Placer school district’s gender notification policy is an unfair labor practice, agency rules

Another state agency has ruled against a Northern California school district’s policy that requires teachers and school staff to disclose students’ transgender status to their parents.

The California Public Employment Relations Board ruled Monday that the Rocklin Unified School District’s implementation of its forced exit policy constitutes an unfair labor practice because it requires school staff members to violate outside law. The PERB ordered the district to rescind its policy and notify its employees of the change within 10 business days.

But Rocklin Unified is not budging and is seeking to protect its policy, which requires school staff to notify a student’s parents if they want to use a name or set of pronouns that doesn’t match their biological sex. The district plans to appeal the decision, according to spokesman Sundeep Dosanjh.

Parental notification policies in schools are a growing topic of controversy in the state and nationally. Proponents of a parental notification policy say parents have a right to stay informed about their children’s lives at school, while opponents say the policy is dangerous for trans and nonbinary students whose families don’t support their identities.

Rocklin’s largely GOP-backed Unified Board of Trustees voted to institute the policy in September, and the Rocklin Teachers Professional Association filed the unfair practice charge with PERB shortly afterward.

The teachers union argued that the district violated the Education Labor Relations Act because union members were not given an opportunity to negotiate the effects of the policy before the board voted to approve it. The PERB agreed, but also ruled that because the board’s policy violated state law, it was a non-negotiable bargaining issue and, therefore, forcing the union to adopt the policy was illegal.

The California Department of Education previously found the policy violated sections 200 and 220 of the state Education Code, which prohibit discrimination based on “disability, sex, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or any other reason.” other characteristic contained in the definition of hate crimes…including immigration status” at any educational institution that receives state funding or accepts students on financial aid.

Rocklin Unified faces pushback from multiple angles

Rocklin Teachers Union President Travis Mougeotte said that while he expected the district’s decision to challenge PERB’s decision, he was disappointed to see it.

“My first reaction is not one of surprise, my professional reaction is simply to wonder why our board decides to go down this path and continue to waste resources – time and money included – on something that has been decided by multiple courts at multiple levels,” he said. “Why continue to be ridiculous?”

The district also faces a lawsuit from the state Department of Education demanding that Rocklin Unified revoke the policy and opt to enter into an agreement with the conservative legal group Liberty Justice Center to represent them in the case pro bono. The Liberty Justice Center champions right-wing causes and is currently representing the Chino Valley Unified School District in a similar lawsuit over a parental notification policy.

The school district is also expected to see new state legislation explicitly prohibiting school boards from instituting a parental notification policy. Following a heated showdown between lawmakers, Assembly Bill 1955 passed the Assembly and will now head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

So far, it doesn’t appear that Rocklin Unified teachers have enforced the forced-out policy. The union’s official guidance to teachers since it went into effect has been to follow state law in all board policy, but this contradiction from district leaders has caused a lot of angst among teachers, Mougeotte said.

“There haven’t been any specific incidents where people have felt unsafe or conflicted about anything, but there have been a lot of questions and frustrations, like, ‘How can we have a policy that asks us to violate state law?'” he said.

Jenavieve Hatch contributed to this article.