After Tomorrow, Nowhere Will Be Safe.
AB 1955 will be heard tomorrow, 5/29, at 9 a.m. If it passes, it will let not only allow teachers to keep secrets from you re: your child, but make it LEGAL for them to LIE.
Image and article, above, c/o Susannah Luthi of Free Beacon can be read here.
California has made it clear that its policy and priority is to protect criminals and fugitives, even kidnappers, but what about teachers? What about those that have been entrusted with the care of your children while they are at school, which is required by law, in California, of course.
Will California also protect school officials, staff, faculty and contractors if they violate federal or state law, or endanger your child?
The short answer is yes.
If Assemblyman Christopher Ward’s Assembly Bill 1955 passes the Senate Education Committee tomorrow, it will well be on its way to making — not only the withholding of critical personal information relating to your child — but active fraud by schools against parents legal. AB 1955 — the SAFETY, or “Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth,” Act — will make it illegal for schools to lawfully implement policies to notify parents when their child is living a secret, double-life because they hate who they are. This includes information regarding your child’s “gender identity” or “expression” (confusion) and “sexual orientation.”
This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools, and a member of the governing board or body of those educational entities, from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of those educational entities from being required to make such a disclosure unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or the state special schools, or members of the governing boards or bodies of those educational entities, from retaliating or taking adverse action against an employee on the basis that the employee supported a pupil in the exercise of specified rights, work activities, or providing certain instruction, as provided.
If teachers are currently being forced to lie to and/or withhold critical information from parents/guardians or otherwise be retaliated against (see e.g. Jessica Tapia, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West)), AB 1955 will make this illegal conduct legal.
If AB 1955 passes, it will be legal for schools to:
1. Withhold and
2. Actively misrepresent to parents critical details regarding their child, and
3. Violate the fundamental, constitutionally-protected rights of faculty, staff, and parents to freely speak (or not), exercise their religion and raise their children (parents, guardians).
Let FLTJ be clear: AB1955 is illegal, unconstitutional, immoral, unethical and actually dangerous for children, and — if passed — will be struck down in Court. (See Erin Friday’s brilliant SUBSTACK article summarizing the current state of legal victories surrounding parental notification policies). However….
The Protect Kids CA Ballot Initiative will not be voted on in 2024.
Therefore….
Nowhere is safe for your child. The time to act is right now:
Email Senate Education Committee and its members to register your Opposition and urge them to vote “NO” or, at the very least “Abstain,” on AB 1955:
Senate Ed Committee:
SEDN.committee@senate.ca.gov
Josh Newman* (LA, OC, San Bernardino)
senator.newman@senate.ca.gov
jacqueline.anapolsky@sen.ca.gov
Dave Cortese* (Santa Clara):
senator.cortese@senate.ca.gov
tara.sreekrishnan@sen.ca.gov
Steven Glazer* (Contra Costa):
senator.glazer@senate.ca.gov
deanna.latour-jarquin@sen.ca.gov
Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (Arlington Heights, Arlington Park, Baldwin Hills, Carthay, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw, Culver City, Del Rey, Downtown Los Angeles, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, Mar Vista, Mid City, Playa Vista, South Los Angeles, University Park, West Adams, and West Los Angeles):
senator.smallwoodcuevas@senate.ca.gov
matthew.canty@sen.ca.gov
Lena Gonzalez (Long Beach):
senator.gonzalez@senate.ca.gov
trevor.taylor@sen.ca.gov
Wilk and Ochoa-Boa are on the committee, but on our side already confirmed so no need to “waste time” on them.
* Focus on these members.
Call Senate Education Committee Members starting now until 9 a.m. tomorrow, leaving anonymous voicemails after-hours (unless you are a constituent, in which case, ID yourself by ZIP on the vm) to register your opposition and urge them to vote “NO” or “Abstain” on AB 1955 tomorrow:
Newman*: (916) 651-4029
Cortese*: (916) 651-4015
Glazer*: (916) 651-4007
Smallwood-Cuevas: (916) 651-4028
Gonzalez: (916) 651-4033
Wilk and Ochoa-Boa are on the committee, but on our side already confirmed so no need to “waste time” on them.
* Focus on these members.
Call your Senator to urge him / her to vote “NO” on AB1955, and encourage their colleagues in the committee to vote “NO” as well. We need to prep them for the floor vote if it passes committee and their feedback can influence the committee members’ in their votes.
GET READY FOR TOMORROW, May 29:
8:00 a.m. Press Conference: West Side Entrance (10th Street)
9:00 a.m. Hearing: 1021 O Street, Room 2100, Sacramento, CA 95814
RESOURCES (linked above but here, again, for ease of reference):
AB1955 Language: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1955
Senate Education Committee Members: https://sedn.senate.ca.gov
Find Your Senator: https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov
AB 1955 FAQ: https://lgbtqcaucus.legislature.ca.gov/sites/lgbtcaucus.legislature.ca.gov/files/safety_act/factsheet.pdf