Mom sues school claiming they encouraged her fifth grade daughter to transition to male

A mother is suing a California school for allegedly spending weeks encouraging her fifth grade daughter to transition to a boy, including changing her name and pronouns, after she said she “felt like a boy.” .

Aurora Regino, a single mother of two, said she was “appalled” that a counselor at Sierra View Elementary School in Chico had not informed her about the advice her son was being given.

She claims that a “Parental Secrecy Policy” from California Assembly Bill 1226, a 2013 law that extended protections to transgender people in schools, meant that she was not told about the discussions.

The Chico Unified School District in California denies having such a policy in effect.

Ms. Regino said her daughter, referred to only as AS in the lawsuit, had been seeing guidance counselor Mandi Robertson in early 2022 due to the death of her grandfather.

One day, the girl confessed to the counselor that she ‘felt like a child’. According to her mother, Ms. Robertson affirmed her feelings ‘that very day’ and ‘within minutes’.

The daughter was reportedly “unsure” whether she wanted a masculine name or pronouns, but Robertson “pressured” her to adopt them.

Ms. Regino said her daughter even wanted to tell her what was happening, but the school told her to “out” to other people first, meaning the mother was not informed.

The lawsuit says she didn’t “fully understand what was going on” but began to be known by a male name at school while still being called a female at home, ultimately leading her to want to change schools.

The counselor began encouraging discussions about “sexuality and gender identity” among classmates over the next several weeks, including how to deal with feelings of belonging to a different gender, according to the lawsuit.

said Mrs. Regino foxnews: ‘For a few months she had opened up to a guidance counselor and the guidance counselor the same day she opened up and said she felt like a man, walked her to class and affirmed it that day.’

But the lawsuit states that the 14th amendment means Regino should be able to direct his son’s upbringing and participate in decision-making about his education, something he accuses the school of denying him.

It says, ‘By socially transitioning from AS without informing Ms. Regino or obtaining her consent, the District violated Ms. Regino’s fundamental right to direct the upbringing of her child.’

Eventually, the girl told her grandmother, who told Aurora, and she contacted the school principal immediately.

In April 2022, Ms. Regino was told by the District’s Director of Elementary Education, Ted Sullivan, that California law requires schools to socially transition students without telling their parents, unless that the student authorizes them to do so.

The district’s deputy superintendents, Jay Marchant and Kelly Staley, also said the Parental Confidentiality Policy is required by law.

Ms. Regino was eager to say she supports her son and whatever identity he chooses, but took issue with the fact that the school did not inform her first.

She said she wanted her daughter to be “happy and healthy in whatever identity” she chose, but added that she would have requested to see a mental health professional due to her young age and the rapid onset of these feelings.

‘AS’ now again identifies as a woman and her mother said the confusion was only caused by other stresses in her life at the time, so she is now attending private therapy.

“I want this to end,” Ms. Regino told Fox News, “Our children need protection.”

His two daughters still attend schools in the district, although AS now attends Marsh Junior High.

The district is a public school in Chico and operates 23 schools: twelve elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and four others.

Ms. Regino says she filed the lawsuit against the district on January 6.

Chico District denies having a ‘Parental Confidentiality Policy’, but does not deny that the mother was not informed of the conversations with her daughter.

It comes after a Virginia school district required all teachers to complete a training program that says children of all ages, including preschool, can request to be called different names and pronouns without the permission of His parents.

Fairfax County Public Schools, a school district that has made headlines for awakening policies and clashes over the teaching of critical race theory, began the “Support Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth” program. on July 22.

Requests for training details that students can do without parental permission, according to materials obtained by the Washington Examiner.

These requests include requests to be called ‘by your chosen name in class’, requests to use ‘a private bathroom’, and ‘requests to use the locker room that corresponds to your identified gender’.

The slides also inform teachers how to respond to students who wish to be addressed with a new noun or pronoun.

Chico Unified School District Superintendent Kelly Staley disputed several of the claims in the recent lawsuit in a message to the community on January 13.

The statement read: ‘While our legal counsel is reviewing the lawsuit, we can address the article’s headline and reassure our community that Chico Unified does not have a “Parental Secrecy Policy,” nor do we ever try to change the individual identity of a student.

‘As you know, Chico Unified continues to focus on family engagement and works hard to maintain open and transparent communication. We highly value the relationships our families have built with their schools.’