A little girl who attends Rocklin Academy Gateway was “shaking and crying” about the thought that she would turn into a boy after she learned about transgender ideology and saw one of her male classmates present himself as a girl during a kindergarten class.
In an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on Monday, the moms of two children who were in class that day disclosed the mental toll that the transgender lesson plan has taken on their daughters.
“A couple of nights after, my daughter was taking a bath,” the first mom said. “And she got up out of the water, and her hair was slicked back, and she saw a reflection of herself in the drain in the bathtub, and she started shaking and crying because she thought that she looked like a boy. And she was like, ’Mommy, I don’t want to be a boy. I turned into a boy, mommy. I don’t want to be a boy.’ “
The moms chose to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
The second mother said her daughter was sent to the principal’s office because she referred to her transgender classmate with male pronouns and called him by his old name.
“They saw each other on the playground, and she ran up and said ’hi’ to him by the name she knows him as,” the girl’s mom said. “She was reprimanded on the spot, and then later that day, she was actually pulled out of her classroom and sent to the principal’s office to discuss what had happened.”
Rocklin Academy, a prestigious charter school near Sacramento, said the girl was not punished for the infraction.
California is currently considering legislation that would make intentionally using a transgender person’s wrong pronouns a crime punishable by up to one year in jail.
Two days before the end of the last school year, a kindergarten teacher at Rocklin Academy read her class two books, “I am Jazz,” by transgender reality TV star Jazz Jennings, and “Red: A Crayon’s Story,” about a blue crayon that identifies as a red crayon.
At some point during the day, a boy reportedly left the class, changed into girls’ clothing and upon his return was presented to the class as a girl.
In response to outraged parents, the school has cited its own policy and California state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
The mother of the little girl who was afraid she would turn into a boy said she wished the school had notified her of the lesson plan beforehand.
“She was actually taught that she could turn into the opposite sex,” the mom said. “That is what really troubled me. I really wish that I had had the opportunity to talk to her about this first, and even the opportunity to opt out and maybe take her home for the day.”
She said the issue is about parental rights, not transgender rights.
“People want to make it about a specific group of people, and that’s not really what it’s about,” she said. “It’s really about, I think any parent would want the right to know what their children are learning in school and the right to be notified if topics of anything like sexuality or any other controversial issue is talked about.”
Rocklin Academy has not returned multiple requests for comment. The school plans to hold a board meeting on Sept. 18 to address the matter.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.