School Suspended Kids For ‘Misgendering’ Teacher, Sent Them To ‘Restorative Justice’ Training
Reagan Reese on July 7, 2023
A California school suspended several kids for five days after they “misgendered” a transgender teacher and forced them to attend a “restorative justice” training as punishment, according to an email obtained by GUSD Parents’ Voices, an organization advocating for students within the school system.
Jennifer Earl, former principal of Herbert Hoover High School, a school within Glendale Unified School District, wrote in a May 2022 email that she had suspended two students for five days each after they entered a classroom, called a transgender teacher by the wrong name and then ran away after being corrected, according to an email obtained by GUSD Parents’ Voices. The principal noted that after interviewing the students they admitted to being “curious about a transgender person.”
“I asked [the] teacher how he wanted to handle it, if he wanted me to just teach them about misgendering or would he like me to speak about being trans,” the email stated. “He asked me to educate on transgender. It was well received from students and parents. [Restorative justice] will happen after suspension.”
Glendale Unified School District implements “restorative practices” within the classroom and the community by “reducing, preventing and improving harmful behavior” as well as “resolving conflict, holding individuals and groups accountable,” the district website states. In 2018, the district established a “Restorative Practices Advisory Task Force” with the purpose of providing “input for implementing Restorative Practices throughout the district.”
“A student has never been punished, much less suspended, for accidentally using the wrong pronoun to refer to a peer or staff member,” a district spokesperson told Fox News Digital regarding the email. “However, a student could be suspended if the action escalated to harassment or bullying.”
In June, at least three people were arrested outside a Glendale Unified School Board meeting which discussed whether or not to include curriculum focused on gender identity and sexual orientation for students. At the meeting, Vivian Ekchian, the school district superintendent, said that the “primary focus” of the school district was to be “inclusive.”
Glendale Unified School District and Herbert Hoover High School did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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