Bonta launches civil rights investigation into Chino Valley Unified

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday that his office is opening a civil rights investigation into potential legal violations by the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), which adopted a policy that forces schools to “out” students whose gender identities may be changing.

In an urgent letter sent to Superintendent Norman Enfield and the Board of Education has month, Bonta expressed serious concern over the then proposed Parental Notification policy, emphasizing the potential infringements on students’ privacy rights and educational opportunities.

After a contentious board meeting two weeks ago after forcing the removal by local police officers of California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, who personally attended and addressed the board, at the direction of school board President Sonja Shaw, the board voted 4-1 to involuntarily Out trans students to parents or guardians in a new parental notification policy

The “Parental Notification Policy” requires schools to inform parents, with minimal exceptions, whenever a student requests to use a name or pronoun different from that on their birth certificate or official records, even if such disclosure is against the student s wishes or could expose a student to parental abuse or increase their risk of selfharm or suicide.

The policy also requires notification if a student accesses facilities or participates in programs that don’t align with their sex on official records.

“Students should never fear going to school for simply being who they are,” said Bonta. “Chino Valley Unified’s forced outing policy threatens the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ students vulnerable to harassment and potential abuse from peers and family members unaccepting of their gender identity. Today’s announcement stresses our commitment to challenging school policies that target and seek to discriminate against California’s most vulnerable communities. California will not stand for violations of our students’ civil rights.”

A group of Chino Valley parents who have been battling for the LGBTQ+ students in the district issued a statement regarding the AG’s announcement:

“We hope the civil rights investigation launched today by Attorney General Rob Bonta serves as a sign to other districts that these invasive and discriminatory practices will not stand. This was never about parental rights. If it was, the CVUSD Board would not have actively inserted its employees into the private affairs and parenting practices of CVUSD parents.,” said Kristi Hirst, a spokesperson and COO for Our Schools USA.

“All this policy has accomplished is making students afraid to return to school. It does not create an environment of trust, one that should exist between parents, students, teachers, and staff. It has merely been a major distraction from the larger issues facing the school district, which actually need immediate attention,” she added.

Requests for comment from the Chino Valley Unified

School District or its board went unanswered.

UPDATE: KABC 7 reports:

The school district board president said state officials are “overstepping their boundaries.”

“This is a ploy to try to scare all the other boards across California from adopting the policy,” Sonjia Shaw said in a statement to The Associated Press. “I won’t back down and will stand in the gap to protect our kids from big government bullies.”

A spokesperson for the school district said that Bonta did not notify them about the investigation. The board has argued that parents have the right to know.

BRODY LEVESQUE