Sonja Shaw is president of the Chino Valley Unified School District board of education. She supports a policy passed by the board in July that requires school officials to out trans students to their parents.
Late last year, a judge in San Bernardino blocked the policy from being enforced. On Thursday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned warned in a legal memo to every school district and charter school board and superintendent in the state that district should not force staff to out trans students to their parents.
Photo: Chino Valley Unified School District board meeting screenshot. California school districts should not force staff to out transgender students to their parents, Attorney General Rob Bonta warned in a legal memo sent Thursday to every school district and charter school board and superintendent in the state. “The Office of the California Attorney General issues this legal alert to remind all school boards that forced gender identity disclosure policies — which target transgender and gender nonconforming students by mandating that school personnel disclose a student’s gender identity or gender nonconformity to a parent or guardian without the student’s express consent — violate state law,” the memo said.
A legal alert is an advisory of sorts, clarifying the law as the attorney general interprets it. The timing of the memo coincides with numerous school districts passing (Chino Valley, Murrieta, Temecula, Orange, etc.) outing policies and policies requiring parents to be notified if a student uses a bathroom or plays a sport that doesn’t correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate.