The state Attorney General is suing a school district over its policy requiring schools to notify parents if children change gender identification.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 This policy is destructive.
00:03 It's discriminatory.
00:04 - California Attorney General Rob Bonta
00:07 taking aim at the Chino Valley School District.
00:09 Bonta announced the state is launching a lawsuit
00:12 to block a parental notification policy
00:15 over gender identity,
00:17 which the Chino Valley School Board
00:18 passed earlier this summer.
00:20 Under the policy, teachers and other school staff
00:23 are required to notify parents
00:25 if a child changes their pronouns or gender identification.
00:29 - The policy discriminates against transgender
00:34 and gender nonconforming students.
00:36 It violates their constitutional rights
00:38 and violates their civil right.
00:40 - The policy has ignited passionate reactions.
00:43 (crowd gasping)
00:44 - If you're gonna yell, just do stand up, yell, and leave.
00:47 - Board meetings like this one have unraveled
00:49 with angry parents and students clashing.
00:52 We spoke with Chino Valley School Board President
00:55 about the Attorney General's legal challenge.
00:58 - This was just another kind of ploy to say,
01:01 hey, any other school districts,
01:02 you could possibly face a lawsuit.
01:04 But for me, I'm proud of our district.
01:06 They're going to continue to put their feet in the sand
01:08 and we're not gonna give up.
01:09 I mean, we're gonna stand in the gap.
01:11 We're gonna continue to push back.
01:12 We're not gonna let the government bullies bully us
01:14 in any kind of compliancy.
01:17 - Critics of the notification policy
01:19 say it poses a potential serious safety risk
01:22 for children in unstable homes.
01:24 But board members say they have put protections in place.
01:28 - Reason why I brought this policy forward
01:30 was to put protections in place
01:32 because I see people like Bonta, Newsom, and Thurman,
01:35 I call them the political cartel bullies.
01:37 I feel like they are after our children.
01:39 And policies like this put safeties in place
01:41 for our most vulnerable children.
01:43 - Have there been any LGBTQ organizations
01:46 who have endorsed this new policy?
01:48 - I wouldn't say organizations,
01:50 but there's definitely people who are in that community
01:54 that are supportive and behind us.
01:55 - But there are many who oppose the policy,
01:57 including Christy Hurst, a mother of three kids,
02:00 who was also a teacher
02:02 in the Chino Valley School District for 14 years.
02:05 She now works for a nonprofit, Our Schools USA.
02:08 - Educating children works best
02:11 when you have engaged parents with caring teachers
02:15 working together to create a safe space
02:18 for all children to learn.
02:21 And this policy does the exact opposite of that.
02:24 This policy has done nothing
02:25 but make students afraid to go to school.
02:28 - Just like the policy itself,
02:29 Chino's parents and students are divided
02:32 on their reactions to the attorney general's lawsuit.
02:35 - It sounds like we voted for the school board.
02:38 School board did what the voters wanted it to do,
02:42 and it's pretty clear that was obvious.
02:44 And it just sounds like normal,
02:45 big government coming from Sacramento doing what they do,
02:48 and they're gonna step on pretty much the people.
02:51 - What if they're scared to go home and tell their parents?
02:54 Who knows how they're gonna react?
02:55 And I think it's just, it's not fair to the kids.
02:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]