Debra Rosenquist — a 5th-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.