Dry Creek school board in Roseville joins Rocklin, unanimously passes parent notification policy
The Dry Creek Elementary Joint School District has joined a growing list of California school systems that will notify parents if their child is considering a change in gender identification.
Following districts in Rocklin, Chino Valley and Sunol, trustees of the Placer County K-8 system voted unanimously Thursday evening to require staff to inform parents when “their child requests to be identified as a gender other than the child’s biological sex or gender.” Such requests will include when a student wants to change their pronouns, go by a different name “other than a commonly recognized nickname,” or have access to sex-segregated sports or facilities.
More than 130 people attended the monthly meeting, which lasted until well after 9pm.
Unique to the Dry Creek policy, though, is a provision that appears to be a concession to critics who say such notification policies run the risk of “outing” trans or gender nonconforming students to unaffirming parents or guardians.
“Only in the event that a staff member in conjunction with the site administrator determines based on credible evidence that there is substantial jeopardy to the child’s safety, the notification may be delayed pending timely investigation prior to notification,” the amended Parent Rights And Responsibilities will now read.
“As a District, we believe communication and honesty between students and families is profoundly important, and we encourage families to speak about sensitive and important matters,” the district said in a statement.
It was the board’s first reading of the measure, so no action was required but the rules allowed for a motion to pass it. Trustee Jason Walker’s motion, was seconded by Trustee Jon Fenske. After listening to public comment — it was a crowded meeting with supporters on both sides of the issue lining up to speak for their allotted two minutes — the board passed it unanimously and without discussion.
Fenske, Walker and Jean Pagnone were all elected in the fall of 2022, where they ran a joint campaign on a parents’ rights platform. They were just three of many such advocates who ran and won in Northern California after growing frustrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what they saw as the state’s mishandling of school closures and re-openings.
Michele Burnett, a 4th grade teacher who’s taught in the district for more than 20 years and raised kids in Roseville, said it was “disheartening” to hear the “anti-teacher” sentiment. Burnett is a member of the Dry Creek Teachers Association and spoke out against the policy at Thursday’s meeting.
“Teachers aren’t here to hide things from parents,” she told The Bee after the meeting.
“I just want to teach. My goal as a teacher is to teach. Reading, math, social studies. I don’t have a political agenda in my classroom. It was disheartening to hear so many people stand up and act like we have a political agenda ... the word ‘demon’ came up multiple times. It’s hard to want to wake up and go to work in the morning.”
Burnett shares concerns with other teachers and union members about the legality of the policy, and the position it puts teachers and school staff in to violate student privacy.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has already filed a lawsuit with Chino Valley for passing their policy, and has threatened to do the same with Rocklin. He issued a statement condemning the Dry Creek board on Friday.
“Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District’s decision to adopt a forced outing policy poses a serious threat to the emotional, psychological, and physical safety and privacy of transgender and gender-nonconforming students,” he said.
“My office is closely monitoring the decision and will not tolerate districts that target and compromise the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of this vulnerable community.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2023 at 10:44 AM.