Following recent parent complaints brought before the school board, the Sequoia Union High School District issued a policy bulletin reminding teachers that they should avoid administrating or collecting written responses from students about personal beliefs or practices related to sex, family life, morality, or religion without prior parent or guardian consent.
The bulletin also directs staff to review and update classroom activities, surveys, and instructional materials to ensure compliance with privacy protections. The district clarifies that these requirements are separate from the California Healthy Youth Act, which governs comprehensive sexual health education and has its own rules for parental notification and opt-out procedures.
“It’s meant to protect students and families and their rights to privacy, not censor them,” Instructional Vice Principal Tara Charles said. “If we’re going to ask students for personal information, we don’t want to make students uncomfortable, so we should have parental consent.”
Furthermore, the bulletin cites the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that the Montgomery County Board of Education’s policy introducing LGBTQ+ inclusive storybooks into elementary schools without providing advance notice or an opt out option burdened parental rights under the Free Exercise Clause. This ruling is cited as part of the legal context for the district’s reminder.
In addition, the bulletin specifically points to the “Introduction to Identity and Identity Lenses” lesson as a potential violation of privacy laws. According to the district, the lesson requires parental consent under Education code 51513 because it asks students to disclose personal information related to religion, sex, or gender and submit it to staff. Since the lesson is a part of Sequoia’s Ethnic Studies curriculum, some teachers see the bulletin as a pointed critique of a department already under scrutiny from certain parents.
“As a department, we’ve always been sensitive to student privacy. We explain definitions or world views, but we don’t dig into students’ personal identities. That’s what ethnic studies is. It’s the history part,” history teacher Diana Nguyen said.
Furthermore, some students say the policy has implications for their classroom experience. Junior Ariane Shah, a GSA board member, believes the bulletin’s threatening manner, particularly its focus on LGBTQ+ topics, could discourage teachers from covering these ideas entirely. This goes beyond the requirement to obtain written consent for any tests or surveys that ask personal questions.
“When I took Ethnic Studies as a freshman, I was excited to learn history I could connect to my identity as a queer person of color,” Shah said. “It was the first time I felt I could see myself in the history I was learning at school.”
Teachers add that they feel heightened scrutiny as well. A single parent complaint, they note, can create significant professional stress.
“Teachers rely on trust with families, but it only takes one complaint for a small mistake to become a major issue. I’m personally nervous about how to navigate that,” Nguyen said.
Inside the classroom, the new restrictions raise practical concerns. How should teachers collect parental consent? Should they avoid identity-related discussions altogether to avoid scrutiny, or simply be cautious about asking personal questions?
“If we are going to ask for this information, teachers need to send out a written permission form to gain parental consent,” Charles said. “My job is to reassure teachers that we’re doing what’s right for students. These are healthy conversations for us to have, because we never want students to feel uncomfortable.”
Outside the classroom, community groups have also reacted. The SUSHD Students First organization, active in district politics, has been vocal about its opposition to parts of the current Ethnic Studies curriculum and its discussions of identity, gender, race, and systems of oppression. The group is actively reaching out to the district in an attempt to assure full transparency about what students are being asked to do both inside and outside of the curricula.
“We support high-quality Ethnic Studies instruction and we have written to the board many times to advocate for the Constructive Ethnic Studies curriculum. We do not support the illiberal oppressed/oppressor ethic studies curriculum […] Our concerns are specifically about proper implementation and legal compliance [of the curricula].”
With differing perspectives often opposing one another in terms of discussions about Ethnic Studies. This move from the district is likely still only a small part of a continuous fight over the curriculum.
“The best way to combat losing students’ sense of belonging is to normalize the LGBTQ+ community’s existence. Even though teachers may not be able to ask about student’s identities, they can still talk about those topics as a whole and create a safe space for them,” Shah said.