Parent Action Results In SchoolDocs Dropping “Gender Identity” From Human Rights Act List In School Policies

Let Kids Be Kids is welcoming a quiet but significant change to national school policy templates after challenging the legal accuracy of SchoolDocs’ “Inclusive School Culture” policy.

SchoolDocs – a private company supplying policies to 80-85% of New Zealand schools – has been writing into school policy that discrimination could be based on “sex, … sexual orientation or gender identity, … listed in the Human Rights Act 1993 (s 27)”. This wording incorrectly:

• cited section 27 instead of section 21 of the Human Rights Act; and
• implied that “gender identity” is explicitly listed as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the Act, when it is not.

Following correspondence from Let Kids Be Kids, SchoolDocs has now:

• corrected the reference to section 21; and
• removed “gender identity” from the list of prohibited grounds in its Inclusive School Culture template.

“This is an important win for New Zealand families,” says Let Kids Be Kids founder Penny Marie. “A private contractor has backed away from presenting ‘gender identity’ as if Parliament had written it into the Human Rights Act. The law is sex‑based. That matters.”

However, Let Kids Be Kids warns there is “a sting in the tail”. The revised template now states that discrimination on the grounds of sex is “considered to include gender identity” and links schools directly to a Human Rights Commission (HRC) webpage that treats gender identity as covered by sex discrimination.

“The Human Rights Act does not list ‘gender identity’,” says Penny. “It is the Human Rights Commission and other agencies who have decided to reinterpret ‘sex’ to include gender identity. That is an activist, political stance – not a neutral statement of the law – and it is being piped straight into school policy.”

Let Kids Be Kids is also raising governance concerns about SchoolDocs’ change process:

• policy templates can be altered centrally and pushed into all schools it services, at once;
• there is no obvious public version history for parents or staff; and
• it is unclear whether boards are notified when wording changes are made.

“One day ‘gender identity’ is in the discrimination list, the next day it’s gone, and there is no easy way for a board or parent to prove what the policy used to say,” Penny says. “That should alarm anyone who cares about transparency in a compulsory school system.”

Call to action

Let Kids Be Kids is urging:

• Parents to read their school’s Inclusive School Culture policy, note the current wording on sex and gender identity, and ask their principal and board how changes are approved and recorded.
• Board members to seek clear information on:
  • how and when SchoolDocs notifies the school of policy updates;
  • whether previous versions are archived and accessible; and
  • the legal advice relied upon when importing HRC interpretations into local policy.

A detailed analysis of the policy changes, the Human Rights Commission’s role, and practical next steps for parents and boards – including email templates – is available in the latest Let Kids Be Kids article: “SchoolDocs backs off ‘gender identity’ – but now leans on an activist Human Rights Commission”