El Dorado County GOP pushes school districts to adopt contentious parental notification policy

The Buckeye Union School District Board of Trustees in El Dorado County heard from community members Wednesday night about the possible adoption of a policy that would require school staff to inform a student’s parents if they become aware that a student is transitioning or experimenting with their gender identity.

The chairman of the El Dorado County GOP, Todd White, wrote to the Buckeye board in August, encouraging members to approve a notification policy identical to one that resulted in a lawsuit in Southern California. In White’s August 16th letter, he asked the board and Buckeye superintendent David Roth to consider implementing the very same policy as Chino Valley Unified School District.

He even attached a copy of Chino Valley’s policy.

“Our Party believes that the vast majority of El Dorado County residents would support your school district in passing a similar board policy,” wrote White.

Chino Valley adopted the policy in late July. In August, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the district for violating student privacy. On Wednesday, the same day the Buckeye school board discussed the matter, a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order against enforcing the provisions. Rocklin Unified School District in neighboring Placer County passed a similar measure Wednesday also, while another Southern California school system in Orange County did the same on Thursday.

Bonta condemned the Rocklin board’s vote, and has said he “won’t hesitate” to take legal action.

White told The Bee that he and county party secretary, Kelley Nalewaja, presented a slightly modified version of Chino Valley’s plan, focused more on mental health, and that he and the party are “pretty confident that the law is on our side.” He also sent the same letter to four other of the county’s 15 school districts.

Buckeye board members did not vote on the issue Wednesday; they were holding discussion to get community feedback. It came in waves, with more than 60 parents and community members on both sides, lining up and waiting on the floor to speak. The turnout was enormous for a district that operates 10 schools.

Frank Porter, a retired teacher, principal, superintendent, and longtime El Dorado County resident whose career began in the Buckeye district in 1975, said he thought the board handled the contentious discussion thoughtfully. Porter is resolutely opposed to such a measure and spoke against it Wednesday.

“I am confident that teachers and staff are working with parents (already),” Porter, a parent of children who went to Buckeye schools, told The Bee. “It bothers me that the county Republican Party is choosing to politicize this issue. It’s not an issue for a political party to bring to the school board.”

Porter is a member of the El Dorado Democratic Party and serves as the county’s vice chair. But he said he attended the meeting as a parent and former educator.

“The (El Dorado County) Democratic Party would never write such a letter. Ever,” he said. “We just wouldn’t do it.”

He and many other parents felt that such a proposal is a GOP-contrived distraction from issues that actually affect Buckeye students.

“It’s remarkable to me that the controversies that often come to school board are often adult issues, and not about the well-being of kids. That’s what I felt like I was experiencing — the fears stirred up by the county Republican Party being brought to the school board had very little to do with quality of instruction or curriculum, or the well-being of students.”

White defended his letter and Chino Valley’s parental notification policy.

“There’s a lot of emotionally charged responses in regards to outing kids to their parents, or being discriminatory toward the LGBTQ community,” White told The Bee. “And our effort is to focus on what the law says in regards to parental notification. When one steps away from all the emotion, it is very clear, especially with state and federal law, that parental notification is really enshrined in state and constitutional law.”

Fellow supporters of the policy raised concerns about girls’ safety in sports, restrooms, and locker rooms. Chino Valley and Rocklin Unified School District both included language in their parental notification policy saying that parents must be informed if a student wishes to use a restroom or other facility that doesn’t match the biological sex on their birth certificate.

White could not identify specific instances where girls reported feeling unsafe in county or Buckeye restrooms, locker rooms, or sports teams.

“I’m not aware of that happening at any time, I’m just aware of what I’m hearing on television about men playing in women’s sports,” White said.

Supporters of the policy also spoke to feeling left out of important changes happening in their children’s lives, and want it to be made abundantly clear that parents must be involved in all aspects of their children’s lives.

At the end of the discussion Wednesday night, the board directed staff to examine the legal implications of the policy, and continue to study the issues.

“The foundation, the ethic, with which we approach our work in this district is one of partnering with parents and fostering communication between children and parents,” said superintendent Roth.

“I sometimes hear a concern that teachers may be leading students away from parents, and I can tell you that that is not my experience here in the Buckeye district. That is not the manner in which leadership works in this district. We fully encourage communication between students and parents.”