On Thursday, board members of the Chino Valley Unified School District in California voted in favor of a policy that would require school officials to inform parents if their child identifies as “transgender.”
The measure passed the Chino Valley board 4-1. The California state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, spoke at the meeting, according to CBS.
“I support parent rights,” he claimed, before adding that he supports the safety of students and that “what I saw here tonight was just catering to a mob mentality that has disregard for the safety of many of our students who are vulnerable and at risk."
One teacher reportedly said that the board “is clearly more focused on pushing their political and religious agenda.”
On the other hand, many parents show support for the board members’ efforts to protect parental rights.
"You are causing a ripple effect, and you should be proud of what you're doing," one parent said.
In 2014, California passed A.B. 1266, which does not allow schools to tell parents about their children’s gender identity without asking the student first. Earlier this year, a teacher at Jurupa Valley High School in a neighboring school district said that she was fired for not concealing students’ gender transitions from parents. The teacher, Jessica Tapia, told ABC7 that the district encouraged her to lie to parents.
“And I said, ‘Are you asking me to lie to parents?’ And they said ‘Yes,’” Tapia said at a press conference.
"We are talking about minors. Their brain is not fully developed. The decision-making portal in that brain is not fully developed, and they need their parents at this time for everything," she added. "Everything they're going through, mentally, emotionally physically, spiritually, you name it."
"Concealing information from parents is not only wrong, it's dangerous and harmful to the emotional and physical safety of trans minors," California Assemblyman Bill Essayli said at a press conference. He is introducing legislation to protect parental rights in education. "The law will reset the appropriate relationship between educators and parents, and reaffirm that children are the domain of their parents, not the government.”
As Townhall has covered, school districts in Colorado, Virginia, Kansas, and California were exposed for concealing students’ “gender transitions” from parents. As a result, Republican Sen. Tim Scott (SC) introduced legislation that would prevent schools from hiding information about a student’s gender identity from their parents.
In May, a school district in Ohio was exposed for instructing teachers to report child abuse to protective services if a “transgender” student’s parents are not supportive of their gender identity. In New York, guidance issued by the state’s education department instructed school officials to keep a student’s gender transition concealed from their parents if the student does not give the school consent to inform them.
Late last month, Daily Mail uncovered that dozens of teachers in the midwest gathered on a Zoom call to discuss helping students who identify as “transgender” keep it a secret from parents.