A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that a group of parents could not challenge a Maryland school district’s policy against telling parents if their children identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming. ”The policy directs school personnel to help transgender and gender-nonconforming students create a plan that addresses their preferred pronouns, names and bathrooms, and bars staff from informing parents of those plans without a student’s consent. “The issue of whether and how grade school and high school students choose to pursue gender transition is a family matter, not one to be addressed initially and exclusively by public schools without the knowledge and consent of parents,” he wrote