As the new school year begins, schools across California are working hard to handle how to enforce recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow parents to withdraw their children from classroom classes on LGBTQ+ issues, and other topics that conflict with “religiously held religious beliefs.”
Lawyers and educators predict to enforce high court ruling Mahmoud vs. Taylor When schools find out the logistics that handle exit requests, it can cause confusion and litigation, including how religious belief requirements are verified or should be verified, and how students who continue to teach exits during school.
“It’s unsettling to see how this is handled in a legal way,” said Troy Flint, a spokesman for the California School Board.
California law requires students to study and provide instructional materials to explain “Roles and Contributions” These include “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans”. this State-approved social science framework Note that teachers should use age-appropriate material to discuss and teach “human diversity”.
In most regions, leaders “hesitate to openly address the issue because of concerns that it will attract more scrutiny and make the issue more difficult to manage. ”
Supreme Court Ruling
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that parents 6-3 Have the right to temporarily withdraw children from class This offends their religious beliefs and gives them the ability to object to books or courses in school. Parents in Montgomery County, Maryland Sue new LGBTQ+ storybook Used for kindergarten and other primary school classes.
Speaking to the conservative majority, Judge Samuel A. Alito said: “The government demands parents’ burden of religious activities and requires them to give instructions to their children pose a very real threat to undermine the religious beliefs and practices parents want to instill in.”
Under the ruling, parents sued are entitled to a preliminary injunction that would require schools to “notify them in advance” when using one of the controversial storybooks in their children’s classes. The court did not grant parents the right to change the courses and books used by the school.
Three liberals in the court opposed it.
“Given the vast diversity of religious beliefs in this country, the myriad daily interactions in public schools may expose children to information about conflicts with their parents’ religious beliefs,” said Sonia Sotomayor. “The result will be chaos in public schools in the country” and “there will be an impossible administrative burden.”
Justin Driver, a professor at Yale Law School, said that while the Supreme Court’s ruling was based on parental objections to LGBTQ+ books and courses, religious exit could have a wider impact.
“People think that this situation is only related to LGBTQ+ and equality,” the driver said. “This decision is sweeping and can “impact everything from reading to science to literature to history.” ”
California Department of Education proposed Online guidance.
It says to some extent that state law promotes “a safe, fair and enthusiastic learning environment in all schools. It is important to note that Mahmoud does not invalidate California’s strong protection against LGBTQ+ youth or preempt discrimination, harassment and bullying.”
Among the problems, educators are addressing:
- Parents can or should make a blanket exit request, saying they want to remove the child from any instructions on the LGBTQ+ topic and have the school staff sort it out?
- Should schools ask parents to review the reading list and have parents mark items they object to?
- What do teachers and parents choose students who exit the classroom do? Their class time still needs to be used for teaching.
Choose California
Conservatives are grabbing the moment as school administrators plan for the next step.
Greg Burt of the California Family Council, a Christian group in Fresno, said: “Parents are the finalization of their children’s values…we are now responsible for deciding what we think we think we are good, we think we’re bad.”
California groups opposing LGBTQ+ topic teaching materials are sending letters and emails to the school district for parents to use to ask school leaders to take the initiative to remove children from the class, possibly referring to gay or trans, same-sex marriage and other related topics.
A non-profit Hebin County law firm that advocates faith and freedom and creates A letter like this, Children are asked to remove from teachings involving “gender identity, use of pronouns, pronouns that are inconsistent with biological gender, sexual behavior or any form of intercourse, sexual orientation, or any LGBTQ+ subject.”
The lack of schools “will be considered denial” which will lead to parents “doing accordingly”.
Some school officials in smaller areas across the state — including Manteca in the unified Stanislaus County of San Joaquin County and the Hope Elementary School District of San Joaquin County, they received only a few notices of opt-out. Brenda Lebsack, a conservative activist who is a member of the Santa Ana Unified School District board, said a massive opt-out request is unlikely until the district notifies parents of new rights.
Mawan Omar, a sixth-grade student’s parent, said in San Francisco that he intends to separate his son from LGBTQ+ material because teaching contradicts his family’s Muslim beliefs. Omar said his son Hezbollah opposed a lesson in elementary school because it went against what he learned from the Quran.
Omar said the ruling was satisfactory. “We always knew we were right.”
What is LA Unified doing
The country’s second university district has prepared a notice letter for parents, bringing them the right to the Supreme Court ruling.
“Parents should be honored for the submitted academic year if they are based on religious beliefs, based on writing, require their children from an English art storybook on the LGBTQ+ topic,” Chief Academic Officer Frances Baez wrote in an August 15 memorandum. “Teachers will provide alternative assignments similar to work done for health guidance without penalizing children’s grades.”
When it comes to health guidance, Baez refers to the option to exit who is already able to receive sex education.
Notifications to parents include Link To the “List of Library Materials for All Classrooms” area to share materials with all primary schools. “Obviously, parents need to research and decide which books are offensive.
Pro-LGBTQ+ parent activist Daisy Gardner found the whole exercise “exciting and heartbreaking”.
“The greatness of public schools is that you share a space with families from diverse backgrounds, socio-economic groups, races and religions,” Gardner said. “It’s an opportunity for children to expand their horizons and learn to be tolerant, which is necessary for society to work.”
How Opting Out will affect LGBTQ+ students
One unknown is how students and students in LGBTQ+ LGBTQ+ families react when classmates leave and teaching materials that reflect life.
This may make “a child feel that not only is they different, but that they are not accepted, or that they should be ashamed of the family they have.”
The presidents of two of California’s largest teachers’ unions said educators will continue to introduce recognized California curriculum and materials.
David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, said teachers “apparently they will abide by the law, but we want to make it clear to our members that there are other laws in California that revolve around children’s ability to learn their own identities, cultures, or all identities. We still respect children’s ability to learn about their own identities and all identities.”
Pier It’s a worker Edsourcea nonprofit news organization covering California education issues. Blume is a Times employee worker. Edsource staff writer Emma Gallegos also contributed to the story.
