A local school board in Chino Valley, California, ejected California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond after he tried to intervene in a meeting about parental notification for gender transitions.
The board voted 4-1 to approve a policy that requires schools in the district to notify parents or guardians if a child wishes to change his or her gender. Critics say the policy requires to “out” transgender kids to parents.
Norwalk, CA – May 10: Tony Thurmond, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction speaks to students at Los Alisos S.T.E.M. Magnet in Norwalk on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Photo by Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)
Thurmond, elected in 2018 with backing from the powerful state teachers’ unions, was kicked out after giving a speech warning the school board that they were putting children at risk by notifying parents of their transitions.
The Orange County Register reported:
The policy introduced in June requires schools to notify parents in writing within three days after their child identifies as transgender, is involved in violence or talks about suicide. Under the policy, schools will notify parents if their child seeks to change their name or pronouns or asks for access to gender-based sports, bathrooms or changing rooms that do not match their assigned gender at birth.
Before his removal from the meeting, Thurmond told the board “the policy you consider tonight may not only fall outside of privacy laws but may put our students at risk.”
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School board President Sonja Shaw kicked him out after she said he continued to speak beyond his allotted one minute.
Thurmond responded on Twitter, saying that the policy threatens the students’ “safety,” and calling the parents “extremists.”
Thurmond was not the only state official to intervene in the Riverside County community’s decision. State Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote to the board to object to notifying parents when children want to change their gender, warning of “potential infringements on students’ privacy rights and educational opportunities.”
Parents at the meeting disagreed, saying that the state was infringing their rights to guide their own children.
Chino, CA – July 20: A parents rights supporter holds up a sign during Chino Valley Unified School District board meeting at Don Lugo High School in Chino on Thursday night July 20, 2023. CVUSD will vote on a parental notification policy requiring schools to notify parents if their child changes their pronouns. (Photo by Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)
A recent Rasmussen poll reported that 84% of California voters support laws requiring parents to be notified about gender transitions by children at school. Nevertheless, the state’s elected Democrats oppose that idea.
Separately, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has intervened in a curriculum decision by a local school board in Temecula, California, purchasing textbooks with LGBTQ+ curriculum that the district has rejected.
As Breitbart News reported, Newsom backs a bill moving through the state legislature that would allow him to fine local school districts that do not comply with state curriculum mandates, taking resources from students.
In response to the Chino Valley meeting, Thurmond also tweeted that he backed the bill, threatening to fine districts that rejected state-mandated textbooks, which had nothing to do with the meeting.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Amen! I love these warriors for truth and freedom! Waking wants to have it both ways. They expect parents to take all the risk and expense of raising their children, but they don’t want parents to have the right to train their children according to the parents beliefs . Oh ! But that’s only when they are training their children to be follow moral principles people of God support