(LifeSiteNews) — Another heated parental rights battle exploded at a school board meeting at the Chino Valley Unified School District in California attended by hundreds of people on July 20. The source of the controversy was a policy requiring school staff to notify parents within writing within three days of a student asking to identify as a different gender, change their pronouns, or to use a different name as well as requesting to use a different bathroom.
The commonsense policy passed 4-1 but attracted fierce opposition. California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond attended the meeting to decry the policy; angry parents shouted him down and Thurmond had to be escorted from the building. The policy fight in Chino Valley has gained national attention as other school boards fight similar battles and parents become increasingly aware of the extent to which school staff are engaged in both indoctrination and hiding serious issues from parents.
“I feel very confident that we have a board majority that supports parental rights,” Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified Board president, stated ahead of the vote. “We’re going to safeguard parental rights. That is a constitutional right and we’re going to make sure that our parents at Chino Valley know they’re sending their kids here to be taught, not anything else.”
It is incredibly revealing that LGBT activists are so viciously opposed to including parents in essential discussions surrounding the mental health and well-being of their children. Those decrying the policy claimed that it “outed” children to their parents and that it would force children to keep their gender identity secret. Kristi Hirst, a former educator and founder of the activist group Our Schools USA, stated that the policy was merely “the first step to dismantling all LGBTQ rights and protections.”
(Ironically, her group states that it is “dedicated to empowering parents, students, and community members to protect quality public education for all students.” Orwellian.)
The reality is that activists like Hirst are pitting students against parents. Some students began to echo rhetoric calling the policy dangerous. One student stated, “There’s no way you will be able to pray all of us dead.” Another: “This bill is saying ‘I’m ok with that blood on my hands.’” Where do you think that language comes from? These students certainly didn’t come up with it on their own. Activist educators are telling them that their parents are dangerous; that Christians want to “pray away the gay”; that including parents results in dead LGBT kids.
The very language students use is evidence of the indoctrination that is going on in these schools. Who told them that anybody wants to “pray them dead”?
Thurmond has already promised to challenge the policy. As legal analyst Alison Triessel told the press: “It is at direct odds with the California Department of Education and seems to be at direct odds with the California constitution which allows minors to enjoy the right of privacy when it comes to their gender, identification, and notification. So, in my opinion, this is not legal.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta concurred. “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,” he said. “Our schools should be protecting the rights of all students, especially those who are most vulnerable, and should be safeguarding students’ rights to fully participate in all educational and extracurricular opportunities. I strongly encourage CVUSD to prioritize the rights and privacy of all their students.”
In California, parents and their allies are up against the educators, school officials, and even the state government. This victory is good news and hard-won — but if I lived in Chino Valley, I’d think about moving.
