Education Department opens a FERPA/PPRA investigation of Northborough-Southborough schools

The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation. It has not found a violation.

On 17 September 2026, ED.gov published the primary. The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) launched an investigation into the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough to determine whether the district violated FERPA and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) after reports that school officials allegedly facilitated a so-called “gender transition” of a minor without parents’ knowledge or consent. The press release names Algonquin Regional High School. ED’s own words: it is “currently unclear whether the school and the district complied,” and SPPO will investigate to determine whether there has been a violation. No finding yet.

The Education Department restates the parents’ allegations this way: staff helped facilitate their daughter’s so-called “social transition” to a boy without informing them; after-school counseling while they thought it was math help; a male name and pronouns without their knowledge; a counselor later reported the family to Massachusetts DCF. Those are allegations in an Education Department announcement. They are not a FERPA or PPRA ruling. Social transition at school is the on-ramp to sex-rejecting medicalization.

The district denies. Superintendent Gregory Martineau has unequivocally denied the referenced allegations. The district says it will cooperate fully and wants a complete factual record.

Custody is still in court. Gov. Maura Healey attributes the DCF removal to criminal charges against the parents, not to sex-rejecting procedures. The parents dispute that. They say the school reported the family and that the state has kept their daughter. A DCF spokesperson, as WBUR reports, said lack of support for what the agency called a gender transition would not be a reason to remove a child. ED’s release says the family is in litigation over custody.

Read the Education Department’s press release.

U.S. Department of Education press release (17 September 2026)

Education Department on X

WBUR — Healey, DCF, and court records