Riverside school district enacts Outing policy for trans kids

MURRIETA, Calif. - The Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board (MVUSD), Thursday night approved a policy mirroring one recently adopted by the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), that forces school faculty and staff to “out” students to parents whose gender identities may be changing.

The MVUSD board vote was 3-2 adopting the policy, which the language of is nearly identical to CVUSD’s policy, that is now under investigation by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The Attorney General announced last week that he opened a civil rights investigation into potential legal violations by CVUSD that he noted that proposed Parental Notification policy, likely has potential infringements on students’ privacy rights and educational opportunities.

The board in approving the policy delayed implementation until the administrative guidelines are written.

The local newspaper, the Press Enterprise, reported that the board room — which holds about 147 people — was full well before the open session of the meeting began at 5 p.m.

An overflow crowd was in the entryway. About a dozen law enforcement officers stood by. It took hours to get a vote, which came about 10:30 p.m.

Board member Nancy Young, who defeated a candidate backed by a conservative PAC in the November election, said Wednesday, Aug. 9, that she is “adamantly opposed” to the potential policy.

“Its illegal,” she said. “It’s a violation of Ed Code and state law and discriminates.”

Young cited the risk of lawsuits or a civil rights investigation by the state, as well as the stress the policy would cause to transgender students, who she said have “a suicide rate that is four times the suicide rate” of other students.

“Educating children works best with engaged parents and caring teachers working together to create a safe space for all children to learn,” said former teacher and Our Schools USA co-founder Kristi Hirst to the Blade. “This policy breaks down trust between our most vulnerable students and their teach- ers. Murrieta following the lead of Chino Valley – with copies of Chino Valley’s illegal resolution in hand – makes it clear that attacking LGBTQ students for political gain is part of a larger inorganic movement that Our Schools USA is fighting against.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta in an emailed statement to the Blade said: “I am deeply disturbed to learn another school district has put at risk the safety and privacy of transgender and gender nonconforming students by adopting a forced outing policy. My office remains committed to ensuring school policies do not target or seek to discriminate against California’s most vulnerable communities. California will not stand for violations of our students’ civil rights.”

Stephanie Young, a Murrieta resident and district teacher, attended the meeting the Press Enterprise noted, to oppose the potential policy and support transgender students. Young has a 17-year-old son who is trans.

“There’s gonna be kids who feel like nobody cares,” she said. BRODY LEVESQUE