Neither pressure from the state government nor threats from Antifa were enough to dissuade a local California school board from mandating parents be notified within three days if their child exhibits gender identity confusion at school.
A student requesting to be called by a name that differs from the child’s legal name (or shortened derivative of that name) is another specified trip lever for notifying parents, as well as the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with the student’s biological sex.
Also contained in the list of notification triggers is the child accessing sex-segregated athletic teams, competitions, bathrooms, and changing facilities that do not align with the student’s biological sex; and a student requesting a change in “official or unofficial” school records.
The new policy was adopted by a 4-1 vote at a crowded and boisterous meeting of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education on July 20, 2023.
Upholding Parental Involvement
After the meeting, school board president Sonja Shaw commended her three colleagues for voting for the new requirements.Shaw told the media, “I stand for the authority of parents to guide the upbringing of their children and their involvement in decisions related to their education, health, safety, and well-being.
Courage in the Face of Threats
Ms. Shaw’s stand soon provoked phone threats of death and dismemberment directed at her, her children, and even the family pets.She said that sometime after the vote, people identifying themselves as Antifa members posted online, “We are at war with Sonja Shaw” and “We know where you sleep.”
Ms. Shaw said that her Board of Education email has also been flooded with hostile and disturbing comments.
Pressure From on High
Before the vote, the school board allowed a one-minute public comment from each of the about 80 attendees who had requested a chance to speak.At the head of the line of speakers was California’s elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, a Democrat. He was treated according to the meeting rules and was given no special treatment.
Mr. Thurmond used his one minute to counsel the board against adopting the proposed policy.
No Special Treatment
After Ms. Shaw informed Mr. Thurmond that his time had expired, she turned off his microphone, causing him to briefly step away from the podium as if he were returning to his seat as requested.According to a July 23 statement released by Chino Valley Schools, Mr. Thurmond allegedly said something from the area of his seat.
At this time, Ms. Shaw thanked him for coming and then stated, “We’re here because of people like you. You’re in Sacramento proposing things that pervert children.”
After another short verbal clash with Ms. Shaw, Mr. Thurmond left the meeting room.
Another Heavy Hitter Says Parents Have No Right to Know
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction was not the only statewide elected official who attempted to dissuade the school board from approving the new parental notification policy.California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, weighed in with a letter to members of the Board of Education and the school district’s superintendent, Norman Enfield.
Mr. Bonta put the school board on notice, writing, “My office has a substantial interest in protecting the legal rights of children in California schools and protecting such children from trauma and exposure to violence.
“I will not hesitate to take action as appropriate to vigorously protect students’ civil rights.”
Mr. Bonta said that the courts have recognized that transgender identity is a constitutionally protected “privacy right.”
The question of how a student can claim privacy while voluntarily and openly employing opposite-sex names and personal pronouns at school has been answered by a court of law, according to Mr. Bonta.
A Danger to Their Children
Mr. Bonta informed the school board that the “forced” outing of students to their parents is “very likely to result in significant emotional, mental, and even physical harm and subject students to discriminatory harassment.A Familiar ‘Narrative’
Many authorities that support keeping parents out of their children’s gender struggles believe that telling them that their child is exhibiting gender confusion at school could provoke the young person to suicide.Is Parental Knowledge Helpful?
Ms. Edward pointed to a study by the Williams Institute at the University of California—Los Angeles that showed that when parents became involved, and the children were allowed to obtain counseling for gender confusion, “the rate of suicide dropped by 50 percent.”Therapist David Pickup told The Epoch Times that the real danger comes from consigning students to a path of “experimental puberty blockers, toxic hormones that often sterilize for life, having their breasts removed, and potential castration.”
Government Is Out of Touch
In recent years, the Democrat-dominated state legislature has combined with Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and state government department heads to impose an education policy on localities affecting everything from transgender issues to obscene content in the curriculum.That top-down approach is not sitting well with many local school boards and the people that elected them.
A Model for Others
The Chino Valley district’s new parental notification policy is based on a bill called AB 1314, introduced by State Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside).Though Mr. Essayli’s bill was defeated by the state assembly’s Democrat supermajority, it is serving as a model for dozens of conservative school districts throughout California that are expected to pass a parental notification policy similar to that of Chino Valley Schools.
The Chino Valley Unified School District in Southern California serves 26,000 students attending classes in 35 school buildings.
