ROCKLIN, Calif. — Parents of Rocklin Unified School District students said they're concerned the district hasn't given them any new information about its parental gender notification policy.
"It's been really disappointing and really kind of frustrating that so much time and so many resources are being dedicated to something, that in my opinion, is a board brought policy," said Price Johnson, a father of two students.
The school board voted to pass the policy back in September of last year. The policy would require teachers to notify parents when a student asks to be identified as a different gender.
However, it was paused after the California Department of Education (CDE) said the district's policy was in violation of the non-discrimination provisions within the education code.
"We haven't seen it put back on the agendas as an open item for us to discuss or receive updates on," said Johnson. "What was really disappointing was to learn that they actually did receive a formal denial of their appeal as far back as over a month ago. "
Parents like Johnson and Harley Larsen said they have yet to be updated on what's going to happen with the policy. One of their requests is to see some transparency among the district.
"Mostly, I just you know would love to know what's going on with the district. Like I said, there's 5 people on the board, 4 of them have never responded to any of my emails," said Larson.
Their other concern is how much money is going into the litigation between the district making appeals and CDE denying them.
"Our families, our campuses are heading into summer vacation and we have this looming dark cloud over our district in the form of letters and potential action by the state and federal government...," said Johnson.
ABC10 reached out to the school district in response to these claims.
They sent the following statement:
"The California Department of Education has denied the Rocklin Unified School District's request to reconsider CDE's Investigation Report regarding Administrative Regulations 5020 and 5145.3 related to parental notification. On April 23, the school district was made aware that CDE initiated legal proceedings in the Placer County Superior Court regarding this matter. Rocklin Unified does not comment on pending litigation."
Johnson said he plans to go to the board meeting Wednesday, which starts around 6:30 p.m. at the Rockling Unified School District offices. He said he'll request to put the item back on the agenda, so they can hear from the district and where it stands with the policy.
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