Remember Hillary Clinton’s line that it takes a village to raise a child? Now the left is trying to exile parents from the village. Consider its crusade against minority parents in Chino, Calif., a predominantly minority working-class community east of Los Angeles.
Last week California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School Board of Education over its new policy—adopted by a 4-1 vote at a July 20 meeting—that requires schools to inform parents if their child requests to use a name different from that on his birth certificate or to be referred to by opposite-sex or nonstandard pronouns. A district spokesperson says the policy provides an exception requiring staff to notify Child Protective Services and law enforcement if “the student is in danger or has been abused, injured, or neglected due to their parent or guardian knowing of their preferred gender identity.”
Tony Thurmond, California’s state superintendent of schools, declared at the public meeting: “The policy you consider tonight may not only fall outside of privacy laws but may put our students at risk.” That’s false, but Mr. Bonta makes the same arguments in his lawsuit.
The attorney general contends, among other things, that Chino Valley’s policy violates students’ putative right to “informational privacy” under the state constitution. Under this novel legal theory, teachers wouldn’t be able to notify parents of misbehavior or bullying. Report cards would be unconstitutional too.
Liberals claim Chino Valley’s policy was driven by right-wing bigots, but the district is by no stretch a conservative bastion. Republicans make up only about a third of voters, and only 12% of students are white. The policy was spurred by parents of all colors and political stripes who complained that school employees were encouraging their children to adopt opposite-sex identities.