The Department of Education earns an 'F': Sonja Shaw
'Fox News @ Night' panelists Sonja Shaw and discuss how parents have 'had enough' with 'woke indoctrination' in public schools.
Some California school board members are rejoicing after the U.S. Department of Education are looking into the state's effort to curb parental notification policies.
"We warned [Gavin] Newsom," Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board President Sonja Shaw told Fox News Digital. "I am a mother and a school board president, and I have been screaming from every rooftop: parents have the undeniable right to know what’s happening with their children, and we will not let Newsom and his bureaucrats cover it up."
Shaw's school district passed parental notification policies, which required school officials to inform parents of their child identifying as transgender or looking to change their names or pronouns.
This prompted California Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2023 to sue the school district.
Governing Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky listens to a speaker during a public board meeting at the Temecula Valley Unified School District headquarters in Temecula on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)
Other school districts in California followed CVUSD in passing parental notification policies, including the Murrieta Unified School District (MVUSD), Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD), Orange Unified School District, Anderson Union High School District, and Rocklin Unified School District.
In January 2024, Bonta warned school districts not to pass what he called "forced outing" policies.
President Donald Trump is stepping in after the state of California pushed back against parental rights policies, school board members hope to be vindicated for their efforts.
"What we are seeing happening in real time is our president vindicating the efforts of the previous local school boards in California, as the fight against wokeism continues," Dr. Joseph Komrosky, a school board trustee at TVUSD, said.
The Department of Education on Thursday launched an investigation into the California Department of Education over alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), citing California’s new law AB 1955 that bars schools from so-called "forced outing" policies or disclosing a child's "gender identity" to their parents.
FERPA ensures parents have the right to access their children's educational information, and the Trump administration says that includes interactions with school employees pertaining to gender identity and mental health.
"Parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student's education records, as required by federal law," a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "If the U.S. Department of Education still had staff, this would be a quick investigation — all they would need to do is read the law the Governor signed."
Komrosky said the parental notification policies were to "empower the parents," and "protect the innocence of children by voting in our respective parental notification policies across the state."
"Newsom and Bonta have consistently overstepped their jurisdiction by threatening the TVUSD school board in an attempt to control our policies for curriculum and parental notification. We will not back down as elected officials representing the voice of our community," TVUSD Board member Jen Wiersma said.
California officials argued that AB 1955 strengthens existing protections against "forced outings" of students, which Bonta claims is "wrongfully and unconstitutionally discriminating against and violating the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ students" in his lawsuit against CVUSD.
Sacramento, California August 14, 2023-Chino Valley School board member Sonja Shaw speaks in front of the state Capitol on bills related to LGBTQ school curriculum Monday in Sacramento. (Wally Skalij/Los Angles Times) (Wally Skalij/Los Angles Times)
Shaw said Newsom and Bonta targeted them for implementing "common-sense" policies.
"But we refused to back down," Shaw said. "Thanks to the relentless efforts of [Liberty Justice Center,] we fought back—and we won, even in California’s courts. Here in Chino Valley, we still have a parental notification policy that they couldn’t even get us to rescind, even after weaponizing every aspect to stop us."
Shaw referred to LJC declaring victory for parents while representing CVUSD in court with the state of California. Although the court ruling forced CVUSD to revise their parental notification policy, administrators are still required to notify parents about changes to a child’s school records.
The Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) became the third Southern California school district to adopt a parent notification policy. (Jamie Joseph, Fox News Digital)
"We took our battle to the federal level by filing claims with the Office for Civil Rights, writing letters to the Department of Education, and alerting President Trump," Shaw said.
"Newsom’s state education agenda dismisses the voice of parents and undermines the local control we’ve fought to uphold. Chino Valley USD will continue to prioritize transparency and the rightful role of families in their children’s education," Andres Cruz, a CVUSD board clerk, said.
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MVUSD in November 2024 rescinded their parental notification policy in a 3-2 vote and said that they never implemented it.
Board trustees Nick Pardue and Julie Vandegrift voted to keep the policy.
"Gavin Newsom used state law to threaten local school districts like ours who tried to protect our parent's Constitutional rights," Pardue told Fox News Digital. "Now that our president has intervened on behalf of parents and local control, he has decided to defy federal law. He is supposed to support and defend the Constitution and obviously disregards that obligation."
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