Orange Unified School District is slated to decide whether to implement a “parent notification policy” — where school officials would have to inform parents if their child is “requesting to be identified or treated” as a different sex or gender — during its meeting on Thursday, Sept. 7.
As the proposed policy is written, 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.”
“This proposed Board Policy is recommended in order to support the fundamental rights of parents/guardians to be informed of and involved in important aspects of their student’s education during the school year,” said a description of the policy.
The policy was first discussed during OUSD’s Aug. 17 board meeting. After close to two hours of public comment regarding the issue, the OUSD board members went back and forth, sharing various perspectives and opinions on the topic.
OUSD Board President Rick Ledesma said parents should know what is happening in their children’s lives and said such a policy would create a “safer environment for all students and families.”
But other board members were concerned about the implementation of the policy. Trustee Kris Erikson said it could cause “our teachers to be mandated informants, rather than mandated reporters.”
The parental notification policy has been a hot-button topic in various California school districts in recent months. Attorney General Rob Bonta recently sued Chino Valley Unified School District for implementing a policy similar to the one OUSD is considering this week.
“The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home,” said Bonta. “Our message to…
Read the full article here
