California school district accused of secretly counseling child to change gender faces wrath from parents

A California school district sued for allegedly violating parental rights by secretly changing an 11-year-old’s gender is facing the wrath of local parents, who this week demanded transparency and for school officials do not keep them in the dark about matters of importance to the lives of their children.

Seats were sold out at this week’s school board meeting of the Chico Unified School District in Northern California, where a major point of debate was what critics called the so-called ‘secret parent policy’ of the district.

Under the policy, which is based on guidance from the California Department of Education, the 23 schools in the district only notify parents if their child is pursuing or considering gender transition with the prior written consent of the school. student, except in extraordinary circumstances. Proponents argue that the policy is intended to protect student privacy.

Last month, local mother Aurora Regino filed a lawsuit against the district — specifically Superintendent Kelly Staley and the five-member Board of Education — alleging her daughter’s school was helping the young student change. sex in secret without parental consent during the 2021-2022 school year. .

“They were talking to my daughter about different support groups around town to help with her transition, and then talking to my daughter about a breast bonding that I had no knowledge of,” Regino told Fox News’ Claudia Cowan. on “America’s Newsroom” last week. “I just want them to stop – to stop keeping parents in the dark.”

The alleged clandestine transition began after the girl, then in fifth grade, told a school counselor that she “felt like a boy,” according to the lawsuit filed by Regino’s attorneys. Regino said his daughter, who again identifies as female, was given a boy’s name and identity by the counselor without her knowledge.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the parents echoed Region’s anger in what was at times a testy gathering.

“I speak here on behalf of parental rights,” said a local parent named Michelle. “Schools, teachers, counselors and staff have no right to keep families in the dark about what is happening with their child. Parents’ rights are fundamental and supreme. Schools must support the family unit, not trying to replace that… They are our children, not yours. We know what is best for them, not for you.

Another parent of Chico named Taylor argued that gender confusion is too complex an issue to be left to a child and his school counselor.

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“It is not in the interest of our children to confuse them on topics beyond their mental capacity to grasp and further encourage our vulnerable and impressionable children to reconsider their gender behind their parents’ backs,” a she told the Board of Education. “We entrust our students to your hands and we would like to know that we could be kept informed of the well-being of our children. Transparency is the key to these formative years.”

Representative Doug LaMalfa, R-California, whose congressional district includes Chico, has also made his voice heard on the issue.

“Chico Unified School District parents are rightly and rightly outraged by the school district’s unacceptable behavior,” said LaMalfa District Representative Teri DuBose. “Know that the Congressman shares your outrage and holds the Chico Unified School District to account. It’s hateful that a public school system thinks it’s okay to pressure an impressionable child to change their gender. , name and pronouns and that he hides As a parent, the congressman understands that it is our divine duty to protect our children, and a big part of that is to be involved in the education of children and to demand transparency from school administrators and educators.

The school policy in question stems from California state law to protect transgender students from discrimination. Based on these measures, the California Department of Education released an interpretation of the law for schools that Chico School District Attorney Paul Gant said is not legally binding but still treated with a certain “weight” by the courts.

The department’s guidelines ask schools to require student consent in order to notify parents of gender transitions, unless there are “compelling circumstances related to the health and safety of students” to waive the consent requirements. Controversially, the guidance says no minimum age, meaning that in theory schools wouldn’t need to notify parents if a kindergarten was looking to change gender.

Several states have banned transgender student-athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity. (AP Photo/Samuel Metz, File)

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Regino’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, argues that Chico’s Unified School District policy violates his “fundamental right” as a parent to direct his children’s education, as protected by the due process clause of the fourteen amendment. The complaint seeks a judgment declaring the district’s policy unconstitutional and an injunction restraining the district from continuing to enforce its policy.

A day before the school board meeting, the district filed its own motion asking that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California dismiss Region’s lawsuit.

The school district “constantly works in partnership with parents and always seeks to keep them as informed as legally permitted on matters concerning the welfare of their children,” the court filing said. “In this case and others like it, however, there are legal limitations on what information can be shared about a student, including with the student’s family.”

The region’s lawsuit is “not based on existing law,” according to the district. Instead, the petition is based on speculative future harms to an undisclosed group of individuals and lacks merit as to the existence of an unrecognized need for constitutional protection. gender.”

During Wednesday’s hearings, while most public comments came from parents opposed to the district’s policy, some speakers supported not informing parents.

Transgender advocates march from the South Dakota Governor’s Mansion to the Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota on March 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)

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One such speaker, Christine Leistner, a sexual health scientist and professor in the Department of Public Health and Health Services Administration at California State University, Chico, cited statistics showing that LGBTQ youth have a higher rate of lower to consider or attempt suicide when living in an accepting school. and community.

On the same day of the filing in school district court, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a motion to intervene in the case and support the school district’s position on behalf of the Gender and Sexualities Alliance Network.

Neither the ACLU nor the Chico Unified School District immediately responded to requests for comment on this story. However, the district issued a statement last month assuring the community that “Chico Unified does not have a ‘parental privacy policy,’ nor [does it] never try to define a student’s personal identity.”

Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, the parents’ anger is unlikely to go away.

“Parents from all walks of life are rightly upset about the district’s parental privacy policy, and Wednesday’s meeting proves it,” said Eric Sell, who represents Regino as an associate attorney at the Center for American Liberty, at Fox News Digital. “Not only does the policy keep parents in the dark about matters of significant importance in their child’s life, but it also allows schools to covertly perform substandard psychological treatment on students struggling with their gender. in the form of a social transition.

Protesters listen to the speaking program during a ‘Our Bodies, Our Sports’ rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“Only parents and trained mental health professionals should guide such powerful treatment, not untrained school personnel,” Sell continued. “We hope the court will require further enforcement of this dangerous policy pending the outcome of the Aurora case.”

At the end of this week’s school board meeting, the board voted to file any action on the district’s gender identity policy until it receives “sufficient guidance from a counselor. legal”.

The only board member to oppose it was Matt Tennis, who spoke out against the policy in question.

“We have unidentified individuals at the California Department of Education making outlandish claims that they want us to follow,” Tennis said. “But the takeaway is that they want us to keep parents in the dark. I’m sure I don’t want to keep parents in the dark about gender transitions that may or may not happen. produce.”

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Tennis called for language to be added to school district policy stating that staff must notify a student’s parents of any proposed or actual changes to that student’s gender identity or pronouns, unless the student is at least 18 years old, a ward of the state, or “there is a clear and compelling reason” not to share the information with parents.

The other four members called it off, choosing to wait before making any decisions.