(The Center Square) – The Chino Valley Unified School District adopted a new policy requiring parents to be notified if their child is involved in violence, talks about committing suicide, or starts using a different bathroom, name, or gender identity than what is listed on official birth records, drawing a strict rebuke from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond.
Opposition to the notification policy focused on gender identity-related issues, with the provisions on notifying parents of a student’s involvement in violence or talk of suicide drawing less attention from the attorney general or state superintendent.
“By allowing for the disclosure of a student’s gender identity without their consent, Chino Valley Unified School District’s suggested Parental Notification policy would strip them of their freedom, violate their autonomy, and potentially put them in a harmful situation,” Bonta said.
In a July 20 letter to the Chino Valley school board, Bonta wrote, “Disclosing that a student is transgender without the student’s permission may violate California’s anti-discrimination law by increasing the student’s vulnerability to harassment and may violate the student’s right to privacy,” suggesting Chino Valley may face legal action or a civil rights inquiry as a result of this new policy.
After an invitation by students, Thurmond attended the Chino Valley School Board meeting that approved the new policy to speak out against the new changes, noting the high rate at which transgender individuals commit suicide. When Thurmond’s speech ran over the allotted time, his microphone was cut, and he was escorted out by the school district’s security to parents’ chants of “leave our kids alone.”
Citing potential harm transgender students may undergo from being “outed” to their parents, the California Department of Education recommended that schools “consult with a transgender student to determine who can or will be informed of the student’s transgender status, if anyone, including the student’s family.”
The new notification policy was modeled on AB 1314, a bill proposed by Assemblymember Bill Essayli, R–Woodcrest, that was never heard in committee.
“They’re trying to silence me as a legislator in the legislature, so we have no choice but to go to the people at the local school district level,” Essayli said. “As a member of the Coalition for Parental Rights, we’re actively working with parents and school members to implement similar policies at the district level.”
Speaking to The Center Square about the potential legal conflict between the Department of Education’s recommendation cited in Bonta’s letter, Essayli said the recommendation is only in a frequently asked questions section on compliance with AB 1266, a bill allowing members of either gender to participate in different sports teams or activities at their own discretion and does not mention privacy. In their recommendation written above, the Department of Education cites FERPA, a federal privacy law, and says, “Schools may only disclose information in school records with written permission from a student’s parents or from the student after the student reaches the age of 18,” and that due to California’s constitutional right to privacy, “minors enjoy a right to privacy under Article I, Section I of the California Constitution that is enforceable against private parties and government officials.”
In response to this, Essayli, a former federal prosecutor says, “We’ve never said kids have a right to privacy from their own parents.”
The California Department of Education was unable to answer requests for comment, citing a high volume of inbound requests, while the Office of the Attorney General did not respond.
