Even in areas of deep-blue California, a growing number of school board officials and outraged parents are standing up against the decrees of administrators who insist that young children be exposed to controversial content and allowed to engage in secretive gender transitions.
That trend was on full display during a recent Chino Valley School Board meeting. Tony Thurmond, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, was present for the meeting and attempted to commandeer the proceeding with his vocal disapproval of the board’s resolution asserting that parents must be notified whenever a student begins identifying as another gender.
Although he was given 60 seconds to make his remarks, Thurmond continued talking when his time had expired and would not leave the podium even after board chairperson Sonja Shaw cut off his microphone.
“This is not your meeting,” she asserted. “You may have a seat because if I did that to you in Sacramento you would not accept us.”
Shaw went on to declare that Thurmond would not be allowed to “blackmail” or “bully” members of the local board.
When the resolution went to the entire board for a vote, it passed by a 4-to-1 margin.
Another win for parents.
Schools may no longer hide a child’s new name and pronouns from parents in the Chino Valley Unified School District.
Tremendous work by the school board at @ChinoValleyUSD. https://t.co/W6It3Hvdve
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) July 21, 2023
California Attorney General Rob Bonta also flexed his political muscle in addressing the dispute, expressing “serious concern” over the local board’s decision in a statement he released on Thursday.
Elsewhere in the Golden State, the Temecula Valley School Board recently voted down a state-level initiative to provide controversial LGBT books and other material. Despite Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s threat to fine the district $1.5 million for its opposition to the perceived indoctrination, the board has now voted twice to reject the curriculum as inappropriate for the families in the district.
Some advocates say these two examples provide evidence of a larger trend.
Jonathan Zachreson, who founded the parental rights group Reopen California Schools during pandemic-era shutdowns, said: “I see a shift happening in the state, and it’s partly because of years of having to deal with an overreaching state government on public education issues — from the COVID-19 shutdowns to vaccine mandates, to mask mandates.”
He went on to note that the “culture wars Sacramento has brought into school districts” mean that the only recourse parents have “is to deal with it at the local level.”
