It Takes a Village, but in California Parents Aren’t Welcome

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.

Under this novel legal theory,

I’ve been saying for a while that everyone needs to understand that these battle lines were drawn a LONG time ago, and the left has pretty deftly boxed in many people along legal, ethical, and moral dimensions.

Indeed, one thing that leftists tend to do better than conservatives is to keep the offense on the field, even if they have a 4th and out. To be fair, they can do that because this game's officials are on the opposition’s payroll.

These statists have recast (intentionally) this as an issue of contemporary morality, a "civil rights" issue. In this offensive play, it absolutely IS the job of the teacher to address pronouns AND keep it from the parents, because the teachers have an ethical (and using “novel” reasoning, LEGAL) responsibility to the child which trumps the parents' right to know.

By making this a legal issue, even if it’s absurd, that will keep this locked up for years. Their offense stays on the field while kids get messed up.

In this separate article, it was stated that:

Educators have also said they feel bound by their own morality to affirm students’ gender identities, especially in cases where students don’t feel safe coming out at home. (emphasis-added)

...

Other teachers believe they have a moral responsibility to withhold such information. "My job, which is a public service, is to protect kids,” said Olivia Garrison, a history teacher in Bakersfield, Calif., who is nonbinary, who has helped students socially transition at school without their parents’ knowledge. “Sometimes, they need protection from their own parents.”

...

Courts have ruled that under the Fourteenth Amendment, parents get to make medical and mental health decisions for their children, as well as direct their education and upbringing in other ways, unless they are abusive or unfit. But lawyers for schools have countered that parental rights aren’t absolute. Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Education has said that discriminating against students based on gender identity violates federal policy, although its guidance doesn’t specifically address parental rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union has also argued that it’s unconstitutional for public schools to reveal a student’s gender identity to others. Angry parents can put their child in private school or home-school them, said an A.C.L.U. lawyer, Jon Davidson, who is co-counsel for a school district that was sued by parents in Wisconsin. "Parents don’t have a constitutional right to dictate to schools how they should create an optimal learning environment for students,” he said.

There is even more. The National Association for the Education of Young Children in 2019 argued that if a teacher deems a problem (e.g., comply with this family’s request to keep a son from activities associated with girls or femininity) to be that of an ethical responsibility (a situation with just one morally justified course of action) and not an ethical dilemma (a situation for which there is more than one possible resolution, which can be justified in moral terms) , THEY CAN IGNORE THE PARENTS.

In the summmer of 2020, when most of us were dealing with re-election and the pandemic, the ACLU wrote a letter to school principals and superintendents saying:

Specifically, without full and voluntary consent by the student, it is against the law to disclose a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity, even to a student’s parents (emphasis added) or other school administrators.

Finally, the National Association of Secondary School Principals issued this ruling in February 2017 (based on the date stamp in the html code) that:

Privacy: Unless the student chooses to disclose certain information, his or her transgender status, legal name or sex assigned at birth is confidential medical information and considered “personally identifiable information” under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA). Disclosure of that information to other school staff or parents could violate the school’s obligations under FERPA or constitutional privacy protections. (emphasis added)

The groundwork for this teacher takeover of parent's rights was laid years ago. To a certain extent, the pandemic messed up their plans because many parents who aren't political saw on Zoom what their kids were learning, and got involved. But, as I said, the left is really good at being aggressive, even if they lose on 4th and goal. Because they know, with a lot of spineless opponents, they'll get the football back.

Anyone who homeschooled their kids had many reasons, but at its core we believe that WE, the PARENTS and GUARDIANS, are the ones who can best call the shots. Our rights in that regard are plenary. And yes, as with all rights, abuses occur. But just like with the right to keep and bear arms, plenary rights cannot be watered down due to the behavior of bad actors.

And yes, while all this may SEEM like a trans or gay thing, that's just the entertainment division of the Educational/Industrial Complex hypnotizing you. Maybe the kids are becoming "trans" like kids became goths as an act of rebellion. They outgrow it (usually).

But the left plays the entire game. They know this whole debate will play out in the public and courts for YEARS. By then, even if we get a win, the damage will be done and a generation of confused kids will not know of parents rights. In fact, the ones on the margin and who aren't totally brainwashed will ask Mom and Dad "why the f didn't you pull me out of school?" What will be YOUR response? We needed two incomes, we had a mortgage, you weren't that important.

The left's end game? It's always speculative, but it's worth noting that the 10th plank of the Communist Manifesto is "Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.

Or, as the Dead Kennedy's said, you'll work harder with a gun in your back, for a bowl of rice a day.

This won't be solved by letters to the editor, getting on the School Board, or ranting on FR. If you have a child, you must understand this gridiron, and that the officials are on the other team's payroll. You must also understand that what's at stake is more than whether you son gets to be called Florence at school.

Be MacArthur and leave Corregidor NOW. You can always return later, BUT LEAVE NOW.

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