California school district accused of secretly counseling child on gender reassignment faces parent’s wrath

A California school district sued for alleged violation of parental rights by secretly changing the sex of an 11-year-old child is facing the wrath of local parents who this week demanded transparency and that school authorities not keep them in the dark on important issues. to the lives of their children.

At this week’s meeting of the Chico Unified School District Board of Education in northern California, seats were full, with what critics called the so-called “parental privacy policy” at the center of the discussion.

In accordance with a policy based on guidance from the California Department of Education, 23 schools in the district will notify parents that their child is planning or considering a gender change only with the prior written consent of the student, except in emergencies. 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 five members of the Board of Education, alleging that her daughter’s school helped a young student secretly change gender without parental consent during the 2021-2022 school year. .

“They spoke with my daughter about various support groups in town to help her with her transition and then discussed breast ligation with my daughter, which I didn’t know about,” Regino told Claudia Cowan of Fox News last week in America’s Newsroom . “I just want them to stop – stop keeping their parents in the dark.”

The alleged covert transition began after the daughter, then a fifth grader, told the school counselor that she “felt like a boy,” according to a complaint filed by Regino’s lawyers. Regino said her daughter, who is now re-identifying as a woman, was given a male name and identity by a counselor without her knowledge.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the parents echoed Region’s ire at what was at times a fiery meeting.

“I’m speaking here on behalf of parental rights,” said one local parent named Michelle. “Schools, teachers, counselors and staff have no right to keep families in the dark about what is happening to their child. The rights of parents are fundamental and supreme. Schools should support the family, not try to replace it. this… These are our children, not yours. We know what’s best for them, not for you.”

Another Chico parent named Taylor argued that the gender confusion is too complex a matter to be left up to the child and their school counselor.

A protester expresses support for the promotion of transgender ideology in schools during a march in support of transgender people in October 2022. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

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“It is not in our children’s interests to confuse them with topics that are beyond their mental capacity, and furthermore to encourage our vulnerable and impressionable children to reconsider their gender behind their parents’ backs,” she said at the Board of Education. “We place our students in your hands and we would like to know that we can be aware of the well-being of our children. Transparency is key in these formative years.”

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, D-California, whose constituency includes Chico, also spoke out on the issue.

“Chico Unified School District parents are rightfully and understandably outraged at the school district’s misconduct,” LaMalfa County spokeswoman Teri DuBose said in a statement. “Know that the congressman shares your outrage and demands accountability from the Chico Unified School District. It’s disgusting that the public school system thinks it’s okay to pressure impressionable kids to change their gender, name, and pronouns and make them hide. it’s from their parents. As a parent, the congressman understands that it is our God-given duty to protect our children, and a big part of that is to get involved in children’s education and demand transparency from school administrators and educators.”

The school policy in question stems from California law designed to protect transgender students from discrimination. Based on these measures, the California Department of Education issued an interpretation of the law to schools that, according to Chico School District Attorney Paul Gant, is not legally binding, but is still viewed as “strong” by the courts.

The department’s leadership is urging schools to require student consent to inform parents of a gender change, unless there are “compelling circumstances related to the student’s health and safety” to waive consent requirements. Ironically, the guidelines do not specify a minimum age, which means that, in theory, schools would not need to inform parents if a kindergarten student attempts to change gender.

Several states have banned transgender student athletes from participating in teams that match their gender identity. (AP Photo/Samuel Metz, file)

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Regino’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that Chico Unified School District’s policies violate her “fundamental right” as a parent to direct the upbringing of her children, protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The complaint seeks a judgment declaring the county’s policy unconstitutional and an injunction preventing the county from continuing to enforce its policy.

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

The school district “works at all times in partnership with parents and always strives to keep them informed, to the extent permitted by law, of matters relating to the well-being of their children,” the court’s lawsuit says. “However, in this and other similar cases, there are legal restrictions on what information can be shared about a student, including with the student’s family.”

According to the county, the region’s lawsuit is “not based on existing law.” “Rather, the petition is based on a speculative future harm to an undisclosed group of individuals and has no basis in regard to the existence of a need for an unrecognized constitutional protection orientation and gender identity.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, while most of the public comments came from parents opposing the district’s policy, some speakers supported not informing parents.

Transgender advocates march from the South Dakota Governor’s Mansion to the State 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 scholar and professor in the Department of Public Health and Health Services Management at California State University, Chico, cited statistics showing that LGBTQ youth are less likely to contemplate or attempt suicide while living in a host school. and community.

On the same day that the school district filed the lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a motion to intervene and support the school district’s position on behalf of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance Network.

Neither the ACLU nor the Chico Unified School District immediately responded to requests for comment for this story. However, last month the school district issued a statement reassuring the community that “Chico Unified does not have a Parent Privacy Policy and [does it] ever attempt to determine the student’s identity.”

Regardless of the outcome of the case, parental anger will most likely not go anywhere.

“Parents from all walks of life are rightfully upset by the county’s parental privacy policy, and Wednesday’s meeting proves it,” Eric Sell, who represents Regino as a junior adviser for the Center for American Liberty, told Fox News Digital. “This policy not only keeps parents in the dark about issues of great importance in their child’s life, but also allows schools to covertly provide substandard psychological treatment for students struggling with their gender, in a form of social transition.”

Demonstrators listen to a program of speeches during the “Our Bodies, Our Sport” 50th Anniversary Title IX rally 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 be directing such powerful treatment, not unqualified school personnel,” Sell continued. “We hope that the court will order the further application 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 make any action on the district’s policy on gender identity until “sufficient guidance from legal counsel” is received.

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

“We have unknown people at the California Department of Education who are making sentimental statements that they want us to follow,” Tennis said. “But the takeaway from this is that they want us to keep the parents in the dark. I’m sure I don’t want to keep parents in the dark about gender changes that may or may not be happening.”

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Tennis called for wording to be added to the school district’s policy, stating that staff must inform a student’s parents of any proposed or effective changes to that student’s gender identity or pronouns if the student is under 18, is a ward of the state, or “there is a clear and compelling cause” do not share information with parents.

The other four members rejected it, deciding to wait for any decisions to be made.