In 2023, Ann Trethewey asked the Downingtown Area School District to see its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) materials used to train staff, teachers, and students in her three children's public school district. But her request for the so-called "trade secret" was denied.
"It goes to show what length schools unfortunately are going to to shield basic information from parents," comments Wally Zimolong, who represented Trethewey as a member of the Goldwater Institute's American Freedom Network of pro bono attorneys. "You'd think that schools would want to be partners with parents, and you'll hear about how school districts are partners with parents, but they don't act like it."
Last week, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the DEI training materials were not trade secrets because their value was derived from being shared with employees, not from being kept secret. Materials that are so widely distributed simply cannot qualify as trade secrets.
Trethewey has not fully won yet, however, as the appeals court also remanded the question of whether the materials are "confidential proprietary information," whose disclosure by an agency would cause "substantial [competitive] harm" to the submitter, to the Chester County Court of Common Pleas, which fully sided with the district.
Zimolong says parents must remain vigilant and persistent when it comes to forcing school districts to comply with their right to see what their tax dollars are funding and what their own children are learning.
"The school district went a great length to rebuff our client's attempts to do that," he says about this case. "It shows that ultimately, if parents continue the fight, transparency will prevail."
Reiterating that parents have a right to know what their children are being taught in taxpayer-funded schools, Zimolong says school districts across the country continue to push ideological agendas, so he knows the fight for parental rights is far from over.
