Public schools should not use "I am Jazz" without explaining its myths

The Washtenaw County Task Force on Transgender Youth (part of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District), in partnership with the Washtenaw County Health Department, has produced a video reading of “I am Jazz” using various community members (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhPXzQd-uFw). They plan to show the video it in elementary schools and other venues across many districts in Washtenaw and Livingston county. They also have copies of the book in many of the schools.

However, the book is not consistent with the latest scientific data and instead teaches myths. See for example, https://correcting-myths-in-i-am-jazz.weebly.com/. For example, the book states "I have a girl brain but a boy body. This is called transgender." Scientific data clearly demonstrates that male to female transgender individuals do not have a female brain, but brains that are distinct from the brains of either gender (Savic & Arver, 2011; Guillamon et al., 2016; Smith et al, 2015; Burke et al., 2017).

Both our school district (the Saline Area Schools) and the Washtenaw Intermediate School district have been informed that the book teaches myths. The Saline Area School district has responded to some requests in an online petition (https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/transgender-movie-i-am-jazz.html), but ignored the aspect that the book is not up to date. Neither the Saline Area School district nor the Washtenaw Intermediate School district have responded to our emails regarding the myths or acknowledged that the book is not fully accurate. The districts have continued to promote the book, without informing parents about the myths in the book and the scientific data. This prevents parents from making an informed decision about whether to opt their children out of the reading, and implies that the schools will teach the myths to the children as truth, just as the book does.

We share the common goal of improving respect for all children, including those who are transgender, those who have gender dysphoria, or those that are gender atypical. Our hearts go out to all individuals effected by gender dysphoria or disrespect. However, it is essential that we teach up-to-date scientific information in our public schools.

References
Burke SM, Manzouri AH, Savic I. Structural connections in the brain in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation. Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 20;7(1):17954.
Guillamon A, Junque C, Gomez-Gil E. A Review of the Status of Brain Structure Research in Transsexualism. Arch Sex Behav. 2016 Oct;45(7):1615–48.
Savic I, Arver S. Sex Dimorphism of the Brain in Male-to-Female Transsexuals. Cereb Cortex. 2011 Nov 1;21(11):2525–33.
Smith ES, Junger J, Derntl B, Habel U. The transsexual brain – A review of findings on the neural basis of transsexualism. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2015 Dec 1;59:251–66.