and has sparked lawsuits and legislation in states such as California, Arizona, Colorado and Wisconsin.

Balich argues that emphasizing gender identity in schools comes at the expense of fundamental academic skills, and pointed to declining student performance as proof.

“The school has no business telling me what's good for my kids,” he said. “And all this is going on. None of them can read and write like they're supposed to anymore. None know how to do math like you're supposed to. So they're too busy teaching all this garbage, and they are graduating basically functionally illiterate. But they know about changing their sex, and they know all that kind of stuff, but they don't know about math. They don't even know how to read and write.”

As a longtime critic of progressive education trends, Balich also warned of the mental health consequences.

“What about the children that start getting mental illness because they're a boy or a girl, and then they're allowed to, without parents really knowing about it, just change their identity and start acting like the opposite sex at school?” Balich said. “And they come home wearing the proper clothes that they left in, and the parents don't know. They have no clue. And now these kids don't know if they're a man or a woman.”

He insisted that transparency and parental control must be prioritized.

“I don't like the idea, first off, that it's even being taught in a class in the school without getting something in writing from the parents that says it's okay,” he said. “And the parents should have the right to opt out for their kids for everything that they want to teach them. Now, it just was like a disturbing—I don't know if this is like a very disturbing ending.”

He issued a warning to schools in Will County against engaging in the radical sexualization of students. 

“I'm going to be right there with the parents fighting with them,” Balich said.