A San Bernardino County judge ruled Thursday that the Chino Valley Unified School District’s (CVUSD) policy requiring educators to inform parents when their child wants to use preferred pronouns is likely unconstitutional, according to ABC 7, a local media outlet.
Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against CVUSD in August after the district passed the policy in the month prior, arguing that it “wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students.” Judge Michael Sachs appeared to agree with Bonta, saying in his ruling that he felt the policy is unconstitutional and ordering the district to not enforce it for the duration of the lawsuit, ABC7 reported.
“This policy is discriminatory on its face,” Sachs said, according to ABC7. “The district did not consider any gender-neutral alternatives.”
The district’s policy also requires parents to be notified about their child’s requests for a name change and if they try to access “sex-segregated school programs and activities” or ask to use bathrooms that don’t match their biological sex. Sonja Shaw, president of the CVUSD’s board, said Bonta couldn’t even cite a law that the district had broken and called the lawsuit a “joke” in response to the filing.
“He knows better and this is another ploy to stop all the districts around California from adopting a commonsense legal policy,” Shaw said. “We will stand our ground and protect our children with all we can because we are not breaking the law. Parents have a constitutional right to the upbringing of their children. Period. Bring it.”
The judge did, however, deny the state’s petition to stop the school district from informing parents about their child’s name changes, according to NBC 4, a local media outlet.
Bonta applauded the court’s decision and called it a “significant step forward” to create a school atmosphere of “nondiscrimination, safety and inclusivity,” according to a press release. He said that the judge’s decision should “serve as a stern warning” to schools who plan to adopt similar policies and that those “discriminatory practices will not be tolerated in our educational institutions.”
Emily Rae, senior counsel for the Liberty Justice Center, which is representing CVUSD, said that they are looking forward to defending the policy as the case continues, according to a press release.
“Both the law and public opinion are on Chino Valley’s side—recent polling shows that a supermajority of Californians believe parents should be involved in their kids’ education and that schools should not keep secrets from parents,” Rae said.
CVUSD did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
