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The draft policy would require staff to alert parents about student record changes, injuries and mental health concerns.
UPDATE – July 9, 2025: Agenda items related to Redlands Unified’s proposed parent notification policy were pulled at the start of the July 8 board meeting. Superintendent Juan Cabral said the California Attorney General’s Office is currently reviewing the draft Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5010 (Notifications), as well as AR 5145.3 (Nondiscrimination/Harassment).
The board did not discuss or take action on the item Tuesday night.
REDLANDS, Calif. — The Redlands Unified School District Board of Education is set to take a first vote Tuesday on a proposed parent notification policy that would require school staff to alert parents or guardians about a wide range of student-related matters, from participation in extracurricular activities to changes in school records.
Supporters say the policy is designed to foster trust between families and schools, while critics warn it could jeopardize student safety and expose the district to costly legal battles.
Redlands' proposed policy mirrors a revised version of the notification policy adopted by Chino Valley Unified School District in 2023, which drew a swift legal challenge from the state. A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge partially blocked Chino’s initial policy, ruling that it violated students’ constitutional rights. The district later narrowed the scope of the policy, and the state ultimately dropped its appeal.
Redlands Unified’s draft policy includes many of the same provisions Chino Valley retained after revising its approach:
The draft policy also includes administrative regulations to guide its enforcement—a step not taken by Chino Valley at the time of its policy’s adoption.
Redlands Unified's Administrative Regulation 5010 includes an opt-in provision, allowing parents to choose whether they wish to be notified about changes to their child’s official or unofficial records—unless notification is otherwise required by law.
The opt-in clause may reflect an effort to align the policy with California’s SAFETY Act (AB 1955), which prohibits schools from disclosing a student’s gender identity or expression to parents without the student’s consent. However, critics say the required meeting with students and the notification timeline could still create pressure to disclose or discourage students from seeking support.
Kristi Hirst, a former teacher in Chino Valley and co-founder of the nonprofit Our Schools, has closely followed the legal and financial fallout from similar policies.
“Chino spent over $1.2 million in legal fees in a single year,” Hirst said in an interview with Community Forward Redlands. “These fights suck up resources and harm the most vulnerable students.”
She described the push for parental notification policies as part of a national strategy aimed at sowing distrust in public schools.
“These policies aren’t bubbling up from parents,” she said. “They’re part of a broader strategy, promoted by groups like Moms for Liberty and Project 2025, designed to stir chaos and degrade trust in public education.”
However, conservative legal organizations have defended the policies as affirming parental rights.
“The Chino Valley Unified School District was right to implement a policy ensuring parents have access to information that impacts their children’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being,” said Emily Rae, senior counsel with the Liberty Justice Center, in a February media statement.
Redlands Unified’s proposal comes amid growing legal scrutiny over so-called “outing policies” in California. In July 2024, the state enacted Assembly Bill 1955—the SAFETY Act—which prohibits school districts from adopting policies that require staff to disclose to parents information related to a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The law also protects school staff from retaliation if they refuse to notify parents of a child’s gender preference.
A federal judge upheld the law in April, dismissing a lawsuit brought by conservative school districts and religious parents who argued that the law infringed on parental rights and religious freedom.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta found that the parents lacked standing because they could not show they had been—or were likely to be—harmed by the law, and that school districts, as political subdivisions of the state, cannot challenge state law on federal constitutional grounds.
The Redlands school board meeting will take place Tuesday, July 8. If passed, the draft policy would return for a second reading and final adoption at a future meeting.
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