A Southborough family has stepped into the national spotlight with claims that their local school seeded — and the state of Massachusetts is facilitating — their child’s gender transition. But court records paint a different picture.
The case puts another family squarely in the middle of the cultural, political and religious debate over transgender rights. On Thursday, the Trump administration announced the Department of Education is launching an investigation into the school district.
Court filings and statements from school officials suggest the child was removed from the parents’ custody following allegations of a violent incident. Yet Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, who first told their side of the story on a Fox News podcast posted Sept. 13, have sought to focus attention on the issue of parental rights.
On that podcast, the parents pleaded for the return of their child, who is currently in the custody of the Department of Children and Families (DCF), and said they’re trying to prevent the state from helping the teenager start gender transition medications.
”The most important thing is to bring her back to our family,” Joseph Kutzko told the podcast host. “But a shorter term goal is to prevent them from giving her testosterone.”
The case was reported to the state in early 2025. Both parents were charged in connection with an incident at the family’s Southborough home in late January of that year, according to court documents. WBUR is not identifying the teenager, who is a minor.
Joseph Kutzko was accused of punching and threatening his then-15-year-old child at the family home on Jan. 28, 2025, records from Westborough District Court show. A Southborough police detective wrote that Kutzko punched the victim in the shoulder and pulled them by their hair. Kutzko later allegedly threatened to kill the victim “for not singing in tune during a birthday celebration,” according to court records.
Kutzko was arrested the next day and pleaded not guilty. In setting bail, the judge referred to three prior restraining orders against Kutzko, one of which is permanent. She did not say whether any are tied to this case.
The child’s mother, Arlene Kutzko, was charged with witness intimidation after allegedly pressuring the child to “tell the school that she was exaggerating and being stupid.”
“Arlene stated that if you solve this tomorrow everything will be okay and we will not get angry,” the detective wrote.
Nearly a year later, in December 2025, a judge committed to dismissing the charges against Joseph Kutzko if he met certain conditions, including taking an anger management class, staying away from his child and abiding by a restraining order. Arlene Kutzko also agreed to stay away from the victim and abide by a restraining order. The conditions for both parents remain in place until this December.
An attorney for the Kutzkos said on the same Fox podcast that there was no supporting evidence for physical or sexual abuse allegations and that the child was assisted by an “unknown” adult to file the requests for restraining orders.
“The only thing that’s left is an allegation of neglect that has never been described,” said Vernadette Broyles, president of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, a group helping parents fight policies that support transgender rights. “The only thing that we can surmise with the neglect [charge] is that they are refusing to transition their daughter.”
Some of the court records are sealed or have been impounded because they involve a juvenile.
A spokesperson for DCF would not comment on the case except to say that lack of support for a gender transition would not be a reason to remove a child from their home. A spokesman for the Kutzkos said they are too distressed to engage in more interviews. They have not responded to written questions about what happened the day before their child was taken into state custody. They have said they have not had any contact with their teen, who is now 17, since early 2025.
The parents also blame Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough for aiding the “secret transitioning” of their child. The parents say the school let the child change the name and pronouns used while at school without telling the family. That’s legal in Massachusetts and has been supported by federal courts in a different case.
“They exposed our daughter to teachings on LGTBQ,” Joseph Kutzko said on the Fox News podcast, “and topics that conflict with our Catholic beliefs about human dignity, creation as male and female in Catholic teaching.”
Superintendent of the Northborough and Southborough public schools Gregory Martineau rejected the notion that there was any secret counseling.
“Our school district aggressively and unequivocally denies the claims made by the two individuals,” he said in a written statement.
President Trump’s Department of Education on Thursday said the Student Privacy Policy Office is now investigating whether the school district violated any laws.
“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,” Frank Miller, director of the Student Privacy Policy Office, said in the press release. “These egregious allegations are not an isolated problem. Families deserve answers and SPPO will thoroughly investigate reports like this and hold any educational institution that violates federal law accountable.”
Gov. Maura Healey is also disputing the parents’ claims that DCF involvement has anything to do with the child’s gender transition.
“DCF removed the child after there were criminal charges filed against the parents,” said Healey, speaking to reporters at an unrelated event in Boston on Tuesday.
When pressed to comment about whether DCF is assisting in the teen’s gender transition, Healey said she could not comment. It’s unclear if the child is following a doctor’s recommendation, or if the parents have been in touch with the child’s medical team.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for late October in juvenile court.
WBUR’s Dianna Bell contributed to this report.
