Parents reacted with cheers of ‘leave our kids alone’ as a California superintendent was thrown out of a school board hearing for aggressively opposing a policy forcing teachers to notify parents if their child is transgender.
Tony Thurmond, the California State Superintendent of Schools, was booted from the Chino Valley Unified school board meeting on Thursday after going over his allotted time to vigorously attack the policy.
Over 300 people filled the main hall at Don Lugo High School in Chino, California to weigh in at the hearing, which was marked with hostility as Thurmond clashed with the school board’s president, Sonja Shaw.
After Thurmond condemned the new guidelines for putting transgender students ‘at risk’, Shaw fired back that the official was ‘proposing things that pervert children.’
The board eventually voted 4-1 to introduce the parental notification policy, a move which was met with cheers from the audience.
Before Thurmond was led away by security to shouts of ‘kick him out’, the administrator slammed the proposal for targeting vulnerable students.
The policy, which was introduced in June, requires schools to notify parents within three days after their child identifies as transgender. Teachers must also inform parents if their child is involved in any form of violence of talks about suicide.
Students identifying as transgender are defined under the policy as seeking to change their name or pronouns, or asks to access gender-based sports, bathrooms or changing rooms which are different from their biological gender.
‘The policy you consider tonight may not only fall outside of privacy laws, but may put our students at risk,’ Thurmond said at the meeting.
After reaching the end of his time, Thurmond was heard in footage from the hearing interrupting Shaw as she ordered him to return to his seat.
Loud cheers rang out as Thurmond sat back down, leading Shaw to ask the audience to ‘be respectful.’
She then slated the superintendent for his role in escalating issues over transgender students, saying: ‘Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here tremendously, but here’s the problem – we are here because of people like you.’
‘In Sacramento, you’re proposing things that hurt children,’ she continued. The California state legislature, which has approved several controversial laws over transgender youths, is located in the city.
Thurmond then returned to the soapbox as Shaw continued to tear into him, leading her to slam him for supporting her opponent during her last election to the school board.
‘Why was it so important for you to walk with my opponent?’ she asked. ‘You are the very reason why we’re in this.’
Thurmond attempted to call a ‘point of order’ to halt her attacks, to which Shaw again shot him down and said: ‘No! This is not your meeting, you may have a seat.
‘If I did that to you in Sacramento you would not accept it,’ she added. ‘You are not going to blackmail us, you already sent us a blackmailing letter previously… you will not bully us here in Chino.’
The chasm between many Americans over the issue of transgender minors was on full display in the California school hall, as a large section of the audience behind the dueling officials yelled ‘leave our kids alone’ while others held signs calling for Shaw to be recalled.
Due to the large number of people in attendance, speaking time at the hearing was cut down from the usual three minutes to one minute.
Furious parents on both sides of the aisle chimed in at the event, with Chino Valley school parent Nick Wilson telling the board: ‘It is morally repugnant that they think parents shouldn’t be involved with their children,’ according to Mercury News.
‘We are here today because our kids are in danger,’ another parent, Oscar Avila, added. ‘Our kids are in danger from groomers.’
After the debate, the board voted 4-1 to introduce the parental notification policy.
It has not been verified what ‘blackmailing’ letter Shaw was referring to in the footage, however she may have been referring to a letter sent to the school board Thursday evening by California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta.
‘By allowing for the disclosure of a student’s gender identity without their consent, Chino Valley Unified School District’s suggested Parental Notification policy would strip them of their freedom, violate their autonomy, and potentially put them in a harmful situation,’ Bonta said.
‘(My) office has a substantial interest in protecting the legal rights of children in California schools and protecting such children from trauma and exposure to violence,’ the letter continued.
‘I will not hesitate to take action as appropriate to vigorously protect students’ civil rights.’
The hearing comes as questions are raised over the most appropriate way to help minors suffering from gender dysphoria. In recent years, a series of lawsuits have been filed against healthcare providers from formerly-transgender individuals who feel they were pushed into invasive surgeries.
