BOSTON — A Southborough Catholic couple says a Massachusetts high school steered their daughter into a gender transition under the guise of math help — and that the state took custody when they would not affirm it. Court records and Gov. Maura Healey say the removal followed criminal charges, not a gender dispute. The Trump Education Department has opened a federal probe of the district anyway.

WBUR, updated Friday, and CBS Boston lay out both tracks. Parents Joseph and Arlene Kutzko went public on a Fox News podcast Sept. 13; Blaze and other outlets recirculated the parental-rights frame Friday. Juvenile-court details remain partly sealed. The teenager is a minor; outlets are not naming them.

What the parents and their lawyer allege

The Kutzkos say staff at Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough helped their then-15-year-old change name and pronouns at school without telling the family — legal under Massachusetts policy — and that meetings were framed as academic help. Their attorney, Vernadette Broyles of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, told CBS Boston a counselor spoke with the child without parental consent in 2024, that the parents “categorically” deny abuse allegations, and that DCF has treated the teen as male (pronouns, housing, birth control) while a judge has stayed testosterone.

“The most important thing is to bring her back to our family,” Joseph Kutzko said on the podcast, per WBUR. “But a shorter term goal is to prevent them from giving her testosterone.” The parents say they have had no contact with their child — now 17 — since early 2025 and have not legally lost parental rights.

What court records and Healey say

Westborough District Court records cited by WBUR say Joseph Kutzko was charged after a Jan. 28, 2025, incident in which a detective wrote that he punched the then-15-year-old in the shoulder, pulled their hair, and later threatened to kill them. Arlene Kutzko was charged with witness intimidation over texts allegedly pressuring the child to walk back school reports. Both pleaded not guilty; in December 2025 a judge agreed to dismiss Joseph’s charges if he completed anger management, stayed away from the child, and obeyed a restraining order. Conditions run through this December. A separate Marlborough District Court restraining order remains active for both parents.

Healey told reporters DCF “did not remove the child because of a health issue or a gender-affirming care issue” and acted “after there were criminal charges filed against the parents.” A DCF spokesperson told WBUR that lack of support for a gender transition would not, by itself, be grounds to remove a child. Northborough-Southborough Superintendent Gregory Martineau “aggressively and unequivocally denie[d]” secret-counseling claims.

Federal investigation

On Thursday the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office said it is investigating whether the district violated federal law. “Parents have a right to know what is happening with their children at school, particularly when it concerns deeply personal matters involving their health and well-being,” SPPO director Frank Miller said in the department’s release, calling the allegations “egregious” and not isolated.

The next juvenile-court hearing is set for late October (CBS Boston: Oct. 29).

Why it matters

Two stories are fighting for the same docket: parental rights and school secrecy versus assault charges and a state agency that says gender was not the removal trigger. Courts, not cable panels, will decide custody and medical authority. Until then, federal investigators are treating the school’s information practices as a live civil-rights question — and Massachusetts officials are refusing the parents’ preferred frame.

Dated Friday, Sept. 18, 2026: Kutzko custody dispute — parental/school claims vs. court records and Healey; Trump Ed Dept SPPO probe of Northborough-Southborough — WBUR, CBS Boston.

Sources