A concern for the position school staff could be put in seemed to be a sticking point for several Orange Unified school board members, including some who said they might otherwise support a proposed policy that would require certain staff members to notify parents if their child is “requesting to be identified or treated” as a different sex or gender.
Thursday night, Aug. 17, the school board took its first public look at the “parental notification policy,” which had already been the topic of much debate this week on social media since it appear on the agenda for the meeting. The meeting room was packed for the board’s discussion with supporters and opponents squaring off over whether it is a parent’s right to be notified, even if their child did not want to or feel comfortable sharing they might be transgender.
Board President Rick Ledesma said the policy will be further reviewed to address concerns raised by trustees and a final version will be discussed and probably voted on at the school board’s Sept. 7 meeting.
As the proposed policy is written now, situations that would warrant parental notification include requests to use different names or pronouns as well as requests to change sex-segregated programs such as athletic teams or changing facilities that differ from the student’s “assigned biological sex at birth.”
Trustee Angie Rumsey told her board colleagues and the audience she was personally very divided over the idea of requiring notification of parents.
“On one hand, I believe in the importance of keeping parents in the know about their child and think that should be a priority. But also, I don’t see how we can put this on teachers and staff members at our schools,” she said.
Rumsey had many technical questions regarding the policy for Ledesma, who initiated the proposal with Trustee Madison Miner, and Rumsey brought up a letter Orange Unified Education Association President Greg Goodlander sent to the OUSD board with…
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