The board agenda for the upcoming Regular Meeting of the William S. Hart Union School District on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. includes an informational overview of “Parential Notification” policies in California schools.

Attorney Wendy Wiles, a partner at the law firm Atkinson, Anderson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, will deliver a presentation to the board which includes an overview of how various California school districts have considered “Parent Notification” policies and will include information on recent legal decisions.

This is an information item only. No action will be taken by the Hart Governing Board at this time.

The term “Parential Notification” is controversal in relation to school districts as some policies often require schools go beyond routine health notifications and forciably “out” LGBQT students to parents against students’ wishes.

A judge recently granted a preliminary injunction on two parts of the parental notification policy in the Chino Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County that required parents be notified about their child’s sexual orintation. Now, if a student asks to change social aspects of their identity, like their pronouns or use of school facilities, the school does not have to notify the student’s parents.

The full agenda of the Hart School board is available at: https://bit.ly/HartBoardMeetingInfo.

The meeting will be held at the Hart High School Auditorium, 24825 Newhall Ave., Newhall, CA 91321.

The meeting can also be streamed at: https://youtube.com/live/wNt52gazdD8.

The Hart District released the follow statement on how the pulic comment period will be held on the “Parential Notification” issue.

“Instructions for Making Public Comments at the Nov. 15 Board Meeting:

Public comments for Agenda Item VIIA – Overview of Parental Notification Policies in California Schools

The Governing Board recognizes the strong interest in providing public comments on Agenda Item VIIA – Overview of Parental Notification Policies in California Schools. Because the Governing Board values community input we have taken steps to ensure an extended public comment period and a fair distribution of speakers.

The Board President will recommend extending the comment time for Parental Notification to a maximum of three hours.

Participants wishing to speak on this topic can check in at the Parental Notification comments kiosk located in the foyer to receive a numbered speaker card.

During the meeting, to ensure fairness, numbered speaker cards will be randomly selected. Each speaker will be allotted two minutes to make comments before the Governing Board. Please note that there may be more individuals with speaker cards than the allocated comment time of three hours.

At the conclusion of the three-hour comment period, individuals with unselected speaker cards will have the opportunity to submit their comments to the Governing Board through the following email address: wshpubliccomments@hartdistrict.org.

The District will continue to accept comments at this email address from 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, until 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16.

General Public Comments during Item VIII – Public Comment Period

The Governing Board will also allocate time for general public comments regarding topics not on the agenda during Item VIII – Public Comment Period. As is our standard practice, 20 minutes will be allotted for these comments. 10 numbered speaker cards will be assigned in the foyer for this purpose.”