Conservative California school board members ousted after trans-related parental notification policies

Two Orange, California school board members were ousted from their positions after a recall election.

Madison Klovstad Miner and Rick Ledesma, the Trustee Area 4 and Trustee Area 7 representatives on the Orange Unified School District Board of Education in California, faced a recall effort on March. According to Ballotpedia, a majority of residents approved the recall, voting in favor of removing them from their positions.

"I just wanted to say a smooth transition of power is part of democracy and while those efforts have been hindered over the last year, I as a board trustee will not contribute to that destruction," Miner said, according to CBS News. 

"It has been an honor to serve this community and I will continue to do as I was prior to this election."

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"I want to thank the OUSD voting community — generation upon generation that voted for me — over 25 years I've been on this board, and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart," Ledesma said.

Orange residents questioned the once conservative majority Board after they voted to ban the LGBTQ+ Pride flag and to temporarily suspend books deemed "age inappropriate." 

Protesters gathered outside the Orange Unified school district board meeting discussing a parental notification policy for transgender students on September 7, 2023. ((Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images))

Furthermore, the Los Angeles Times reported that the "fiercely contested recall election in the Orange Unified School District intensified with the board majority’s approval in the fall of a parent-notification policy requiring educators to inform parents when a student requests ‘to be identified as a gender other than that student’s biological sex or the gender listed on the birth certificate or any other official records.’"

The Orange Unified School District board members last year passed a measure to inform parents when their children identify as transgender.

The school district said it was considering the policy in the name of protecting the "fundamental rights" of parents and guardians to be involved and informed about their children’s lives.

Protesters and supporters of a parental notification policy clash outside the Orange Unified school board meeting, September 7, 2023.  ((Photo by Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images))

The policies prompted teachers and locals to launch a recall against Ledesma and Miner.

Darshan Smaaladan, a parent of two children in the district and the co-chair of the recall effort, told CBS News that the voters were "looking for their best interest."

"Voters want school boards that are looking out for their best interest and not doing anything that is a personal agenda or personal benefit," Smaaladan said.

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Smaaladan went on to say, "I think both of those things were in play with our recall. And, having the voters support us really validated what we were feeling as parents."

Back in February before the recall results, Smaaladan said that "these culture wars are not going to be something that resonates with people here."

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday launched a civil rights investigation against the Chino Valley Unified School District over its policy requiring staff to "out" transgender students. ((AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)) (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,File)

Parental notification policies regarding a student's gender have been passed in a handful of districts across the state. Several have faced lawsuits and attracted controversy at school board meetings.

Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a civil rights investigation against the Chino Valley Unified School District and others over such policy.

Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program. 

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