LOS ANGELES — The Murrieta Valley Board of Education has defied a state order — and countermanded its own staff — by holding on to a policy that requires parents to be notified when students change their gender identity at school.

By a 3-2 margin, the board voted Thursday night to keep its parent-notification policy, which requires administrators, teachers and counselors to notify parents or guardians in writing within three days after any district employee has learned that a student is requesting to be "identified or treated as a gender other than the student's biological sex or gender listed on the student's birth certificate or any other official records."

Members of the board majority took their action in response to an April 10 report from the California Department of Education, which contained the findings of its investigation as well as directives for the school system of about 22,000 students in Riverside County.

"We have a right as a board to defy a dictatorial governor and bureaucracy — or whatever — that tries to take away our rights as parents and as citizens — as a duly elected board," said board member Nick Pardue. "We have legal standing and we should absolutely stand up for our rights against dictators."

A clear majority of more than 100 parents, community members and activists who packed the board room applauded. They cheered again when board president Paul Diffley, without comment, hesitated, then broke a 2-2 tie.

In a later interview, Diffley said he hesitated only because he was recalling public comments, at an earlier meeting, from a young adult who'd had gender reassignment surgery and then regretted it.

"A parent has the right 'til a child is 18 to know everything that is critical," he added.

The vast majority of speakers supported the parent-notification policy, including Wes Schaeffer, a local father of seven, who held his first baby grandchild as he challenged the idea that teachers should be tasked with keeping a secret.

"I think maybe the government is overstepping its boundaries," he added.

Speakers against the policy included retired school board member Kris Thomasian and, in a surprise, the board's student member Isabella Dadalt.

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