Schools don't have to tell parents about student gender identity — unless they ask, judge rules

A California judge ruled on Tuesday that school staff do not have to tell parents if a student identifies as transgender — but they must be honest if a parent directly asks. The case involved the Chino Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County. Judge Michael Sachs decided that a district rule forcing teachers to always notify parents about a student's gender identity was still illegal. The ruling tries to balance the rights of parents with the privacy of students.

Judge Sachs explained his thinking clearly in court. He said there is no rule that forces a school to contact parents on its own after learning about a student's gender identity. However, if a parent directly asks about their child's gender, the school must give an honest answer. School staff are not allowed to lie to parents, even if a student wants the information kept private.

The Chino Valley school district had created a policy in July 2023 that required schools to tell parents whenever a student asked to use different pronouns or a different name. The policy also covered which bathrooms a student used and which sports teams they joined. California's Attorney General Rob Bonta challenged that policy in court right away, and a judge put it on hold. In October 2024, Judge Sachs ruled that most of the policy was discriminatory, meaning it treated one group of students differently from others.

The judge gave a specific example to explain the problem with the old policy. He said a student might come out as transgender privately to a school counselor, trusting that it would stay secret. Under the old Chino Valley rule, the counselor would have been forced to immediately tell the student's parents — even if the student did not want that. Sachs said this kind of forced reporting was 'inappropriate' and went against a 2025 California law that banned schools from making teachers notify parents about a student's gender identity.

Things have changed somewhat because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. In March, the Supreme Court ruled that parents have the right to ask for information about their child's gender identity at school. Because of that ruling, Judge Sachs said schools must now respond honestly when parents ask. This means the law tries to protect both the student's privacy and the parent's right to be informed when they seek information.

The lawyer for Chino Valley, Emily Rae, said the judge was right to say parents have a right to information. But she argued the ruling did not go far enough. She believes parent notification should be required across the entire state, not just when parents ask. Chino Valley also has a separate legal challenge to California's 2025 law, arguing it conflicts with what the Supreme Court has said.

The state's lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Delbert Tran, saw the ruling as a reasonable outcome given recent Supreme Court orders. He pointed out that parents already have many rights under state law, such as visiting classrooms and meeting with teachers whenever they want. He said teachers are also expected to talk with parents regularly about how their child is doing in school. He felt the ruling balanced the competing interests as well as possible.

Chino Valley is a district of about 26,000 students, and its school board president is Sonja Shaw, a Republican running for California state superintendent. Shaw has led the district to take strong stances on several issues, including banning certain flags in classrooms and removing some library books. She also pushed to keep transgender athletes out of girls' sports. Shaw attended Tuesday's hearing and spoke out sharply against the judge's decision.

Earlier, Chino Valley had updated its policy to apply to all students, not just transgender students. Under the new version, if any student asks to change their name in school records — even a non-transgender student — parents are told. For example, if a boy named William wanted to be called Robert on the class list, his parents would be notified. Judge Sachs accepted this updated policy in 2024 because it treated all students the same way, and it remains in effect today.

Shaw said the district has been open and honest with parents since the updated policy took effect, and she did not expect Tuesday's ruling to change that. Going forward, she said the district could ask parents at the start of the school year whether they want to be notified about gender-related issues involving their child. If a parent agrees, that permission would carry through all of the student's years in the district. The legal fight over these issues is likely to continue in the courts.