California’s Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond has been kicked out of a crowded and contentious Chino Valley school board meeting Thursday night, July 20.
The board ejected Thurmond, who was led away by security officers to shouts of “kick him out.” He attended to address the Chino Valley Unified School District board before its anticipated vote on a parental notification policy that would require schools to tell parents if their child identifies as transgender.
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More than 300 people packed a room at Don Lugo High School. Parents and community members brought flags, T-shirts, and signs to wave during the meeting to show support for their side of the issue.
The policy introduced in June would require schools to notify parents in writing within three days after their child identifies as transgender, is involved in violence or talks about suicide. Under the proposal, schools would notify parents if their child seeks to change their name or pronouns or asks for access to gender-based sports, bathrooms or changing rooms that do not match their assigned gender at birth.
Thurmond told the board to consider that “the policy you consider tonight may not only fall outside of privacy laws but may put our students at risk.”
School board President Sonja Shaw kicked him out after she said he continued to speak after his allotted one minute.
“Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here, but we are here because of people like you,” Shaw said.
Eighty-three people signed up to speak on the issue Thursday night, leading the board to vote 3-2 to reduce each person’s speaking time from the usual three minutes to one minute in an effort to save time. The suggestion to do so came from board member Jonathan Monroe.
“You all waited in 100-degree weather,” he said. “I would rather hear from all of your for one minute rather than half of you for three minutes.”
Speakers spoke on both sides of the issue.
“It is morally repugnant that they think parents shouldn’t be involved with their children,” Chino Valley school parent Nick Wilson said.
“We are here today because our kids are in danger,” parent Oscar Avila said. “Our kids are in danger from groomers.”
Not all supported the board’s stance.
“If you pass this policy, you are telling trans kids they don’t matter and you are placing a burden on teachers,” recent Chino Hills High School graduate Daniel Mora told trustees.
“Students don’t want your policies, we just want our education back,” Chino Hills High School graduate Esther Kim told the board.
Chino Teachers Association President Brenda Walker said the policy would be ” divisive and unnecessary.”
The policy under consideration Thursday echoes a Riverside County lawmaker’s bill that stalled in the state Assembly in spring.
Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli’s Assembly Bill 1314 sought to require schools to notify parents when a child identifies as transgender.
Essayli attended Thursday’s meeting to support the board’s proposed policy.
“We don’t have the power to change things at the Sacramento level, but we can change it at the local level,” he said.
Thursday’s meeting wasn’t the first Chino Valley school board session to tackle a controversial topic.
In June, the same day the district introduced its notification policy, the school board banned all flags except the U.S. flag and the California state flag from classrooms. Some worried that the board’s actions would negatively affect LGBTQ students.