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Editor,
I am a mother, a Spanish teacher in the San Mateo Union High School District, and a longtime lesbian and gay rights activist. At the board meeting Sept. 10, where trustees debated policy updates on gender identity, I spoke not only as a longtime progressive educator but as the parent of a son who once identified as transgender.
The Daily Journal’s recent coverage reduced this debate to a single trustee’s concerns. In reality, the board delayed its vote because women’s rights advocates raised legitimate questions. To their credit, trustees ultimately rejected two troubling recommendations from the California School Boards Association: removing parents entirely from the process, and reclassifying a student’s sex as “private information.” Both would have undermined trust between families and schools.
I urged the board to require parental involvement in any future updates to gender policies. Schools must not take the place of families in making decisions with life-altering consequences for children.
I have spent decades fighting homophobia and sexism. It pains me to see students taught to view their personalities through the narrow lens of “gender identity.” Sensitive or creative children, especially those struggling with body issues, are told they were “born in the wrong body.” That message is not liberating. It is regressive and homophobic.
In my son’s case, school affirmation of his “trans girl” identity deepened his distress and echoed the bullying he had endured. Thankfully, he has since desisted, but the harm remains real. Families must never be cut out of this conversation.
Arienne Adamcikova
San Francisco
Spanish Teacher, SMUHSD
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(3) comments
Thank you, Arienne, for your powerful letter. It’s crucial for parents to hear, especially when fear silences so many voices. The SMUHSD board and other school boards have lost sight of their purpose. Schools should prioritize academics and student outcomes, not activism. This space belongs to parents, not activists.
Thank you so much Arienne for your letter. It is unfortunate that the DJ tried to paint this as being about one trustee. I heard your passionate and personal speech at the meeting along with others- parents both Democrat and Republican, lesbians and women's rights activists. This is not a right-wing or MAGA issue in any way.
Thank you for publishing this perspective from a longtime teacher in the district. I was born in San Mateo and have lived my whole life in the Bay Area. I am both a parent and a teacher, and I know many others who feel as this teacher does, yet our perspective is almost never reflected in the media.
Many parents and teachers see that confused young people are not helped by the idea that being different means you were “born in the wrong body.” When we raise these concerns, we are too often dismissed as “right-wing” or “anti-trans,” despite being lifelong liberals who have consistently fought for women’s and gay rights.
I especially appreciated her clarity in explaining the nuances of the board vote, details that are usually lost in reporting. This is the kind of open, honest discussion our community needs.
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