Hundreds ‘begged’ Rocklin school board not to pass parent notification policy, emails show
The Rocklin Unified School Board received hundreds of messages from students, teachers, staff, and residents, calling on its five members not to pass a parental notification policy in September, according to 1,350 pages of public records reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.
On September 6, the board voted 4-1 to require school staff to inform parents when their student transitions or experiments with their gender identity. This includes students requesting to go by a different name or pronoun, or to use facilities that do not align with their biological sex at birth. The vote came after hours of protest and public comment, mostly in opposition to the policy.
Many Rocklin parents, teachers, voters, community members, and Placer County residents in the district sent a form letter outlining the reasons they opposed the policy, calling it “a waste of district time” and “dangerous” for students “who are from unwelcome and LGBTQ-abusive families, which would increase truancy and absence rates.”
Others drafted their own letters to the board.
“I write, as a conservative Rocklin voter, to voice my opposition to the proposed amendment,” Phil Scarborough wrote to the board on Sept 6. “As trustees, your primary responsibility is to administer our district in a responsible way that prepares Rocklin’s students for a successful life after high school. But rather than focusing on our district’s concrete educational needs, the proposed amendment appears to be following a national political agenda that has little to do with Rocklin or our community.”
Other district parents shared similar concerns.
“As a parent of a RUSD student, a community member, an educator, a licensed therapist and professional expert in mental health especially in children and adolescent mental health, and as a Christian, I am literally on my knees begging you to reconsider the action item before you today,” wrote Colette Booterbaugh the morning of the board meeting.
“I understand that many of you have prided yourselves on advocating for parents rights and have made it your mission to restore what you believe was lost to parents. I understand that drive. However, this change to policy oversteps that mission by putting parents desires in front of child safety and it is a reckless decision that will result in harm to our students.”
None of the five board members responded when The Bee asked for comment about this story.
Parents’ rights movement comes to Rocklin
School boards are officially nonpartisan, but four of the five board members ran on a parents’ rights platform embraced by the Republican Party.
Other school systems in Placer County have also seen newly elected trustees from the parents’ movement.
One of them is Tiffany Saathoff, elected in 2020. At the time, Saathoff worked as a pastor at Destiny Church (led by conservative pastor Greg Fairrington) which ignored the state’s public health mandates during COVID-19 shutdowns. She is now the Chief of Staff for Republican Assemblyman Joe Patterson.
“It’s been said many times tonight that this is a political agenda, a religious agenda,” said Saathoff at the Sept. 6 meeting. “I will reiterate that I’ve had parents, teachers, staff approach me about this policy because they’re very concerned for a variety of reasons.”
A Whitney High School student wrote to Saathoff asking her to vote against the policy. The student said two trans classmates have yet to tell their parents about their gender identity, “for fear of being disowned.”
“These students are outstanding people, getting above 4.0s, participating in our community, and being role models to this community we partake in,” the student wrote. “Just as you were within Destiny Church as a pastor, preaching positive messages, helping the community, being there for people when times are tough, and a role model to many people.
“When my parents voted for you, we had the impression that you will fight not only for us, but for all students within (RUSD). I have known these two for my entire time at Whitney High School, and they have been outstanding students and I am glad that I got to know them, and I can’t let myself off the hook unless I do something.”
The records obtained by The Bee show no response from Saathoff.
Others called out board president Julie Hupp, elected in 2020, for comments she made on her official Facebook page calling for “Christ centered” parents to get more involved with the school district, and for calling for more “faith-based” union representatives.
“While board members are free to promote their personal religious beliefs however they wish in their personal capacities outside of the school board, as government officials they cannot be allowed to use their position to advance their personal religious beliefs or to show favoritism to those who share those beliefs,” Christopher Line, staff attorney for the Freedom from Religion Foundation, wrote to the board in late August, emails show.
Hupp engaged with the public — especially with those in opposition to the policy — more than any other board member.
In a long email exchange with former RUSD principal Karen Huffines, Hupp said she was “frustrated with all of the feedback that I have received in opposition as it seems to address more/different issues than the policy covers.”
Huffines urged her to vote no.
“I reached out to my RUSD high school contacts to ask about the frequency of a student bypassing parents and going directly to a teacher or trusted staff member with this conversation. According to my sources, it almost never happens,” she wrote.
“Therefore, it seems unnecessary to implement a new policy to address a particularly unusual situation. The amendments put a lot of pressure on teachers who already have way too much on their plates, and in my opinion, targets students at risk who feel like they have nowhere to turn ... I’m all for parents rights and I would hope that a child would turn first to their parents for support, but having raised three teenagers, I know first hand that that isn’t always the case.”
Hupp said the policy covers only students who request a public change to their gender identity.
“They still have every ability to speak privately, seek support privately etc. It is only when they ask for a public change that parents are asked to be involved. Please help me understand why that specifically covered issue is distressing?”
“Have there even been any documented cases at our high schools where parents weren’t already aware?” Huffines wrote back. “Why go there if there is little to no need and results in our youth with gender issues feeling so targeted and unsupported?”
Hupp’s response: “Thank you Karen.”
One “local resident” and “successful non-binary adult” said they were “suicidal by the age of 14” and “subject to abuse of many types at home.” They told the board it was their teachers and counselors who helped them survive.
“Please turn away from the far-right voices you’ve been hearing and look inward at your own heart, soul, and experiences to guide you toward the right decision,” they wrote. “This is clearly part of some larger anti-LGBTQ+political ploy. Please don’t let your students be the casualties of this ridiculous false culture war.”
Hupp thanked them for sharing their story.
“I am so glad that you had the people you needed in your life. Truly, I am. As a teacher myself, I hope that I can always be there for my students when they need me. It is one of the reasons I love my job. I always want to do what is right for families,” she said.
She also defended the policy.
“We were very careful and thoughtful about the wording of the policy. It does not say that a child cannot have confidants or that a teacher should be looking for ‘gotcha’ conversations,” Hupp wrote.
Parents’ rights and the religious right
A handful of parents and Christian community members wrote in support.
“I understand that there is a board policy change being considered at the Wednesday evening meeting this week that will strengthen parents rights,” wrote John Jackson, the president of Jessup University, a private Christian college in Rocklin. Jackson helped co-found the American Council, a nonprofit that seeks to bring biblical values into politics. “I understand that the (Rocklin Teachers Professional Association) plans to oppose.”
“How may I support each of you and the proposed policy? Would you like me to have an increased presence of parents and community members in attendance? Would you like me to speak in favor of the policy in open session? Is there something else I could do that would be helpful to you? You can be assured that I, along with many others, will be praying as a baseline on Wednesday evening...”
Jackson sent the email only to Hupp and Saathoff — two trustees with endorsements and donations from the American Council — and trustee Rachelle Price.
Former band teacher Paul Everts, who taught music at Granite Bay and Oakmont high schools in the neighboring Roseville Joint High School District, wrote with the subject line: “STAY STRONG.”
“You can do it! Stand up for parents’ rights!! It’s not just Biblical (it is), it’s biological! Parents are parents to raise their children. No healthy society is going to take that responsibility away from sane parents. No healthy society is going to believe children should be raised by the government (public schools are government schools). YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT!”
In a May email to a reporter at HuffPost, Hupp declined an interview request because she did not “wish to call attention to Rocklin in a way that focuses on politics. It is the thing that we are trying to avoid, frankly. Every decision we make is viewed through a microscope of political questioning.” (In a subsequent email, she did agree to talk to the reporter on background.)
But parents in the district voiced concerns about the growing political movement — of which some RUSD board members are a part — to impose Christian values in public spaces.
“The leaders of this radical fringe movement have been very open about their motivations — they call this a spiritual battle,” wrote Joshua Rayburn, a “concerned parent” and youth minister, to board members.
“I beg of you, please do not let politics and spirituality enable and dictate the thought policing of the children under your care. They deserve better. And this action would be wholly unjustified and cruel.”
The LGBTQ community speaks out
Members of the trans community and the wider LBGTQ community from across the state and country reached out the Rocklin board.
“I’m a Sacramento County native and have gone to school here my whole life. I’m also transgender,” Vincent Gardner said in a letter to the board. “I was lucky that my mother supported my transition, but it was just that. Luck. Many transgender kids aren’t born into that luck. Outing kids to their parents might sound good to you, likely a parent who would like to know what their kid is up to, but these laws are very ill-intentioned. Transgender people are killed for being who they are.”
“If you oppose safe schools for LGBTQ+ students on the basis of any particular religious or other personal beliefs you might hold, please realize that publicly funded schools are not the place for religious policies of any kind,” wrote Daniella Zimmerman, Board President and CEO of the Placer LGBTQ Center.
“In fact, those of you who are affiliated with and/or work for any churches and/or religious based organizations have a special duty to take steps to insure that your religious beliefs do not manifest as an agenda for remaking public schools to fit your personal beliefs.”
The Executive Director of Equality California, Tony Hoang, the Reverend Kate Lewis, a queer Episcopal priest from southern California, and Sacramento-based queer therapist Del Phoenix-Wilcox, all encouraged the board to reconsider the policy.
Miriam Mars, non-binary Woodcreek High School graduate, now a law student at Cornell University in New York, told the board that they are “happy” and “successful,” as well as close to their family and involved with their religious community.
“Much of this is the result of getting to come out on my terms, when I was ready,” said Mars.
“Please give these students the chance to do that too.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
