Supreme Court sides with Escondido teachers in ongoing lawsuit over transgender student privacy, parents’ rights

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a San Diego federal judge’s ruling that California teachers must be allowed to tell parents if their child may be transgender, siding with parents who said they have a constitutional right to know about possible changes to their child’s gender presentation at school.

In a 6-3 decision, the nation’s highest court said it believes California’s policies let schools conceal changes to a student’s gender presentation from their parents, facilitate children’s gender transitions without parental consent and “substantially interfere” with parents’ rights to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

“The state argues that its policies advance a compelling interest in student safety and privacy. But those policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents,” a majority of the court wrote in an unsigned opinion.

The Supreme Court did not decide the merits of the case, Mirabelli v. Olson, first filed by two Escondido Union School District teachers and later joined by several parents. The case is still under review at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rather, the justices granted the plaintiffs’ req...