Capistrano Unified School District will be the next Orange County district to discuss a parental notification policy on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Like the policy adopted by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified earlier this month, the proposal is written to solely focus on mental health concerns and has no mention of gender identity. Parental notification policies recently enacted by other California school districts have included a set of guidelines outlining how school administrators or staff will inform parents that their student may be transgender, such as if they request to use different pronouns or changing rooms that differ from their “assigned biological sex at birth.”
Capistrano Unified’s proposed policy says “parents/guardians will be notified if a student is exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety, a dramatic shift in academic performance, social withdrawal or other significant changes affecting a student’s well-being.”
Multiple sections of the proposed policy are verbatim to what was enacted by PYLUSD on Oct. 10, with the emphasis placed on mental health concerns. But PYLUSD Superintendent Alex Cherniss said there could be instances when a teacher or school staff member would notify a parent if they became aware that a student desired or began to transition genders, requested to go by a different pronoun or expressed distress because their gender expression does not match their gender identity.
It’s not yet clear if that is also the intent behind Capistrano Unified’s proposal.
The policy comes at the request of Trustee Lisa Davis who did not respond to a request for comment. During a September meeting, Davis did not go into details about what would be included in the policy but said, “As educators, we are mandated reporters, so we are already mandated to report on anything that is concerning over the safety of a child.”
“Due to the current nationwide mental health crisis exacerbated by the global pandemic, the Capistrano Unified School…
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