California state superintendent against parents’ rights on gender kicked out of local board meeting

California school superintendent Tony Thurmond was kicked out of a Chino Valley board of education meeting after he went over his allotted time and refused to yield the floor.

Thurmond and other state education officials came to the meeting to protest the board’s new policy of informing parents about their child’s gender dysphoria, said the Sacramento Bee.

“Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here, tremendously. But here’s the problem: we’re here tonight because of people like you,” Chino Valley Unified School District board member Sonja Shaw told Thurmond in reply to his comments, according to the New York Post.

Shaw told Thurman that the policies he was pursuing in Sacramento “perverted children.”

Thurman then tried to bring up a point of order in the meeting, which Shaw rejected.  

“No order. This is not your meeting. You may have a seat because if I did this to you in Sacramento you would not accept it. Please sit,” Shaw, told Thurman, according to the Post. “You’re not going to blackmail us. You already sent us a blackmailing letter previously. You will not bully us here in Chino. Please sit.” 

When Thurman would not comply, security officials escorted him out of the building, reported Fox News.  

The board went on to vote 4-1 in favor of the new parental notification policy. 

“It is morally repugnant that they think parents shouldn’t be involved with their children,” Chino Valley school parent Nick Wilson told the board in support of the proposal, according to the Sacramento Bee.  

“We are here today because our kids are in danger,” parent Oscar Avila said. “Our kids are in danger from groomers.” 

Over 80 people signed up to speak about the policy, which led the board to reduce the allotted time to speak from three minutes to one minute, by a vote of 3-2, said the Bee. 

“You all waited in 100-degree weather,” board member Jonathan Monroe told the meeting, about the reduction in time. “I would rather hear from all of you for one minute rather than half of you for three minutes.” 

Thurmond wasn’t the only state official to attempt to pressure the board. Previously, State Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a letter threatening the board with action if it passed the parental rights’ policy, said local NBC News 4 Los Angeles.  

“Parents have a right to know about significant things going on in their students’ lives, whether it has to do with health, discipline or gender issues,” said Royal Oakes, the legal analyst at NBC News 4. “Kids can’t say, ‘Hey, principal, let’s keep this between us.” 

“Today, we must make sure our parents are in charge, not the state,” said board member James Na, about the newly passed policy.