Category: Politics

Lawsuit over gender identity, children’s privacy, creates turmoil

ACLU files motion, asking to join with CUSD defendants
by Leslie Layton and Natalie Hanson | Posted March 8, 2023
Aurora Regino, who grew up in Chico, has filed suit against CUSD trustees and the superintendent.

A lawsuit filed against Chico Unified over its response to a student who was questioning their gender identity has opened a new front for Butte County culture wars.

The lawsuit, Regino v. Staley, filed Jan. 6 in federal court in the Eastern District of California, alleges that a school counselor at Sierra View Elementary coaxed a student into adopting a male identity after the fifth-grader confided that they “felt like a boy.” The lawsuit names as defendants the Board of Education and Chico Unified (CUSD) Superintendent Kelly Staley.

The ACLU of Northern California said late today that it has filed a motion to join the lawsuit “on the side of the Chico Unified School District and on behalf of the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network.” The presiding judge will rule on the motion. read more

Valley’s Edge opponents worry about environmental impacts

Fight over foothill development has wracked Chico for decades
by Leslie Layton | Posted February 5, 2023

photo courtesy of Steve Evans
From left, Steve Evans, Michael McGinnis and Kelly Meagher announced the No way San Jose campaign in 1988 to stop development next to Upper Bidwell Park.

Part II in a two-part series

Thirty-five years ago, a small, progressive coalition stopped development in the lower foothills adjacent to Upper Bidwell Park with the rallying cry, “No way San Jose.”

That area has been protected under the name of Bidwell Ranch since the 1988 referendum that stopped the project. Voters in favor of stopping the Rancho Arroyo project wanted to protect northwest Chico -– not so much from inevitable population growth -– but from the kind of suburban sprawl that had come to be associated with California cities like San Jose and Fresno.

Rancho Arroyo was first planned for 5,000 houses northwest of Bidwell Park, later trimmed down to 3,000 houses to placate opponents, and then resurrected as Bidwell Ranch before it was stopped altogether. read more

Will Valley’s Edge provide the housing Chico needs?

Environmental organizations file lawsuit to stop the project
by Natalie Hanson | Posted February 3, 2023

photo by Leslie Layton
Bill Brouhard presenting the proposed Valley’s Edge housing development to the Chico City Council.

Part I in a two-part series on a project that may take more than 20 years to build out

Chico is known to be severely lacking housing most residents can reasonably afford -– and yet an ambitious project the city has approved to develop housing near the foothills has garnered significant pushback.

On Jan. 3, Chico’s City Council greenlit the Valley’s Edge project. Today, national and regional environmental organizations filed a lawsuit to stop Valley’s Edge, alleging that the environmental impact report is out of compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. The coalition that filed suit, including AquAlliance, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club, issued a statement saying they were suing the City of Chico and Chico Land Investments LLC “for approving a development … without properly assessing or mitigating wildfire and other environmental risks.” read more

Public schools take center stage in battles over civil rights

Chico Unified School District sued by conservative group
by Natalie Hanson | Posted January 20, 2023

photo courtesy of EMS
Michaele Turnage Young

Civil rights advocates say that battles over student rights have become polarized by far-right “special interests,” and they foresee a fight ahead to protect childrens’ rights.

Those fights may involve issues ranging from protection against discrimination to materials students are allowed to access and read. And at a Jan. 18 Board of Trustees meeting for Chico Unified School District (CUSD), officials responded to concerns raised by a lawsuit filed by an organization that supports many of the political right’s causes with court fights.

At a Jan. 18 news briefing sponsored by Ethnic Media Services (EMS), experts said the battle over students’ rights starts in K-12 schools, including whether children can be protected from discriminatory bullying. read more

Chico’s Stonewall responds to parent complaint, media report

Stonewall Alliance gives LGBTQ 101 workshops
by Natalie Hanson | Posted November 13, 2022

photo courtesy of Andrea Mox

Stonewall Alliance Chico’s Executive Director Andrea Mox was worried last month when a parent at Blue Oak Charter complained to school staff that their child came home asking about terms for LGBTQ+ people after attending a suicide prevention workshop.

Mox said the parent complained to the school and local media that they did not know their child would be attending a “sex education” workshop. The parent, quoted by a local news station without giving a name, was angry that their 12-year-old child was learning about terms like “pansexual.”

Stonewall Alliance Chico -– an advocacy organization that prides itself on supporting and empowering the LGBTQ+ community -– says the complaint, while a relatively rare occurrence, reflects the increasing number of such accusations across the country as Republican pressure to mobilize legislation opposing LGBTQ+ rights mounts. read more

Cash rolls into races for 3 school board seats

New PAC helps fund conservative candidates in unusually partisan race
by Natalie Hanson | Posted October 14, 2022

photo by Karen Laslo
CUSD school board candidates in hotly-contested races for three seats answered questions at a September forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

A trio of candidates — two of whom are challenging incumbents — are backed by a new, conservative political action committee that has raised an unusually large amount of money that is filtering into the races for three hotly contested seats on the Chico Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees.

The candidates -– Rebecca Konkin in District 1, Matt Tennis in District 4 and Logan Wilson in District 5 -– are funded in part by Chico Parents for In-Person Learning, and the three have raised far more than their opponents. The Chico Parents group formed a political action committee (PAC) in March 2021 as it unsuccessfully attempted to recall every CUSD board member, except for the group’s co-founder, Tennis. read more