CHINO HILLS, Calif. -- In May 2023, Real Impact completed a Rasmussen Poll targeting California voters to uncover the true perspective of parents regarding public school districts' secretive habits. Educators keeping information regarding children's gender transitions from parents have exposed the reality of deception in public schools across California. Parents are beginning to realize that public schools will assume the role as parent, especially in districts where parents have been trusting or uninvolved.
According to the recent poll is a drastic revelation: 82% of respondents disagree with this statement: "A person loses their parental rights when a child enters public school." Parents are meant to work in tandem with the school district. "Public schools are certainly not meant to be a secret society for our youth to confide in and Californians agree," said Karen England, President of Capitol Resource Institute. "There is no reason teachers and administrators should hold higher authority over children's well-being or mental health. In fact, Californians do not believe educators should hold ANY authority over their children."
This leads to the next set of questions where 88% of respondents support schools notifying parents if their child has a change in mental condition, like showing symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts. 69% of surveyors support schools notifying parents if their child identifies or requests to be identified or treated as a gender that doesn't align with their biological sex. And likewise, another question exposed that 68% of participants oppose teachers and school administrators keeping information about a child's gender identity secret from the parents. That is a huge majority. These questions directly juxtapose educators attempting to vilify parents who have already come forward about the school district keeping gender transition secrets for their children. These polling numbers make it clear that most California parents strongly wish to be directly involved with their children's mental health and well-being during and after school hours.
Parents across California have been made aware of the lack of communication coming from educators and administrators in public school. According to this poll, a whopping 84% of surveyors support a local law that required parents to be notified of any major change in a child's physical, mental, or emotional health or academic performance. Parents have lost confidence in the safety of their children in the public-school setting and are looking to local policy changes to protect their rights as parents. The poll also finds that 64% of respondents disagree with this statement: "There is no such thing as someone else's child. Our nation's children are all our children.".
"Parents are not willing to forgo parental rights over their children in any capacity," said England. "Our children do not belong to the nation. They belong to the parents and no educator or administrators should ever come before those rights."
That is why CRI has partnered with Real Impact and other pro-parental right organizations in California to affect change at the local level. The California Coalition for Parental Rights are all working together and launching a policy that will ensure schools notify a parent if their child is seeking to transition their gender while at school. Schools should not be in the business of keeping secrets from their parents.
