Teachers union, parents, school board to face off in Rocklin over gender notification policies

Teachers, parents, and retired school staff in Rocklin will protest Wednesday evening before a school board meeting that’s likely to be contentious, with parents’ rights and students’ gender identities on the agenda.

The five-member Rocklin Unified School District Board of Trustees will hear a proposed revision to its policy on Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities. At the board’s August meeting, trustee Dereck Counter and president Julie Hupp formed a subcommittee on strengthening parent notification policies in the district.

If approved, it will require that RUSD schools notify parents within three school days if their child shows any indication of experimenting with or changing their gender identity.

Specifically, parents must be notified if the child: “requests to be identified as a gender other than the child’s biological sex or gender; requests to use a name that differs from their legal name (other than a commonly recognized nickname) or to use pronouns that do not align with the child’s biological sex or gender; requests access to sex-segregated school programs and activities, or bathrooms or changing facilities that do not align with the child’s biological sex or gender.”

The amendment is similar in letter and spirit to policies approved this summer by conservative school boards in Southern California, specifically in Chino Valley.

It is likely to pass, given the makeup of the five-member board. The body includes Tiffany Saathoff, a pastor at Destiny Church — whose political action committee, The American Council, has endorsed and helped finance campaigns for herself, Hupp, and Counter — and Rachelle Price. The fifth member, Michelle Sutherland, elected in 2022, has thus far been the least vocal about parents’ rights.

The local teachers’ union has called the amendment discriminatory.

“There is no need for any amendments because there has never been an issue here in Rocklin,” said Rocklin Teachers Professional Association President Travis Mougeotte in a statement on Tuesday. The RTPA is affiliated with the 310,000-member California Teachers Association.

“In our district, teachers and parents work together to provide the best education for our students.”

Mougeotte and those protesting the policy say that it “jeopardizes student safety by forcing teachers to violate state laws and ‘out’ students to their parents.”

Placer County joins conservative school boards in Southern California

The language of the RUSD policy amendment closely resembles other contested school board policies in Southern California — specifically in Chino Valley and Murrieta Valley — both of which voted to enact parental notification policies.

The Attorney General’s office has filed a lawsuit against Chino Valley, saying its policy “infringes on several state protections safeguarding students’ civil and constitutional rights.”

“Every student has the right to learn and thrive in a school environment that promotes safety, privacy, and inclusivity — regardless of their gender identity,” Attorney General Bonta said in a statement in August.

“The forced outing policy wrongfully endangers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of non-conforming students who lack an accepting environment in the classroom and at home.”

Chino Valley School Board president Sonja Shaw has called on parents to join the “spiritual battle” against Bonta and other state legislators like state Superintendent Tony Thurmond and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Several members of the Placer County parents’ rights movement rallied in August in the Capitol over the issue of parents’ rights, which has become inextricably linked with trans rights and gender identity.

“As a parent, all we want is transparency,” said Mike Murray, who has two children enrolled in RUSD schools, at a parents’ rights rally last month.

“We want to be part of their lives, be there to help them. We don’t want that taken away by the government.”

Hupp calls for ‘Christ centered, family focused parents’ in Rocklin

Board President Hupp came under fire last month when she posted a call on her public Facebook page for “as many Christ centered, family focused parents as we can get” to sign up for curriculum advisory committees. Three days after her original post, she doubled down.

“In answer to a question I am receiving, Yes, I asked for Christ loving individuals to join committees,” she wrote on August 25. “All faiths and all child loving people are encouraged to sign up. The inclusion of one does not mean the exclusion of others.”

Hupp’s second Facebook post has racked up more than 700 comments, many from supporters and many others from concerned community members who say she’s violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause my enmeshing church and state. Many of those concerned plan on attending the protest before the RUSD meeting.