Letters to the Editor: Care about trans students? Hire more school psychologists and nurses

To the editor: You have to wonder how a parent would get notified of a student’s gender identity under the new reporting rules in some school districts. A call asking for a parent to pick up a sick student whose name they don’t recognize? A report card with an unfamiliar name? (“Do students have privacy rights when it comes to their parents? It’s complicated,” Aug. 29)

Responding to a student’s gender self-identification must be done case by case. There is no clear blanket response that respects the rights of both parents and students. I can see cases where child protective services may need to be engaged immediately, while in other cases involved parents may be open and supportive of the student.

In my opinion, a school nurse or school psychologist who has direct contact with the student is in a better position to determine the best course of action. The solution politicians should be working toward is making sure each student at every school has access to a full-time nurse and psychologist.

Byron Gutierrez, Lake Balboa

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To the editor: The raging dispute over whether to mandate that public schools notify parents of their child’s transgender identity foretells an inevitable legal clash over another “super-complicated issue.”

That issue is whether an impregnated minor has the right to seek an abortion without parental notification or consent.

The laws of 14 states allow a minor to undergo an abortion without parental knowledge. California’s law, which requires parental consent for their child to undergo abortion, has been enjoined by an appellate court.

Enactment of a state law prohibiting schools from notifying parents of their child’s transgender identity is long overdue. The same goes for revision of existing law to allow a minor to undergo abortion without parental notification or consent.

Some fundamental rights for minors should be deemed inalienable. It shouldn’t be so complicated.

Betty Turner, Sherman Oaks