How far do parental rights go? A California case offers clues.
The school board of Chino Valley Unified School District in California stirred culture wars this summer when it passed a controversial policy requiring staff to alert parents if their child takes steps to identify as a different gender at school.
State officials strongly objected. The state attorney general sued the district a month later, charging that the policy discriminated against vulnerable students and put them at risk.
The case is now winding its way through the California courts. A San Bernardino County judge will hear arguments Oct. 19 about whether the policy, which was temporarily blocked by a court order, should be allowed to continue while the lawsuit plays out. The school district’s lawyers say they are prepared to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After several years of nationwide protests at school board meetings over pandemic mask policies, and how to teach about race and racism, the loudest uproars are now around transgender policies. Are schools, in their efforts to be inclusive toward marginalized groups, infringing on parental rights to oversee their children’s upbringing?
The clash in Chino were sued by their state to halt parental notification policies on student sexual orientation and gender identity. On the flip side, parents in California, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Virginia school districts who didn’t alert them when their child gender-transitions. It’s become a highly politicized topic harnessed by both Democrats and Republicans as matters of civil rights.
