A Long Island teacher “forced” a fifth-grade girl to go by a male name and pronouns, confusing the child so much that she had suicidal thoughts, a lawsuit alleges.
Debra Rosenquist — a fifth-grade teacher at Terryville Road Elementary School in Port Jefferson Station — started calling the 9-year-old Leo and using opposite-gender pronouns toward the beginning of the 2021-’22 school year, according to a lawsuit filed in Suffolk County Court by the child’s parents last month.
The parents say they were only clued in about what was happening in January 2022, when the school principal called them, telling them their child — referred to in court papers as A.V. — had drawn a picture of a girl, writing, “I wanna kill myself” and “I feel sad like a lot,” the filing claims.
The principal also informed the parents that A.V. had even met with the school psychologist, telling the mental health worker that she “was confused about her gender identity,” the court papers say.
Despite Rosenquist, 62, having referred to the student “for months at that point” as Leo, it was only during the Jan. 27, 2022, call that the parents were asked for the first time if this name was okay, the suit claims.
The parents were supportive “as long as it was A.V. who had requested the name change,” the filing said.
But they had doubts she had asked to be called Leo to identify as a boy — in the past, she had been called that by a friend but in reference to her astrological sign.
A.V.’s parents also became concerned when they saw complaints against Rosenquist on Facebook, claiming the teacher had been reported for abuse but that the school district had done nothing about it because she was tenured, the suit alleges.
During a deeper dig into the social media comments, the parents found that Rosenquist didn’t follow the school curriculum and taught her students about transgender people and told kids to “try being gay” or try going by the opposite gender, the suit claims.
The educator even made her own LGBTQ+ book called “I Am Neither” for her 9- and 10-year-old students and assigned a book called “When Aiden Becomes a Brother,” according to the lawsuit.
While the parents weren’t concerned by the topic, they were worried that it was being taught at too young an age and were also worried that Rosenquist “had significantly deviated from the district’s curriculum,” the suit claims.
One of the parents met with the principal, the superintendent and the assistant superintendent on Feb. 3, 2022, when the administrators “admitted that the issue was ‘not handled properly'” and said they hadn’t known about the off-curriculum materials that Rosenquist had been using, the filing alleges.
While they said they had investigated, “it was clear the investigation was superficial at best,” the suit claims.
The parents are accusing the school of negligence in failing to properly monitor Rosenquist’s classroom and train and supervise staff.
The parents “were incredibly concerned about the well-being of their 9-year-old daughter,” the court papers say. “They have and will always support A.V. but worried that A.V. was being persuaded by Rosenquist to be transgender when she had not expressed any such inclination.”
A.V. was placed in a different classroom but now is the subject of bullying and alienation, the filing alleges.
Some of her classmates even have a text message group where they discussed leaving A.V. out with comments including: “literally tho what is she??? Girl?? Boy???,” the court papers say.
The whole ordeal has caused A.V. to suffer “humiliation,” “anxiety,” “emotional pain” and “trauma.” And the family has had to pay for psychological treatment and lawyers fees.
The family is suing for unspecified damages.
Rosenquist was removed from that classroom but is now teaching younger students, according to the family’s lawyer Debra Wabnik.
Wabnik told The Post in a statement that Rosenquist “manipulated a pre-teen female into changing her gender identity when the child did not feel any inclination to do so.” A working number could not be found for Rosenquist Tuesday.
“The psychological and social damage Rosenquist caused this child and her family was immense,” Wabnik said. “Incredibly, the district still has Rosenquist in the classroom where she can similarly harm other innocent children.”
A.V. “prefers female, as she always did. At no point did she identify as male,” the lawyer said. “The notion that she identified as male was foisted upon her by Rosenquist.”
Comsewogue School District Superintendent Jennifer Quinn said the district investigated and took action in accordance with the laws and union agreements.
“The Comsewogue School District fosters a caring atmosphere conducive to learning free of any behaviors violative of our goal of dignity for all students,” Quinn said in a statement Tuesday.
“The health, safety and welfare of our students and staff are always the district’s top priority.”
She declined to comment on Rosenquist’s job status and declined to comment on the allegations citing pending litigation and student confidentiality.
