Leaked emails show how a woke Massachusetts school handled a trans student's 'hit list' threat - anti-bias training and 'LGBTQIA+ affinity group'

A records request has uncovered shocking emails of how an ultra-progressive Massachusetts school dealt with a transgender student who named 40 students and teachers on a 'hit list.'

Watertown Public Schools, in the west Boston suburbs, did not expel the student. Instead, officials called for 'empathy for the creator' of the list, anti-bias training and the 'urgent' creation of an 'LGBTQIA+ affinity group.'

Parents Defending Education (PDE), a conservative group, obtained school emails through a public records request this week. They show parents were alarmed by the school's lax response to the threatening situation.

The emails spotlight wider fears about the rising number of children who identify as trans and nonbinary who face bullying, and the small but worrying number of them who turn to classroom violence.

Watertown Middle School in Boston's western suburbs was rocked by a trans student's 'hit list'

Some parents were shocked by Superintendent Deanne Galdston's handling of the threat

Casey Ryan, the PDE researcher who obtained the emails, said it was 'irresponsible to an alarming degree' how Watertown Public Schools 'kept this student's gender identity hidden from the public.'

'Parents deserve to know why their kids were targeted and potentially at risk of losing their lives,' Ryan told DailyMail.com.

'The district placed a higher priority on the transgender student's comfort than the safety of 40 other individuals.'

The list-writing student has not been identified. Email exchanges between staff and parents do not state if the student identified as male, female, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming.

Matthew McCarthy, a spokesman, said the school faced legal restrictions. The school is 'not going to comment on anything related to the identity of the student: their name, grade, or gender. Legally, we can't.'

The emails show how, at the end of January, a teacher overheard students at Watertown Middle School discussing who had been named on the hit list.

A search of the trans students' Chromebook revealed the document, which was titled 'hit list.'

The school alerted the police and interviewed the student.

They found the youngster did not have access to weapons, and that there was 'no credible threat' to safety at the 560-student grades 6-8 school.

School council member Lilly Rayman-Read called for 'empathy for the creator' of the hit list    

In writing the list, the child was 'expressing their frustration on paper' and did not plan violence, Superintendent Deanne Galdston wrote in an email to colleagues.

The school arranged a 'reentry process' to return the student to classes, Galdston wrote.

She said the 'list maker is very eager to make amends' to the students named in the document.

School principal Jennifer Chen Fein in an email focussed on the need to tackle 'anti-trans and other biased behavior' in class.

School Committee member Lily Rayman-Read was equally generous to the trans student.

In her emails, she called for 'empathy for the creator' of the list and the 'immediate creation of an affinity space for LGBTQIA+ families.'

It would help students 'across all spectrums' feel 'safe' at school, she wrote.

This ultra-progressive approach did not wash with some parents.

A school forum held that week descended into what Galdston called 'student shaming.'

An email from one parent of a child who was named on the list expressed alarm at the school's seemingly relaxed response.

'I am very frustrated with the lack of information … about your steps to ensure the safety of the school environment and your plan for reintegrating the student who wrote the Hit List,' the unnamed parent wrote.

Casey Ryan, an investigator for Parents Defending Education, a conservative group, called the school 'irresponsible'

The redacted emails have been released amid growing fears about trans violence in America's classrooms.

Pennbrook Middle School in Pennsylvania is reeling this week after a 13-year-old trans student used a metal Stanley mug to violently beat a fellow 12-year-old student in the head until blood spurted out.

Transgender 28-year-old Audrey Hale last year killed three children and three adults at her former school in Nashville, Tennessee.

A legal battle to release her suicide note and other writings has yet to be resolved.

Campaigners say that schools should help trans students by affirming their identity changes and tackling bullying.

Some conservatives warn of a fad and say schools should stick to teaching how to read and write.

On this frontline in America's culture wars, parents, students, and teachers have to make tough calls about rising rates of transgenderism, mental health issues, peer pressure, bullying, and if affirmation-on-demand is always the best answer.

McCarthy, the spokesman for the Massachusetts school, told DailyMail.com that the issue was now resolved.

'There have been no incidents since January and this matter has been closed since then,' he said.