Aurora Regino’s daughter, A.S., was in the 5th grade when an elementary school guidance counselor decided to socially transition her from female to male without Aurora’s consent. In fact, the school never even notified Aurora that this transition was happening.

It took the school guidance counselor just minutes to determine (1) that A.S. was really a boy, and (2) that at school A.S. would have a male identity: new name, new pronouns, etc.—after A.S. confidentially expressed gender confusion to her. But it took no time at all for the Chico Unified School District to decide to socially transition A.S. without so much as a phone call to her mother, Aurora.

That is because the Chico Unified School District, like school districts across California, have adopted official California Department of Education guidance to Cal. Ed. Code 221.5 (AB 1266). Here, the California DOE’s guidance prohibits teachers and school administrators from notifying parents of their student’s gender transition until directed to do so by the student.

This flips the Constitution on its head! Parents have a fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment to direct the upbringing of their kids—at a minimum this includes being made aware of life-changing decisions being made at school. And it would certainly prohibit a school guidance counselor from actively excluding a parent from such a decision, as was the situation here. A.S. wanted to talk to her mom about her “transition,” but her guidance counselor manipulated her into keeping her mom in the dark.

This lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to put a stop to the California DOE and Chico Unified School District’s “Parental Secrecy Policy.”