Waukesha County Charter School Wants To Offer a Safe Place for LGBTQ+ Students

At a business park in Waukesha County, one mom is working to do what she says the federal government is no longer interested in doing: creating a school that will be a welcoming place for LGBTQ+ students.

Maria Luther said she decided to start Autumn Hill Academy, a new public charter school opening in the fall, after seeing too many teens struggle with bullying, anxiety and depression.

“The idea is if we create a school that is 100 percent focused on mental health issues and positive well-being, in addition to really strong academics, that maybe we can head off some of this,” Luther said.

The school’s mission is to create a “supportive, inclusive environment where students are empowered to live authentically and achieve their full potential.”

Luther and other Autumn Hill leaders say recent changes made by local school board leaders and the Trump administration, including the end of federal Title IX protections for transgender students, have moved some schools in the opposite direction.

Luther is a former corporate attorney who now owns the Smiley Barn toy store in Delafield. She also is a mother who has both biological and foster children. She said seeing her own children bullied made her want to open a school that put student well-being first.

Luther’s daughter, Britney Seaborn, is a freshman at Oconomowoc High School. Britney, 14, said bullying at school is rampant.

“People pick on other students for no reason at all, just because of the way they are dressed, or the way they speak or the way their hair looks,” Britney said.

She’s hoping Autumn Hill will be a “bully-free” school.

Autumn Hill wants to welcome LGBTQ+ students

While Autumn Hill is open to all students, Luther anticipates up to 40 percent of the enrollment will be LGBTQ+ youth.

The school will prioritize respecting diversity and inclusive policies by highlighting LGBTQ+ history and role models.

“They’re faring the worst out of all the groups right now,” Luther said. “They’re not being socially accepted, and a school like this is going to give them a really safe place to just be who they are.”

All Wisconsin teens are facing significant mental health challenges, but survey results show girls and LGBTQ+ youth are at the highest risk of depression, anxiety and self-harm.

Seventy-nine percent of LGBTQ+ students who took the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported experiencing anxiety. Sixty-three percent reported experiencing depression, and 40 percent reported considering suicide.

Youth and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24 years old account for 15 percent of all suicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for this age group, accounting for 7,126 deaths in 2021. From 2000 to 2021, suicide rates for this age group increased about 52 percent.

In 2022, the suicide rate in Wisconsin for 18 to 24 year olds was 16 per 100,000 residents, according to the state Department of Health Services.

The problem has touched Waukesha County quite recently. In the last five months, three teens in Waukesha County have died by suicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey from 2023 also found notable decreases in students feeling like they belong at school. Generally, students who report having strong adult support as well as high levels of school participation and belonging are less likely to engage in risky behaviors like self-harm.

Luther chose Pewaukee for the location of Autumn Hill because she lives in Waukesha County. But she says the public schools in Waukesha County have not been particularly welcoming to LGBTQ+ students.

In 2021, the School District of Waukesha was the first district in Wisconsin to require the removal of all “political” signage including Black Lives Matter signs, Thin Blue Line posters and rainbow signs and flags supporting LGBTQ+ individuals.

Four months later, a special education kindergarten teacher was suspended for displaying a rainbow flag in her classroom.

In 2023, the district enacted a “parental bill of rights,” which does not allow students to change their pronouns without written parental consent. And the board voted to end any diversity, equity and inclusion work in the district.

The School District of Waukesha gained national attention for its LGBTQ+ policies, including the firing of teacher Melissa Tempel and the controversy over the song “Rainbowland.”

The first-grade dual-language teacher blasted the district on social media after it excluded the song “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton from a student performance. The lyrics were widely believed to focus on acceptance, and district officials said they found the song “could be deemed controversial.”

Tempel has since filed a federal lawsuit.

Waukesha School Board members have said their decisions represent the values of their community. 

Waukesha School Board member Eric Brooks said he’s happy to see some folks on the left are “willing to embrace the power and importance of school choice.”

Brooks said Waukesha has “made it a priority to remove political distractions from classrooms and instead invest in proven, rigorous curriculum and high-quality educators.”

“When parents are empowered to choose, kids win,” Brooks said, noting that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not as a board member. “While I’m certainly skeptical of the school’s mission, sustainability and effectiveness, I fully support the right of Autumn Hill parents to choose the system that they believe will provide their child with the best education possible.”

Changes to Title IX, LGBTQ+ policies happening nationwide

Waukesha is not alone. School districts across Wisconsin including Kettle Moraine, Winneconne Community School District, Muskego-Norway Schools, the School District of Abbotsford and Hartford Union High School District held off on making changes to their Title IX language this year.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination on the basis of gender identity, in all education programs that receive funding from the federal government.

A Biden-era effort to expand Title IX protections for transgender students in K-12 and college was later thrown out by a federal judge.

And the first days of the new Trump administration included a slew of executive orders, many targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

One of the president’s orders encourages criminal prosecutions of teachers for affirming LGBTQ+ students.

According to the executive order, children “are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.”

Another Trump order prohibits transgender girls from participating in school sports teams that align with their gender identity. It states that “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”

That directive has made its way to Wisconsin.

On Feb. 19, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association voted to change its policy to say only athletes “designated as females at birth” would be allowed to compete in girls sports.

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote soon on the confirmation of Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee to be education secretary.

During a recent confirmation hearing, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, asked McMahon if she would provide women with “basic safety” and enforce Trump’s executive orders regarding Title IX.

“I was very happy to see those restrictions on Title IX vacated, so we are really back to what Title IX was originally intended to do, and that is to protect [against] sexual discrimination,” McMahon said. “Women should feel safe in their locker rooms. They shouldn’t have to be exposed to men dressing in front of them.”

Watertown mother says her transgender son is a target

Wendy is the mother of a 16-year-old transgender son. She and her family live in Watertown, where the school district in November approved a “Gender Support Plan,” shifting to more restrictive policies for transgender students. 

Wendy, who isn’t using her last name to protect her son, said the school board’s decision to approve the plan was disappointing but not surprising. In 2023, a group of neo-Nazis protested an LGBTQ+ Pride event in Watertown. The group carried swastika flags and shouted homophobic language. In Wendy’s view, leaders who failed to condemn the rally contributed to an escalation of anti-gay rhetoric and activism.

Wendy’s son transitioned in middle school. He’s now a junior in high school and for the most part, Wendy said the staff and teachers have been very welcoming at Watertown High School.

“Some of the students have not been,” Wendy said. “My child has been called slurs in the hallways. He is called ‘it.’”

Watertown’s new policy states if a student is a minor, their parent or guardian must be alerted and provide consent before the student can identify with new pronouns or a new name that is different from what is on their birth certificate.

If a parent gives consent to affirm their child’s gender identity with new pronouns and a new name, under this policy, school staff “may” use those pronouns and name but “shall not be compelled” to do so, according to the district’s plan.

Students will also use the restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities on district property consistent with their biological sex.

The November meeting where the policy was decided drew hundreds of people, many in support of the new language.

One eighth grader said: “If I go to Watertown High School, I don’t want guys in my bathroom. That could give them the option to hurt any girl. You are taking my safe space.”

Wendy, who is a public school teacher in another district, attended the meeting, too. She said it reminded her of scare tactics used during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

She has learned about Autumn Hill Academy in Waukesha County, but her son is too old to attend.

Still, Wendy is hopeful for other LGBTQ+ students who will go to the school.

“Its purpose is to be overtly supportive and welcoming to queer and trans kids,” Wendy said. “I do know people who [feel that] we should fix the schools so that kids can just go to their home school, which I agree with. But if my kid is getting bullied in Waukesha or some of these other schools, I would be tempted.”

When Luther began the work of launching the school, she was reacting more to local school board politics rather than to national politics. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Office of Charter Schools approved Autumn Hill’s application in September, before the presidential election.

Even though her plans for the school were conceived during the Biden administration, she said the need is stronger now as the culture continues to shift right.

She and her board of directors held the first open house for interested families this month. They are preparing for another one in March.

The group is hoping to have about 170 sixth through 10th graders enrolled in fall. The school will eventually expand to sixth through 12th grade.

“Autumn Hill Academy is not exclusively for LGBTQ kids, it’s really about social and emotional well-being for all kids,” she said. “But we find that in this day and age, with some of the things that are happening, that group needs the support more than ever.”

Listen to the WPR report

Public charter school in Waukesha County wants to offer a safe place for LGBTQ+ students was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.