School Board Boots California Schools Chief From Meeting on Trans Policies

Suppose a child begins to use a name or pronoun inconsistent with their birth certificate or requests access to school facilities that don’t correspond with their gender assigned at birth. In that case, a Southern California school district’s teachers must now inform their parents.

There were several hours of debate Thursday before the Chino Valley Unified School District's board approved the policy. During this time, security officials escorted State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond away. He attended the meeting to voice concerns about student safety risks associated with the policy, Oakland Fox affiliate KTVU reports.

“I support parent rights, but I also support the safety of our students,” Thurmond told CVUSD school board members, and he shared statistics on suicide rates for LGBTQ+ youth.

“We’re here because of people like you,” CVUSD board president Sonja Shaw remarked during a fiery rant. “You’re in Sacramento proposing things that pervert children.”

Security escorted him from the podium as Thurmond attempted to respond to Shaw.

The California Department of Education and the Los Angeles County Office of Education have previously partnered to provide teachers with cultural competency training to boost help for LGBTQ+ youth, which Thurmond has supported.

Some parents agreed with his position, while others perpetuated false claims around parents’ rights without considering the rights of LGBTQ+ youth as individuals.

As liberals and conservatives battle it out for power and influence in school districts throughout California, Thurmond’s exit and the controversial vote come at a challenging time for education.

A video of the interaction between the conservative school board president and the superintendent was shared on social media.

In response to the incident, Thurmond tweeted that he felt “verbally attacked” by the school board president.

“I don’t mind being thrown out of a board meeting by extremists,” he wrote. “I can take the heat — it’s part of the job. What I can’t accept is the mistreatment of vulnerable students whose privacy is being taken away.”

Thurmond was not immediately available for comment.