An Orange County, California, school board meeting on a proposed “parental notification” policy ended in chaos Thursday, with left-wing school board members walking out in protest.
The policy would require schools to notify a parent if their child identifies as transgender. The district is the fifth to adopt or consider such a policy in the state of California, after Murrieta Valley Unified, Chino Valley Unified, Temecula Valley Unified and Rocklin Unified. A judge granted the state’s request for a temporary restraining order on Chino district policy in September after state Attorney General Rob Bonta decried it. Rocklin school board passed their parental notification policy after hours of debate and protest in a school board meeting Thursday.
Orange County school district adopted its parental notification policy by a vote of 4 to 3 as cheers erupted from parental rights activists in the crowd. Three left-leaning school board members left in protest over the policy before the vote was taken, according to Jonathan Zachreson. (RELATED: School District Files Report With FBI Over Alleged ’Threats’ After Parents Criticize Transgender Locker Room Policy)
School board member Madison Klovstad Miner, who brought the policy forward, offered public comment during the meeting, saying that “more often than not, with limited exceptions, parents will always love their children more than another adult, including, yes, a trusted teacher.”
BREAKING: @OrangeUnifiedCA becomes the sixth school district in California to pass a parental notification policy on a vote of 4-0-3.
The three other school board members left in protest when the president refused to shut down the meeting after opponents to the policy… pic.twitter.com/jZCR32M6mB
— Jonathan Zachreson (@JZachreson) September 8, 2023
“Minor children do not have privacy rights from their parents. The bigger ethical issue is teaching children to lie to their parents. And no, just because children don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents, does not mean that they’re bad parents. I was a teenager once, it’s normal to have a little bit of friction between mom and dad and their kids.”
One parental rights protester was interrupted as he spoke during public comment porting of the meeting, holding an American flag and wearing a shirt that read, “Leave our kids alone.”
“Look at that, oh my god! Communists! This is what they do, you are defending this,” the man yelled as transgender activists screamed during his speech. One activist screamed, “Fight for the future,” into a bullhorn. The activists were eventually removed by security.
Governing Board member Rick Ledesma attempted to restore order and pleaded with the activists to “take your seats,” banging his gavel. Ledesma asked for one activist to be removed from the meeting as security moved through the room.
One transgender activist, who described herself as a “revolutionary communist,” called the policy, “fascism,” during public comment before the eruption.
“We’re getting organized for a real revolution to get rid of the system, to get to a whole society and world in which LGBT people are actually treated and viewed as full human beings. And any kind of trying to negotiate with any of these fascists is illegitimate.”
Another activist bragged about being arrested in downtown Los Angeles for “defending the rights of LGBT children” two weeks ago.
“What’s happening here in Orange is not a problem on the school board or a problem in this city, the whole situation in this country is coming to a head, it is accelerating to an all-out crisis of Christian fundamentalist fascists going for power.”