Judge Rules in favor of Bonta Lawsuit Against School District Parental Notification Policy

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s war on parents scored a victory earlier this month when a judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Chino Valley Unified School District’s policy requiring parents to be notified if their child starts switching gender at schools.

The judge issued the ruling in response to a lawsuit Bonta filed in August against the school district, claiming it violates students’ privacy rights and civil rights and that parents would harass their own children if they found out they were showing trans tendencies. The reality is that the real predators are often teachers and administrators who often pressure confused and troubled kids to become transgender behind their parents back.

But the Chino Valley School District school board president and her new lawyer told the California Globe that they would continue to fight the lawsuit, saying that the law and federal constitution is on their side that parents have a right to be involved in their child’s upbringing.

San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Thomas Garza issued his oral ruling at a hearing on Bonta’s lawsuit. Garza said he was issuing his order out of an “abundance of caution” because there are a small minority of parents who might endanger their kids. “There will be parents who don’t take kindly to these discussions.”

Garza said the parental notification policy was overly broad and there was “no clear stated purpose” for the policy.  He compared switching genders to switching religions–a decidedly peculiar comparison because changing religion does not involve genital mutilation and harmful injections of hormones.

“Let’s say that a student were raised under one religion, then decides to change that religion on their own, at whatever age,” Garza said. “With that in mind, whatever the class of protected students are, students are students. Whatever makeup that they comprise, it strikes me that you are singling out a group that is exposed to a clear and present danger.”

Garza’s ruling will remain in effect until an October 13 hearing where he will decide whether to extend it for the duration of the lawsuit.

Bonta issued a statement hailing the judge’s decision to halt what he derisively calls the school district’s “forced outing” policy.

“San Bernardino Superior Court’s decision to issue a temporary restraining order rightfully upholds the state rights of our LGBTQ+ student community and protects kids from harm by immediately halting the board’s forced outing policy,” he declared. “While this fight is far from over, today’s ruling takes a significant step towards ensuring the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming students. As we continue challenging the policy in court, my office will continue providing our unwavering support to ensure every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity.”

The Chino Valley Unified School District serves closes to 27,000 students in San Bernardino County. The District is now being represented by the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center  which describes itself as a non-partisan public interest litigation firm devoted to protecting economic liberty, private property rights and free speech.

Liberty Justice Center lawyer Emily Rae told the California Globe that she is optimistic that the school board will prevail at the next hearing in the case on October 13th.

“We are confident when the [judge] is presented with all of the evidence he’ll rule in our favor,” she said. “There is a Constitutional right under the 14th Amendment that parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children.  This is a right that has been affirmed by” the Supreme Court and lower courts “for many years.”

“Parents need to know what is happening with their child,” she insisted. “And schools don’t have any rights to keep secrets from parents. It’s as simple as that.”

Rae also insisted that Bonta’s central claim in his lawsuit that the parental notification policy violates the privacy rights of students is spurious for a number of reasons.

“This policy does not violate the privacy rights of children who have told teachers, administrators, other students, and anyone else at school that they want to socially transition,” she said. “It’s ludicrous to claim that this otherwise public information is ‘private’ just so schools can have an excuse to keep it a secret from parents.”

The parental notification policy “serves an important purpose of ensuring transparency exists between schools and parents to protect children and give them all the care and support they need while navigating difficult issues. This is about parents being the legal guardians of their minor children.”

Chino Valley School District Board President Sonja Shaw told the California Globe that she would continue to vociferously defend the parental notification policy against the “bullies” who are trying to shut it down.

“To all the parents of California and all board members who are standing up for parental rights, do not back down to any of these ploys because the government bullies will continue to use every power they have to diminish your power and authority,” she proclaimed. “Don’t let them intimidate you. Your kids are worth the fight.”

“These are our children and we love them and we care for them and we are not a danger to them and we will show our children that we will not be submissive to unlawful ways to shut us out.”