A California judge has maintained the Temecula Unified School District’s policy prohibiting the teaching of CRT (Critical Race Theory) and the district’s need to notify parents in the event that a student chooses to change their gender at school.
For parents and board members who put these measures into place in defiance of strong pressure from Governor Newsom, activist organizations, and the media, the decision represents a triumph, albeit a fleeting one.
According to Critical Race Theory, racism permeates every institution in the United States. Legal activists sued the Temecula school system in August, citing the 2022 adoption of the Critical Race Theory ban as a violation of students’ rights, as Breitbart News reported.
However, the Los Angeles Times reports that last Monday, Judge Eric Keen of the Riverside County Superior Court denied the activists’ plea for a temporary injunction on the district’s practices, upholding the restrictions—at least for the time being.
Judge Eric Keen, however, dismissed the request on Friday, dismissing the claim that the district’s policy was ambiguous. In an eight-page decision, he stated that the resolution of the board outlines the particular components of CRT that are teaching-incompatible. The resolution, according to Keen, restricts the teaching of CRT to a “subordinate position within a wider instructional framework” and concentrates on the “flaws” of the curriculum.
“Keen also offered commentary on a contentious parental notification policy that mandates district employees to notify parents in the event that their child requests to be recognized as someone other than their legal name or as a different gender.” The policy, according to him, is “gender neutral,” does not specifically target transgender or gender nonconforming children, and is applicable to any student who requests to modify their official or unofficial school records. It also applies to all students in the district.
Although Breitbart News confronted Newsom in the spin room of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library following the Republican primary debate in Sept., he was unable to explain why parents shouldn’t be able to learn about their kid’s gender transitions, despite the fact that he has singled out the district for criticism.
The district’s reluctance to teach a state-approved curriculum that includes historical LGBTQ individuals like Supervisor Harvey Milk, whom was referred to as a “pedophile,” is unaffected by the verdict. For removing Milk from the curriculum, Governor Newsom penalized the district $1.5 million.
Due to the transgender notice policy, several other districts have also disobeyed Newsom, leading to legal disputes. According to polls, the liberal state’s citizens disagree with Newsom: 84% of Californians support the notion that parents have a right to know.
