Attorney General Rob Bonta ‘deeply disturbed’ by Murrieta Valley schools’ transgender policy

A week after announcing a probe into Chino Valley's similar rules, Bonta says the state "will not stand for violations of our students’ civil rights.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has criticized the Murrieta Valley school board’s decision Thursday night, Aug. 10, to approve the notifying of parents if their student is transgender.

“I am deeply disturbed to learn another school district has put at risk the safety and privacy of transgender and gender nonconforming students by adopting a forced outing policy,” Bonta said in the Friday, Aug. 11, statement.

“My office remains committed to ensuring school policies do not target or seek to discriminate against California’s most vulnerable communities,” he said in the statement. “California will not stand for violations of our students’ civil rights.”

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District board’s decision came less than a month after the Chino Valley Unified School District board adopted its policy to notify parents of transgender students. Murrieta trustees’ vote comes one week after Bonta announced an investigation into potential legal violations caused by Chino Valley’s policy.

In a Friday, Aug. 4, statement announcing that probe, Bonta said the Chino Valley policy “threatens the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ students vulnerable to harassment and potential abuse from peers and family members unaccepting of their gender identity.”

Bonta’s press office on Friday did not answer a question asking if he might open a similar investigation into Murrieta Valley’s policy. Instead, the office provided a copy of Bonta’s statement, which does not address that question.

Monica Gutierrez, a spokesperson for the Murrieta Valley school district, issued a statement on behalf of the district that said it “remains committed to our primary purpose of providing a safe educational environment for all students, free from unlawful discrimination and harassment.”

Chino Valley’s policy was used as a supporting document for Murrieta Valley’s discussion and Murrieta’s board adopted the Chino Valley policy “as-is,” though regulations to clarify its language will be drafted later.