The Brief

Teachers working in California school districts with conservative school boards are increasingly finding themselves with a difficult decision: violate district policy and risk losing their job, or potentially disobey federal and state laws and policies and take a chance on ending up in court.

Last Monday was the first day of school at Chino Valley Unified campuses since the passage of a controversial board policy that would require teachers, counselors and administrators to notify parents if a child asks to be identified by a different gender or name, or to access a bathroom or take part in a program not aligned with the gender on their official records.

After the Chino Valley Unified decision, California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned the school district that the parental notification policy could violate the state’s anti-discrimination laws and students’ rights to privacy guaranteed under the U.S. and California constitutions, as well as federal Title IX protections and the state education code. Bonta launched a civil rights investigation into the school district last week.

A previous letter from Bonta cautioned that “outing” students to parents could result in emotional, mental and physical harm to the students and subject them to discriminatory harassment.

There is a sense of uneasiness among teachers, said Brenda Walker, president of Associated Chino Teachers. Teachers want to do what is right for their students, obey the law and keep their jobs, she said.

“We don’t understand what the implications would be if we didn’t follow through with those policies,” said Steven Frazer, a Chino Valley high school teacher, on the first day of school on Aug. 7.

Teachers could potentially be found liable or sued as a result of the policies, or they could find themselves caught up in a lawsuit’s allegations, even if they aren’t a defendant, said Laura Juran, chief counsel for the California Teachers Association.

“Teachers are liable if they don’t follow state law,” said Mark Reichel, a Sacramento-based attorney and legal expert. “On the other hand, so is the school board. You can never fire somebody for complying with state law. Retaliatory firing is a recipe for a lawsuit.”

Andrea Johnston, Chino Valley Unified director of communications, said school staff received training on the new board policy before the first day of school and that staff who adhere to district policies will be protected and supported.

“At this time, the district is not clear how educators can be held liable for upholding district policies since none are contrary to current state laws and policies,” Johnston stated in an email.

California laws and policies on gender identity

Assembly Bill 1266, known as the School Success and Opportunity Act, which went into effect in 2014, requires students to be permitted to participate in school activities and programs and to use facilities consistent with their gender identity, without respect to the gender listed on their official records.

California education law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex with regard to enrollment in classes or courses, career counseling and availability of physical education activities or sports.

Guidance from the California Department of Education says that revealing a student’s gender identity or expression to others may compromise the student’s safety. The right of transgender students to keep their transgender status private is grounded in California’s anti-discrimination laws as well as federal and state laws.

Disclosing that a student is transgender without the student’s permission may violate California’s anti-discrimination law by increasing the student’s vulnerability to harassment, and may violate the student’s right to privacy.

Chino Valley teachers start school year under a cloud

On the first day of school, teachers are generally getting acquainted with their students, reading off names and, sometimes, asking if they have a preferred nickname instead of their given name, Walker said.

“Now teachers will probably give a blanket statement that will say that, based on board policy, I’m obligated to ‘out’ you. It’s going to raise concerns,” Walker said before classes began last week.

Frazer said his students didn’t ask about the policy on the first day of school. “We were wondering if it was because of the fact students may not have felt comfortable expressing themselves.”

It was a fairly normal day, with no sign of student protest, Frazer said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised that the LGBTQ community was playing it safe,” he said. “I hope it just proves that everyone just wants to get back to school and get back to learning.”

He said he is hopeful that the civil rights investigation instigated by the state Attorney General’s Office will resolve the issue.

Teachers have told union president Walker that it isn’t uncommon for them to receive requests to change names or pronouns, adding that one teacher told her she receives 15 to 20 such requests from students each year.

Walker sent a memo to teachers last week advising them to follow the district’s new policy but to object to it if they think the policy is improper or unlawful. If a teacher feels uncomfortable talking to a parent about a child’s gender identification, they should ask one of their administrators to take on that task, the memo directed.

“Members are expected to comply with directives given by their administrators, and if a member or the association find that there has been a violation of the collective bargaining agreement, then a grievance can be filed,” Walker said.

Union officers met with district administrators last week to discuss what discipline teachers might suffer if they don’t comply with the board policy. District officials said they would use the progressive discipline procedures used for violation of all board policies, Walker said.

Progressive discipline often includes a number of steps including verbal warnings, letters of warning, meetings with supervisors and letters of reprimand before a teacher is dismissed.

In addition to their personal liability, teachers have other concerns about the policies. Some expressed concern for their students’ safety; others say it adds to their workload, and others are concerned teachers won’t work in districts with such contentious policies.

“Chino has already been struggling to attract teachers; the extreme views being imposed on the district and unfavorable publicity the board is garnering will only make it more difficult,” Walker said in a statement.

She told EdSource that teachers are worried for their LGBTQ+ students.

“Teachers don’t want to be in the middle of this,” Walker said. “They want to teach their students. They want to support all our students. I want to emphasize that — all of our students. They worked hard for their credentials and degrees, and that’s what they want to do.”

Conservative school boards are changing policies

Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County is not the only one changing board policies. School boards across the country and in some parts of California are passing policies that ban books, restrict the curriculum and reduce protections for LGBTQ+ students. Board meetings have been raucous and divisive.

An Aug. 8 meeting at the Kern County Office of Education had to be cleared during a board discussion about whether staff in local schools should have to notify parents if students change their gender identity, according to Bakersfield.com.

Thursday night, the Murrieta Valley Unified school board voted to approve the same policy as the one adopted by Chino Valley Unified. Murrieta Valley Unified is in Riverside County.

Teachers working for Murrieta Valley Unified, interviewed before the vote, said they were uneasy about the proposed policy. Most agreed that they would rather not have to deal with this additional burden, said Chris Shoults, who teaches English at Vista Murrieta High School and is on the union’s executive board.

“Having a local policy at odds with state and federal policy creates another uncertainty in a job that is already demanding,” Shoults said.

Kimberly Chevlin, president of the Murrieta Educators Association, said she is wary of the school board’s motivation. “We are doing what is best for kids. That is what we all got into this job to do,” she said. “I do think the school board members got into this for politics.”

Chino Valley Unified also recently passed an administrative regulation that restricts the types of flags that can be displayed in a classroom.

“It’s disturbing that our classrooms are now politicized,” Walker said. “History teachers have to get approval to put a flag up if they are teaching a lesson about a country.”

A federal judge recently ruled that students’ gender identities should remain private. The judge sided with Chico Unified in Butte County, which was being sued for not informing a parent their child was transgender, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. In his July ruling, the judge said that the district’s policy not to identify students who are transgender aligns with the state’s interest in combating discrimination and harassment against students.

Guidance from the California Department of Education recommends that schools ask transgender students who, if anyone, they would like to be informed of their transgender status. The department says that rule should only be broken in rare circumstances when district officials feel there is a compelling need for parents to know the information and the student is given advance notice before parents are informed.

Chino Valley teachers union files unfair labor charge 

Last week, Associated Chino Teachers filed an unfair labor practice charge against the school district with the California Public Employment Relations Board, alleging that the district approved the new policy and regulation that restricts the types of flags that can be displayed in a classroom, without first negotiating with the union. Districts have a duty to bargain with unions if the policies change the condition of employment and can lead to discipline, according to the complaint.

If an administrative judge decides that the school district should have sought an agreement with teachers over the policy before passing it, it could be rescinded, Juran said.

Walker said she didn’t learn about the parental notification policy until she saw it on the school board meeting agenda.

District officials met with teachers about the new board policy, Chino Valley spokeswoman Johnston said. “The term ‘bargaining’ is incorrectly applied,” she said. “The process is to meet and confer with the union, which was completed.”

Murrieta Valley Unified hasn’t bargained with its union about its parental notification policy either, Chevlin said.

Murrieta Valley Unified is developing protocols, training directives and instruction to staff on how to implement the policy, said Monica Gutierrez, spokesperson for the district.

“We are in the process of working with our employee groups related to the effects on working conditions,” she said.

The local teachers unions of Chino Valley, Murrieta Valley and Temecula Valley school districts are working with the California Teachers Association to determine whether further action is needed.

Last week Temecula Valley’s teacher union joined seven students and three teachers in a suit against the district. The suit, brought by Public Counsel, a nonprofit law firm, as well as a private law firm, alleges that a resolution banning critical race theory has resulted in the censorship of teachers and taken away students’ fundamental rights to an education.

“When politicians try to push their own agendas and politicize our classrooms, educators can and will push back together in their union,” said CTA President David Goldberg in a statement to EdSource.

“California students deserve to learn a rich and inclusive curriculum in a safe learning environment, and teachers should not be penalized for providing that education or for following state law,” he said. “CTA will continue to support educators and students.”

Updated March 21, 2026 at 16:04 PM ET

Robert Mueller, the former FBI director and special counsel who led the high-profile investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, died on Friday at 81.

"With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away," his family said in a statement Saturday shared with NPR. No cause of death was given.

Mueller had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease four years ago, his family told The New York Times in August.

Trump, who openly despised Mueller and his investigation, celebrated his death on Saturday.

"Good, I'm glad he's dead," the president posted on social media. "He can no longer hurt innocent people!"WilmerHale, the law firm where Mueller served as a partner, remembered Mueller as a "friend" who was "an extraordinary leader and public servant and a person of the greatest integrity."

"His service to our country, including as a decorated officer in the Marine Corps, as FBI Director, and at the Department of Justice, was exemplary and inspiring," a spokesperson for WilmerHale told NPR in a statement. "We are deeply proud that he was our partner. Our thoughts are with Bob's family and loved ones during this time."

Path to public service

Born on Aug. 7, 1944 in New York City, Mueller was raised in Philadelphia and graduated from Princeton University in 1966. He received a master's degree in international relations from New York University.

Mueller, throughout his career, ran toward tough assignments. Following the lead of a classmate at Princeton, Mueller enrolled in the Marines and served in the Vietnam war. He earned the Bronze Star for rescuing a colleague. Mueller said he felt compelled to serve during that conflict, an idea he returned to throughout his life.

Law professor and former Justice Department lawyer Rory Little knew Mueller for many years.

"Bob is kind of a straight arrow, you know, wounded in Vietnam," Little said. "You keep wanting to hunt for where is the crack in that façade — 'Where is the real Bob Mueller?' — and after a while you begin to realize that's the real Bob Mueller. He is exactly who he appears to be. This kind of sour-faced, not a lot of humor, sort of all-business guy. That's him."

But with his closest friends, Mueller let down his guard. They teased him — saying Mueller would have made an excellent drill instructor on Parris Island, where Marine recruits are trained.

Instead, Mueller went to law school at the University of Virginia. He joined the Justice Department in 1976. There, he prosecuted crimes, big and small, for U.S. attorneys in San Francisco and Boston. He was a partner at Hale and Dorr, a Boston law firm now known as WilmerHale.

He later became a senior litigator prosecuting homicides at the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C.

Head of the FBI

In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated him to serve as the director of the FBI. Mueller was sworn in a week before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I had been a prosecutor before, so I anticipated spending time on public corruption cases and narcotics cases and bank robberies, and the like. And Sept. 11th changed all of that," Mueller told NPR during an interview in 2013.

He shifted the bureau's attention to fighting terrorism. He staffed up the headquarters in Washington. He pushed those agents to try to predict crimes and to act before another tragedy hit.

"He directed and implemented what is arguably the most significant changes in the FBI's 105-year history," said his former FBI deputy, John Pistole.

Along the way, Mueller drew some criticism when his agents erred. During the investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks, the bureau focused on the wrong man as its lead suspect.

Mueller left the bureau in 2013.

Return to the national spotlight

After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Mueller in May 2017 was appointed by then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel to oversee the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible connections to Trump associates.

Trump called the investigation "a witch hunt" and Republicans in Congress started to attack the investigators.

When then the investigation eventually concluded in March 2019 with the more than 400-page "Mueller report," the special counsel said the investigation did not establish that Trump's campaign or associates colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election. The report did not take a position on whether Trump obstructed justice.

Mueller said the report spoke for itself. But Democrats wanted more and insisted he testify. A reluctant witness, Mueller once again fulfilled his duty. He was visibly older than at the time of his appointment and kept his testimony restrained.

He said Justice Department guidelines would not allow him to charge a sitting president with criminal wrongdoing. But he also refused to exonerate Trump.

"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mueller later told Congress.

In the end, the team charged 37 people and entities, including former campaign chair Paul Manafort, national security adviser Michael Flynn and 25 Russians.

Trump went on to grant clemency to or back away from criminal cases against many of the people Mueller's investigators had charged.

Copyright 2026 NPR

At the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, people were used to seeing Keum-soon Lee arrive early. When she didn’t show up for the 11 a.m. group harmonica class at the center last Friday, people took notice. 

“She would always be there first,” said conductor Eun-young Kim. “If she couldn’t come, she would tell me ahead of time. This time, I didn’t receive any messages from her. I thought, something isn’t right.”

Kim tried calling and sending messages. She didn’t get a response.

Members of the center later learned that Lee, 73, was critically injured in a hit-and-run crash while biking home in Koreatown after attending early morning prayer at her church. She died in a hospital March 13 from her injuries, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I was shocked,” said Jin-soon Baek, who has played with Lee for years. “We’ve been friends for a long time. We ate together, practiced together. She was like a sibling to me.

“She was so hardworking. Always the first one there to sign in for class. She’d walk ahead of me and I’d follow behind. That’s how it always was.”

Baek, who is in her 80s, said the two also shared something more personal: Both had cancer.

“I had cancer years ago, and she was going through treatment recently,” Baek said. “We understood each other.”

In January, Lee played with the harmonica ensemble at an LA Kings game. Lee spoke with a journalist about undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, and what the group meant to her. 

“I think I’ve almost fully recovered,” Lee told journalist Chase Karng at the hockey game. “Even while receiving chemotherapy, I felt encouraged when I heard that I could perform here.”

At the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, people were used to seeing Keum-soon Lee arrive early. When she didn’t show up for the 11 a.m. group harmonica class at the center last Friday, people took notice.

Lee was born in 1952 in South Korea and immigrated to the United States in 1998. She was an elder at Saehan Presbyterian Church in Pico Union and is survived by her husband, Sang-rae Lee, and son, Young-jo Lee.

The senior center, where Lee was a fixture and known as a reliable friend, has designated March 20 as a day of mourning.

On Friday, Lee’s church held a funeral service, where members of the harmonica ensemble performed the hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee,” in her memory.

“I usually don’t attend funeral services, but I had to come for hers,” said Alice Kim. “Whenever I came to church, I would see her watering the grass, bent over, and she would smile and say, ‘You’re here, Alice,’ and hand me the Sunday bulletin.”

In her eulogy, elder Gyu-sook Lee said the sudden loss has hit the congregation hard.

“She always greeted everyone with a warm smile,” she said. “She was the kind of person who always stepped forward first to do the hard work that no one else wanted to do. And when she took something on, she saw it through to the end.”

At the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, people were used to seeing Keum-soon Lee arrive early. When she didn’t show up for the 11 a.m. group harmonica class at the center last Friday, people took notice.

“She still had so many years ahead of her,” Baek said. “She was younger than us. Full of hope. It feels like it should have been me instead.”

According to police, Lee was riding through a crosswalk when a white Dodge Ram truck turning right struck her around 6:40 a.m. near Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. The driver briefly stopped, then drove away, authorities said.

Investigators found the truck and are looking into whether the driver was impaired on drugs or alcohol. The truck was seized and there was no information about the driver.

Kim, the conductor, said Lee was the first person to reach out to her when she started to lead the ensemble in September. 

“She sent me a message saying thank you for coming,” Kim said. “She was such a special person to me.” 

At Friday’s service, speaker after speaker described Lee as someone who was a light in every community she was part of. 

“The way she served the church behind the scenes became a lesson in faith for all of us. There isn’t a single part of this church that hasn’t felt her touch. Her warmth, her love, her dedication — I can still feel it,” Gyu-sook Lee said.

When Gilbert Lindsay became the first Black person elected to Los Angeles City Council in 1963, it gave the residents of the predominantly Black District 9 someone who understood the challenges they faced living in South Central. 

This area was the center of Black political power in LA because it was one of the few places in the city Black people were allowed to live and thrive due, in part, to housing restrictions. For the next 63 years, voters in this district — which includes historic South Central, Exposition Park and a small portion of downtown Los Angeles — consecutively chose a Black representative. 

That will end with Curren D. Price Jr., the current District 9 councilmember who can’t run again due to term limits. 

Twelve candidates announced campaigns in February to replace Price. Of them, six candidates have qualified to be on the June 2 primary election ballot, none of whom are Black. They include: Estuardo Mazariegos, Elmer Roldan, Jorge Hernandez Rosas, Jorge Nuño, Martha Sánchez and Jose Ugarte. 

The list is a reflection of the demographic shift of the area, but candidates also told The LA Local that it shows the strength of the district’s Black-Latino political coalition. And with the civil rights gains since the 1960s, while some locals are concerned that issues facing Black voters won’t get the attention they need, others who live in the district said they’re less concerned with what their representative looks like. Instead, they said they want someone who listens and gets things done. 

“As long as you do good in the community, we’re going to be happy,” said Dennis Anya, who works on Central Avenue and has lived in the district for nearly 40 years.

What the demographic shifts in District 9 mean for the June election

The upcoming election comes as the demographics have changed in District 9 and South LA. The Black population in South Los Angeles was 81% in 1965, according to a special census survey from November 1965 of South and East LA. 

As of 2021, District 9, specifically, is about 78% Latino and 13% Black, according to LA City Council population demographic data taken that year as part of a redistricting effort. 

Officials have predicted the district’s shift for years. Former City Councilmembers Kevin De León and Nury Martinez discussed the district’s future in the leaked 2021 audio — checkered with racist remarks — that the LA Times reported in 2022.“This will be [Price’s] last four years,” De Leon said at one point in the conversation, the transcript of which the LA Times published in full. “That eventually becomes a Latino seat.” 

Erin Aubry Kaplan, a writer and columnist who traces her family’s roots to South Central, told The LA Local that because District 9 has historically voted for a Black candidate, there is some anxiety amongst Black voters about losing Black representation in Los Angeles. 

“I would hope that whoever wins, will carry the interest of Black folk forward,” she said.

Manuel Pastor, a USC professor and co-author of “South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Community in South LA,” told The LA Local that traditionally, voters are older. While District 9 is now home to a younger, immigrant community, they may not vote at the same rate as older generations, and undocumented residents are ineligible to vote.  

Pastor said it’s likely for this reason that the current District 9 candidates are not emphasizing being Latino but are modeling their campaigns after other city leaders and focusing on Black-Latino solidarity. 

“Just because the demographics have changed, doesn’t mean that the voting population has changed,” Pastor said.  

Here’s what the candidates say about the transformation of District 9

Chris Martin, one of the two Black candidates who campaigned for the seat but did not qualify for the ballot, said he believes the city’s Black elected officials should have supported Black candidates in the race. Martin said he will challenge the city clerk’s decision on his nomination petition in court. 

“The story of Black political power in the city of Los Angeles is dying,” Martin said. “I felt like I had a good chance of keeping it alive.” 

When Gilbert Lindsay became the first Black person elected to Los Angeles City Council in 1963, it gave the residents of the predominantly Black District 9 someone who understood the challenges they faced living in South Central.

Michelle Washington, the other Black candidate who also did not qualify, did not respond to a request for comment.Price, the current District 9 councilmember, endorsed his deputy Jose Ugarte in the race and wrote in a statement that this election is about solidarity. 

“As a Black man who has served a majority-Latino district, I know that progress in South Central has always come from Black and Brown families moving forward together,” Price wrote. “We’ve had to fight harder for housing, safety, opportunity and the basic investments every neighborhood deserves. And when we’ve made gains, it’s because we stood united.”  

Five of the six candidates who qualified for the ballot told The LA Local that not having a Black candidate on the ballot doesn’t diminish the place of the district’s Black community. (Candidate Jorge Hernandez Rosas did not return requests for comment.) 

“It has always been a Black community and will always be a Black community. This isn’t about a passing of the baton or one community taking over another. It’s about building a solidarity movement,” Estuardo Mazariegos said. 

Elmer Roldan, who carries endorsements from LA Mayor Karen Bass and City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, said the district needs a councilmember who won’t leave anyone behind.“We have to avoid at all costs contributing to Black erasure and Black displacement,” Roldan said.

Ugarte said that the major quality of life problems — like dirty streets and broken street lights — affecting the neighborhood’s Black and brown communities haven’t changed since he was a child living in the district. 

“The same issues are still here,” he said. 

Here’s what happens next

If you haven’t registered to vote and you want to receive a vote-by-mail ballot, you must register to vote by May 18.

Results from the primary election will be certified by July 2. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will move on to the general election on Nov. 3, according to the City Clerk’s website. 

The winner of District 9 will begin a four-year term Dec. 14.

The L.A. County Medical Examiner has released the cause of death for Emily Beutner, the daughter of former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner.

The 22-year-old died from the effects of a combination of drugs, including two linked to the opioid known as kratom — mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine — according to the statement released by the medical examiner Friday.

A county health official told our partner CBS L.A. that kratom products are sometimes sold as natural remedies but are illegal and unsafe.

The other two substances cited as causes of death were quetiapine and mirtazapine — the former is an antipsychotic medication, and the latter is used to treat depression, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The former Loyola Marymount University student was found alone and suffering from medical distress by L.A. County Fire Department personnel shortly after midnight in a field by a highway in Palmdale on Jan. 6. She was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead soon after.

After his daughter's death, Beutner dropped out of the L.A. mayoral race.

The Medical Examiner said the manner of death was ruled a suicide.

Resources

If You Need Immediate Help

• If you or someone you know is in crisis and need immediate help, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or go here for online chat.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis, you can dial the mental health lifeline at 988.

Additional resources