LGBTQ+ club allegedly created by teacher causes controversy at Elk Grove elementary school

By Tori Apodaca

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    ELK GROVE, California (KOVR) — Some Elk Grove Unified School District parents feel like they were kept in the dark about an LGBTQ+ club they said a third-grade teacher started on Pleasant Grove Elementary School’s campus.

“The teacher came in and spoke about how boys like boys and girls like girls,” said Brittani Cortina who has two children at Pleasant Grove Elementary, one in second grade and the other in fourth.

Cortina said her fourth grader told her the teacher went into classrooms and told students he was creating the UBU, pronounced you be you, club as a safe space for LGBTQ students.

“These little minds just can’t wrap their heads around what these types of things mean to them,” said Pamela Davila, a parent at Pleasant Grove.

Davila said it has been causing what she calls confusion for her second grader, and she is concerned about why parents were not notified about the lunchtime club. She told CBS13 this was not a conversation she was ready to have with her child.

The Elk Grove Unified School District gave CBS13 this statement:

“EGUSD is aware of the UBU club at Pleasant Grove Elementary but the club is currently on pause while the District reviews all pertinent policies and practices that relate to before/after school clubs.”

“The district isn’t really giving any answers on what was happening, what the guidelines were, what the curriculum was,” said Heidi Moore, who has multiple children in Elk Grove Unified.

Elk Grove Unified confirmed there are multiple identity clubs across its school campuses.

In an email obtained by CBS13, Pleasant Grove Principal Deidra Wood said, in part:

“Our legal counsel has been weighin gin with our district cabinet because of the laws and because whatever decisions are made will impact not only our school and club but the other 5-10 elementary similar clubs.”

CBS13 spoke with a legal expert who said the UBU club will need to abide by the same rules as all the other school clubs, and if the district notifies parents about other clubs, it would need to do the same in this case.

“Permission slips are required for gardening club, so why not for this club?” said Moore.

The district is still reviewing its policies and could not provide more details on what its protocols are when it comes to creating clubs or asking for parent’s permission.

Parents said they are aware the club may have been created to address bullying but said their problem is not with the topic but the transparency.

“Deal with the bullying. Don’t keep secrets from parents,” said Cortina. “Take that issue with the parents. Don’t take that issue with the students in the school.”

Parents planned to show up to Elk Grove Unified’s School board meeting on March 5 to voice their concerns.

The club controversy is not on the meeting’s agenda, but the school board is set to vote on recognizing March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility.

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