Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) is one of the more conservative districts in right-leaning Orange County, California. But like much of California, COVID, and the draconian response by Governor Gavin Newsom and his apparatchiks in public health, broke it. Former RedState Editor Kira Davis has a child in this district and ran for the Capistrano School Board in 2022 to address some of this brokenness. Unfortunately, she lost to a union-funded carpetbagger but still remains a voice in what happens within the district. Davis wrote on her Substack about a new battle brewing over CUSD's transgender policies.

My California school district -Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) - is in an unusually conservative voting area. Even so, our board is owned by progressive union-supported representatives. Our proximity to wealth in Orange County has largely insulated us from the controversies that have traditionally plagued public school systems, not because they didn’t exist, but because as long as education standards were holding steady not many parents felt the need to bother with keeping tabs on our school board.

That all changed when the pandemic hit and parents across the nation were simultaneously faced with closure and mask battles, and gender ideology and critical race theory incursions that subverted the moral authority of most parents. It was the perfect storm and it is still raging.

At the moment we are struggling mightily to press our board into adopting a parental notification measure similar to the (currently) seven other school boards across the state that have already done so. You may have heard our Attorney General has chosen to threaten tax-paying parents and is suing at least one district for violating state policy.

It’s a mess, to say the least, and the more digging we do the worse it gets.

A watchdog group called Capo Kids First revealed that "worse" on Facebook. 

Capo Unified Parents – did you know CUSD may help your child “transition” to another gender (pronouns, locker room use, clothing, etc.) without your knowledge or consent?  The attached form was obtained via a Public Records Act request from CUSD. Scroll down to the signature page and notice there is an asterisk * next to Parent/Guardian/Relationship.  At the bottom of the page explains that telling a parent is “Optional per AB1266” Also attached is a copy of AB1266 – you can read it for yourself and decide if AB1266 authorizes the school to not tell you about this. Is CUSD supporting Parental Rights? For more information go to: https://libertycenter.org/ & https://www.allianceforedca.com/  For more information about joining a parent union (no dues) of like minded parents go to: https://californiapolicycenter.org/parent-union/

So, unbeknownst to parents (or even the board), CUSD has joined the fray. California school districts in Orange, Roseville, Chino Valley, Temecula Valley, Murrieta Valley, San Bernardino, Rocklin, and at least a dozen others have implemented a parental notification policy, or are demanding that notification procedures be added to any gender transition plan the school currently has on the books. 

At the September 20 CUSD School Board meeting, Kira Davis and other parents attended the meeting to support a proposal for parental notification to be put on the board agenda for October. The union goons and Antifa also showed up in force. According to Davis, 80 people were given one minute to state their assent or dissent. However, the entire meeting took over two hours, mostly because of the disruption of the dissenters comprised of the anti-parental notification and union "supporters." 

Davis reported booing, hissing, harassing parents, yelling over people they didn't agree with, and more. 

While the proposal wasn’t slated for the Sept. 20 agenda, nearly 80 people spoke during the school board meeting, ranging from support for such a policy to threats of a recall for [Board President Lisa] Davis .

Here is the tenor of parents who were there to support parental notification:

LISTEN: 

CUSD has 63 campuses, making it the largest district in Orange County. The district includes the cities of San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

Despite the unreasonable measures being employed by the teachers' unions and trans activists, this is not an unreasonable request. But it appears to be the hill this bunch is willing to die on—or at least go bankrupt upon. Just last month a mother in Monterey County received a $100,000 settlement from the Spreckels Union School District for transitioning her daughter without her consent. 

Consider this case the canary in the coal mine. Parents have the right and responsibility as legal guardians to superintend the welfare of their child, no matter what the issue. School Districts that interfere with that responsibility, and in essence, insert a wedge between the parent and child relationship, deserve all the lawsuits and fire that will no doubt come their way.  

However, Newsom, CA Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond beg to differ. The state is suing Chino Valley for its parental notification policy. You would think that Newsom, Bonta, and Thurmond would shut down this lawsuit and reconsider what parents are trying to say. Bonta is flirting with running for governor in 2026, Thurmond has already announced, and Newsom is salivating over a White House run. 

While they want to paint it as a right-wing issue, parents of all political stripes support notification policies, and they are not only making their voices heard but removing activist school board members who support the state and its agenda more than they support the school children and their families. 

With the battles still waging in school boards all across the country, maintaining this stance of anti-parent/pro-state certainly will not fly in flyover country.