The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has been allowing students to go through “gender support plans” aimed at facilitating their social transition to the opposite sex, according to a Daily Signal report published in July. The district recently sent out a message claiming this is not the case.

Newport Harbor High School sent a message to families on Friday calling The Daily Signal’s report “another attack on our school’s support of our LGBTQ+ community.”

“We do not refer students for gender-affirming care, nor do we have gender support plans without parental involvement,” the statement says. “The student-driven resources are intended to complement the essential role that parents play in their children’s lives.”

The message warned parents against sharing The Daily Signal’s article on social media, saying that “bad-faith actors out there don’t concern themselves with clarity or truth.”

“In fact, they thrive in the muck of innuendo, gossip, and misinformation,” the message continues. “Those who make false claims on social media or target programs and teachers in online hate campaigns normalize antisocial behavior.”

But the district doesn’t require parental involvement for students 12 and older, according to a document laying out the process of “Student Gender Support” in schools obtained through a public records request and shared with The Daily Signal. Children typically turn 12 in sixth grade.

While the district highly recommends parental involvement for all ages, it’s only mandatory for children ages 11 and younger. Still, If a child under 11 doesn’t want a parent involved, the district will “proceed to support the student.”

However, internal communications obtained by The Daily Signal suggest that the district isn’t exactly being honest about its policy for children suffering from gender dysphoria.

According to internal emails obtained by the nonprofit legal group Center for American Liberty, the district’s student services administrative director, Sarah Coley, instructs her colleagues to share a child’s transgender status with the parents only if the child permits it.

“The gender support plan helps the transitioning student know the options and to designate the preference to the school administration, but it is not required for a student to have one,” Coley said in an Aug. 7, 2022, email in response to a question from a local parent. “It is encouraged to have parents part of the process, but under the law, it is not required.”

If Newport-Mesa truly was unwilling to use gender support plans without parental involvement, California law would require it to do so.

California’s legislature recently passed a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom disallowing districts to inform parents about their children’s gender issues, which would certainly provide cover for Newport-Mesa’s effort to help students undergo social transitions without the knowledge or consent of the parents.

Given the evidence provided in The Daily Signal’s report and the current political climate, especially in states like California, it is extremely difficult to believe Newport-Mesa’s protestations. Given that several school districts in the state have similar policies, which are backed by the government, it seems clear that teachers and other members of school staff have been empowered to usurp the role of parents when it comes to gender dysphoria.

The fact of the matter is that those pushing the gender agenda do not respect the rights of parents. This is because they believe the state should be the entity to decide how to address children with gender dysphoria. Their Marxist ideology dictates that it is the state that should be primarily responsible for the rearing of children, not the parents. This is one area in which they seek to make that belief a reality.