School policies across the U.S., particularly those that seek to keep students’ gender identity secret from their parents, have come under sharp criticism in recent years.
For several educators, resistance to such policies has resulted in the loss of their jobs.
But one such individual in Indiana fought back, recently scoring a six-figure settlement to resolve an ongoing lawsuit.
Here’s what Fox News reported:
“I am thrilled to see this case settled, but most of all I am grateful that Indiana law now requires the South Madison Community School Corporation to notify parents about a child’s request to change his or her name or pronouns,” Kathy McCord said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
McCord, who worked for 37 years in the education field, filed a lawsuit in 2023 after she was fired for speaking to the media about the central Indiana district’s transgender support plan.
“Because of that, South Madison can no longer force other educators to lie and keep secrets about children from their own parents,” McCord said. “When I spoke out on my own time in my personal capacity, I did so because I understood how important it is for parents to be involved in all matters of their child’s life — especially when their child is struggling. I loved and cared for students for over 37 years. Despite decades of success as a teacher and school counselor, I was fired after simply expressing my beliefs on an important topic, which were different than the school district’s. No public-school employee should be fired for expressing her personal beliefs or be forced to lie to students or parents.”
The developing narrative has resonated with many social media users:
When Kathy McCord, then a high school counselor with the South Madison Community School Corporation in Indiana, was told that she must treat some students as though they were the opposite sex, she objected. The district’s “Gender Support Plan” policy mandated that employees, upon… pic.twitter.com/2eoLDV13xm
— Edward Gregory Jones (@EdwardJonesNYC) September 28, 2023
Here’s the full text from the post above:
When Kathy McCord, then a high school counselor with the South Madison Community School Corporation in Indiana, was told that she must treat some students as though they were the opposite sex, she objected. The district’s “Gender Support Plan” policy mandated that employees, upon request, begin referring to children by cross-gender names or pronouns—the controversial practice of so-called “social transition”—and, sometimes, to do so without parents’ knowledge.
This mandate violated Kathy’s religious beliefs about men and women. But the school district gave her no choice: If she didn’t abide by the new policy, she could be fired.
Then someone in the community alerted a journalist about this deceptive policy. When the journalist reached out to confirm the policy’s details, Kathy told him the truth.
Kathy answered the reporter’s questions honestly. When asked, she confirmed that under South Madison’s “Gender Support Plan” policy, employees would treat some students as the opposite sex even without parents’ knowledge.
ADVERTISEMENTAfter the journalist published his first article about the district’s policy, school officials pulled Kathy into multiple meetings over a span of several weeks, which eventually led to a school board vote to fire Kathy.
South Madison violated Kathy’s free speech—and parents’ right not to be kept in the dark about their own children—all for the sake of harmful, radical gender ideology. This has to stop now.
That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys have stepped up and filed a lawsuit on Kathy’s behalf.
Schools cannot force employees to violate their beliefs to avoid termination from their jobs, nor can they fire them for simply speaking the truth about school policy. Your help is needed to stand up against school policies that keep parents in the dark, and for the freedom of us all to speak the truth.
Indiana school counselor Kathy McCord, who says she was fired after speaking out against her district’s gender identity policy, has settled her lawsuit for $200,000.
The case put South Madison Community School Corporation under a harsh spotlight over parental notification,…
— Erik Hoffmann (@TheErikHoffmann) April 15, 2026
Alliance Defending Freedom represented McCord and laid out the context of the case at its outset in 2023:
“No educator should be fired for expressing her beliefs, especially when she speaks in her personal capacity, on her own time, and out of concern for her students,” said ADF Senior Counsel Vincent Wagner. “Yet when Kathy spoke out about South Madison’s controversial new policy, the school district did just that. Kathy knows that kids do best when schools and parents work together. But South Madison’s harmful policy leaves parents in the dark. South Madison violated Kathy’s rights by forcing her to contradict her religious beliefs and participate in this policy. Schools can’t keep secrets from parents about their children’s mental health and wellbeing.”
According to the new policy, South Madison required counselors like McCord to use a form called a “Gender Support Plan” to document whenever the school decided to begin using cross-gender names or pronouns for a student and whether the school would notify a student’s parents. The new policy did not require parental consent, or even parental notification, to change a student’s name and pronouns. South Madison instituted this new policy without consulting the school community or parents, and without presenting the Gender Support Plan policy at a school board meeting or posting it on the district’s website.
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