Orange Unified may mandate telling parents if their child is transgender, as policy spreads
Teachers, principals and counselors at Orange Unified School District could be required to notify parents or guardians that their child is transgender under a proposed new policy.
The policy is similar to measures that have been adopted by school boards in Chino and Murrieta that sparked protests and, in Chino’s case, raucous public meetings and a rebuke from the California attorney general, who warned that adopting such policies could be a violation of the state’s antidiscrimination law, infringe on students’ privacy rights and “potentially put them in a harmful situation.”
Supporters of similar measures have argued that all information about students should be disclosed to parents, and some have accused public school officials of trying to hide details about their children, and their education, from parents.
On Thursday, Orange Unified board members met late into the night to discuss the proposal, which drew comments from dozens of parents and teachers. The board is expected to vote on the policy in September.
According to the proposed policy, Orange Unified School District principals, certified staff and counselors would be required to notify parents in writing within three school days if a student identifies as a gender “other than the student’s biological sex or gender listed on the student’s birth certificate.”
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond spoke in support of transgender student rights at Chino Valley Unified school board meeting.
That notification requirement would also apply to students who ask to play sports, or access bathrooms or lockers, other than those of the gender they were assigned at birth.
“The Board of Education supports the fundamental rights of parent(s) / guardian(s) to be informed of and involved in all aspects of their pupil’s education to promote the best outcomes,” the measure reads.
If a student asks to be referred to by a name other than their legal name or by pronouns that don’t align with the gender listed in their official records, parents would also be alerted.
Board President Rick Ledesma and member Madison Miner, who placed the item on the agenda, did not respond to a request for comment ahead of Thursday’s meeting.
But during the discussion, Ledesma brushed off comments from parents and other board members that the policy could place children at risk, or that the policy could expose the district to litigation, calling such concerns “fearmongering.”
“Parents are not criminals,” Ledesma said. “The state does not own our children.”
Board member Kris Erickson told The Times in a statement that she was worried about the effect the policy could have on students and the district, if approved.
“I am extremely concerned about many aspects of this policy, as it relates to our families,” she wrote in an email. “I am also concerned about the legal liability it will bring to OUSD.”
Board members John Ortega, Angie Rumsey, Andrea Yamasaki and Ana Page did not respond to requests for comment.
Backers of the policy say parents are best suited to deal with kids experiencing gender dysphoria. Foes say school might be some students’ only haven.
Greg Goodlander, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn. teachers union, said the measure was unnecessary and called it politically motivated.
“The union does not feel that this policy is needed,” he said. “There’s no evidence that suggests that such a policy would improve learning conditions or test scores.”
Although parent groups elsewhere have spoken out in support of similar policies, Goodlander said he was not aware of any instance in which a parent, student or teacher spoke out about the need for such a policy in his district.
“This is a distraction, and it is political,” he said.
Ledesma and Miner are facing a recall attempt after the district’s superintendent was suddenly fired.
Republicans lacking power in California are focusing on local school boards’ policies, setting up a fight with Gov. Gavin Newsom over ‘parental rights.’
Goodlander said there was also concern because teachers had not received any training about the policy, and the union believes the policy should be bargained as part of its contract.
Earlier this year, a California bill that would have required similar notifications to parents was killed in the state Legislature after it failed to get a committee hearing.
During Thursday’s meeting, Erickson and Yamasaki pointed out the similarity between the proposed policy and those that have been presented in other California school districts. At one point, Yamasaki asked Ledesma whether he had authored the policy himself or if he was asked to present it by someone else.
Ledesma refused to answer.
“I’m not here to debate any questions you have,” he said.
“We are supposed to deliberate,” Yamasaki responded. “Isn’t that called deliberation?”
“You can question away, but I choose not to answer, because I don’t answer to you,” Ledesma said.
Members of individual school districts in Southern California, undeterred, have pushed to adopt the policy. In Chino, the measure was approved during a chaotic Chino Valley Unified School District meeting in July, where the state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, was suddenly cut off while he spoke out during the meeting against the policy.
“You’re in Sacramento proposing things that pervert children,” conservative school board President Sonja Shaw told Thurmond.
Thurmond tweeted that he was thrown out of the meeting “by extremists,” referring to Shaw and supporters of the measure.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he was opening a civil rights investigation against Chino Valley Unified School District for its parent notification policy he believes illegally “outs” transgender students
In an interview, Thurmond said he was concerned that the policy has surfaced in multiple districts across the state, and said the California Department of Education is considering legal and legislative options to address it.
“This seems like a dangerous trend that is making its way through some school districts in the state,” he said. “This is a policy that could have serious implications for our students — real harm.”
The main concern, Thurmond said, is the alarming rate of LGBTQ+ students who consider suicide, and for whom speaking about their gender or sexual identity at home could be harmful.
One survey by the Trevor Project, which operates a crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, found 45% of respondents considered suicide in 2022.
“This policy is mean-spirited and misguided,” Thurmond said.
Thurmond said he’s reached out to members of the Orange Unified School District to express his concerns.
A conservative Riverside County school board that had rejected a social studies curriculum that mentioned slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk reversed course.
In the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, the board last week approved a similar measure after a long meeting.
The school board ruckus comes as some conservative groups have recently set their sights on LGBTQ+ issues at public schools, sparking loud debates and, at times, violence.
Arguing that they are fighting for parental rights, some groups have blasted school curricula or books that include LGBTQ+ issues.
In Riverside County, the Temecula Valley Unified School District initially banned a social studies curriculum because it mentioned gay rights activist Harvey Milk, the first out gay man elected to office in California. The board reversed its decision only after Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to fine the district $1.5 million if it did not provide elementary school students the state-approved social studies book.
Violence erupted outside a Glendale Unified School District board meeting in June, and police declared an unlawful assembly. Hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters had swarmed the meeting because the board was considering a routine agenda item recognizing June as Pride Month.
Three people were arrested.
Before the Chino Valley Unified School District approved the policy that would require school officials to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender or gender-nonconforming, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta issued a statement saying the policy was a possible infringement of students’ privacy rights.
Bonta, and other critics of similar policies, have warned that such measures don’t take into consideration that some students could face abuse at home for identifying as transgender.
“This proposed mandate demonstrates a reckless disregard for the real-world dangers some children may face at home,” the statement read.
Law enforcement declared an unlawful assembly after fighting broke out outside the Glendale Unified School District building.
In a letter to the Chino school board, Bonta also argued the board could be violating the state’s antidiscrimination law by “outing” the student and “increasing the student’s vulnerability to harassment.”
The Chino Valley Unified School District decision prompted a response from the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, which said such decisions were opening the door to harassment.
“Policies requiring teachers to be the gender police do the opposite of ‘leave our kids alone’ — [they] incite harassment and worse,” the statement read.
Bonta’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment but stated in the letter to Chino school board officials that the district could face liability if any child was harmed as a result of the policy.
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