Coming to a school board near you: the battle over whether parents have the right to know if their child identifies as transgender at school.
The fight has now spread to two coasts.
As a legal dispute rages in New Jersey over a parent’s right to know if their child is being identified as transgender at school, an almost identical scenario is playing out outside of Los Angeles.
It looks certain to be followed by more, as school boards and districts that want parents to be notified that a child identifies as transgender face off against state authorities — usually Democrats — that want the opposite.
In the latest case, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, sued to block the Chino Valley Unified School District’s policy of notifying parents if their children are socially deviant.
The policy, approved in July by a vote of 4 to 1, requires employees to notify parents if their child asks to use a different name or pronoun or tries to use bathrooms and programs that do not align with their birth gender while at school.
Sonia Singh (left) and Nicole Vicario have been involved in the fight for parental rights in Chino, California. Photo Copyright John Chapple / instagram: @JohnChapple
California Attorney General Rob Banta is suing the Chino Valley Unified School District over their new policy that requires schools to notify parents if their child is socially transitioning to another gender.AP
In a press conference, Bonta called the policy, “forced outings” adding that it forces schools to notify parents, “even if students don’t give them permission to do so.
“And it was against their will, even though the school staff thought they might be putting the student in danger,” he said, adding that it violated “LGBTQ+ students’ privacy rights.”
But parents who spoke to The Post said there are already child welfare protections — and the state is targeting Chino to scare off other California districts that have adopted similar policies or are considering them.
The Chino school district, in eastern Los Angeles County, includes three cities — Chino, Chino Hills and part of Ontario — and has more than 26,000 students from K to 12.
“I can’t fathom the idea of not wanting to tell parents what’s going on with their kids,” Nicole Vicario told The Post. “To put in the children’s heads that you do not have to tell parents things? It causes a rift between students and parents. But we want strong relationships in the family.”
Nicole Vicario spoke at the July board meeting when the policy was approved by a vote of 4 to 1. YouTube
The meeting drew strong views on both sides of the debate.KTVU
The Chino-raised mother of eight has three children still in the district and until recently, she worked there as a school secretary for 12 years.
He said school employees have been given a reporter mandate, meaning they have to notify state child protection services if a child is in danger at home.
“If a child says ‘I don’t feel safe at home,’ we have to file a report. There is already protection for children who feel like they are in danger at home,” said Vicario.
Sonia Singh, whose 10-year-old son attends school in the district said she feels the state’s lawsuit goes against every existing rule.
Sonja Shaw went from soccer mom to board president.
“My son bumped his head with another kid on the basketball court during recess. I got a call immediately saying, ‘he said he’s fine and he’s ready to go back to class, but I have to tell you’,” said Singh. “But if my daughter says she’s a girl, I can’t tell. This makes no sense.”
This district is not left behind in the country.
Since the close of Covid 2020, there has been a widespread movement across the country advocating for greater parental involvement in public education.
Parents fought to reopen schools, railed against mask and vaccine mandates, and opposed critical race theory in the curriculum.
Such a landslide helped Republican Glenn Youngkin win the Virginia governor’s race in 2021 and led to gains in local and school board elections.
The fallout from COVID-19 prompted Chino’s mother plant to question the district’s direction throughout the pandemic.
Sonia Singh, who has a 10-year-old son in the Chino school district believes the state’s legal action will only galvanize more parents. Photo Copyright John Chapple / instagram: @JohnChapple
Sonja Shaw, a fitness trainer and mother of two teenagers, said she and other parents felt ignored by the school board before when they asked questions and sought accountability.
It encourages political novices to run for the board.
He defeated the incumbent, attorney Christina Gagnier, and became president of the board in January.
Shaw said adoption of the new policy was easy. “It’s the first time in years that our district has done something that parents have voiced their support for.”
During a packed July meeting as the vote unfolded, Vacario called the atmosphere “tense” but stepped to the microphone, saying, “We are no longer allowing villages to raise our children,” as applause erupted.
Board president Sonja Shaw heard public comments at a meeting in June. AP
Vicario said that as school secretary, she has had a front-row seat to some of the ways the school thwarts parents, including training sessions on dealing with transgender students.
“If they identify as a different name, there’s a space in the system that says, ‘alias’,” he said.
He recalled talking to a mother of one such child and mistakenly called the student by their school ‘alias’ but corrected himself when he realized he was reading the wrong box.
“It feels double. It makes me feel a bit awkward myself,” he said.
In his lawsuit, the attorney general said the board was motivated “to create and harbor hostility, discrimination, and prejudice against transgender and gender nonconforming students.”
Trans rights groups say LBGTQ youth are particularly vulnerable to suicide — and should be protected from forced outings.
But parents told The Post they think otherwise: that their involvement keeps children safe.
Misty Startup, a nurse and mother of six told The Post, “People say we have blood on our hands but parental involvement reduces suicide.
Nicole Vicario was a school secretary for 12 years and is now involved in the fight for parents’ rights. Photo Copyright John Chapple / instagram: @JohnChapple
“Where is the study for the opposing view? No one said, ‘We kept it a secret from the family and now they don’t kill themselves because the parents are kept in the dark.’”
Last month, parents’ rights advocates scored a major victory in California after the Spreckels Union School District in Monterey County paid $100,000 to a mother who sued alleging the school “socially changed” her 11-year-old daughter to a boy without her knowledge or consent.
Mother Jessica Konen said her daughter now re-identifies as a girl, and she vowed to keep fighting telling Fox News that schools, “have to understand their place, and they have to stay where they are.”
California state schools superintendent Tony Thurmond speaks at a contentious school board meeting before being removed for going over the allotted time.KTVU
Singh said Konen’s victory is not only a victory for parents, but it is also a sign of things to come if family notification is not required.
“This case proves to everyone that this will continue to happen [if parents aren’t informed],” he said. “The district didn’t take it any further because they knew they had to pay more money.”
Singh said she and other parents have been labeled crazy right-wing Christians and pawns of “Moms for Liberty,” a conservative education advocacy group with chapters across the country.
The July board meeting where the new policy was approved was filled with many supporters and opponents. KTVU
But he said: “I am a Sikh. My family is from India. I’m just a caring parent. If you have a child dealing with gender dysphoria, that to me is mental and that is medical. If it is medical, the parents need to be informed.”
Gagnier, the ousted board chairwoman, told Vice that Moms for Liberty’s handiwork can be seen behind the new wave of parents voting her out.
“In our community, a group of parents emerged that other board members didn’t know who they were, they weren’t parents that were immediately identified by our school administrators or anyone else,” he told the outlet.
Shaw, who is backed by the group, admitted to researching their political sources, among other information but denied any contact with them.
Chino mothers Sonia Singh (left) and Nicole Vicario speak out for notification of parents of transgender students. Photo Copyright John Chapple / instagram: @JohnChapple
“We received no money, no guidance, no guidebook. As parents we just want a voice,” said Shaw, who mostly praised California Assemblyman Philip Chen, a Republican, and his chief of staff for giving them “invaluable advice.”
Singh predicts the legal battle with the attorney general will raise awareness among once-inactive parents, and will have political ramifications.
“It was a miscalculation on their part. They blew it. Not many parents would agree to this,” said Singh.
“Most parents just want their children to succeed academically and socially. We want to go back to basics.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
