California students who 'misgendered' teacher suspended, parental rights group says
A California high school suspended two students and had them undergo restorative justice training after the pair allegedly "misgendered" a teacher, a parental advocacy group claims.
While the incident reportedly occurred at Herbert Hoover High School in the Glendale Unified School District in May 2022, a copy of an email in which former Principal Jennifer Earl referenced the students' suspension to the District Superintendent Kelly King was shared on Twitter by the account GUSD Parents Voices last week.
In the email, Earl wrote that she suspended the students for five days and would conduct "RJ" with the pair and the teacher. RJ stands for "restorative justice, according to GUSD Parents Voices.
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"The students (not enrolled in his class) entered [the teacher's] classroom one at a time and called him [a gender]," the former principal wrote. "The teacher responded it is [a different gender identity] After doing so, they ran away."
"In interviewing them, they admitted to being curious about a transgender person. I asked my teacher how he wanted to handle it, if he wanted me to just teach them about misgendering or would he like me to speak about being trans," the email continued. "He asked me to educate on transgender. It was well received from students and parents. RJ will happen after suspension."
In a statement to The Christian Post, GUSD Parents Voices said that the district superintendent initially claimed it would have conversations with students who used the wrong pronouns instead of punishing them. The group highlighted the email showing the former principal discussing the suspension of students who used the wrong pronouns.
According to the group, the school district changed its stance and now claims it doesn't punish students who "accidentally" use the wrong pronouns.
"This moves the bar because it now leaves open punishment for those who purposefully use the wrong pronouns due to their personal convictions and religious beliefs; a clear violation of the students' constitutionally protected free speech," GUSD Parents Voices told CP.
The Glendale Unified School District did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
A school district spokesperson told Fox News that the student's intention behind misgendering a person determines the nature of the punishment or whether one is necessary.
"A student has never been punished, much less suspended, for accidentally using the wrong pronoun to refer to a peer or staff member. However, a student could be suspended if the action escalated to harassment or bullying," the spokesperson said.
The Glendale school district's online practitioner's guide on "Restorative Practices" describes it as "a way of looking at criminal justice that emphasizes repairing the harm done to people and relationships rather than only punishing offenders."
GUSD Parents Voices pointed CP to an incident involving a special needs student at Glendale High School, another school within the district.
As The Daily Mail reported in May, a mother stated during a Glendale City Council meeting that teachers called her daughter a "bigot" and "intolerant" for refusing to learn about lesbian sex acts. The mother, Marina Vivar, asked her daughter to be exempt from lessons in her health and relationships class related to gay sexual acts.
Despite this request, Vivar said that the school taught her daughter about female condoms and "scissoring," a sexual act performed by two women. After Vivar's daughter objected to the lesson, the teacher told Gonzalez she was "homophobic," among other names.
Gonzalez also told the city council that she once got in trouble in the girls' locker room because she did not "dress down in front of other people."
"There are male teachers inside the girls' locker room. I was scared; I was terrified because I was afraid of an adult male staring at me while I was changing," she said.
Principal Benjamin Wolf concluded nothing happened after conducting an investigation into the allegations, according to The Daily Mail.
In a statement sent to Fox News in May, Glendale High Communications Director Kristine Nam said that the lesson referenced during the meeting was a "general lesson" from a health textbook about building healthy relationships.
"The teacher did ask Ms. Vivar's daughter to refrain from making inappropriate remarks in response to a reference to LGBTQ+ relationships," Nam stated.
"We have investigated the interaction and have not found any evidence that inappropriate remarks [for instance, referring to the student as a 'bigot'] were used by the teacher. We will continue to thoroughly investigate."
Nam also denied that there were any male teachers in the girls' locker room, saying that "coaches have separate offices, and these offices are completely separate from the locker room changing areas."
"Even if a male coach were to enter the female coaches' office, the office does not have a window into the girls' locker room. It is a completely different space separated by a brick wall," Nam said.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
