Recently, the Trump administration has made multiple statements regarding the LGBTQ+ community, specifically about California policies involving gender identity education and expression. These include claiming that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports discriminates against girls, and demanding that California remove certain parts of its gender identity curriculum.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), on Aug. 26, 2025, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a subunit of HHS, required 46 states and territories to remove all references to gender ideology in their respective Personal Responsibility Education Programs (PREP). These PREP programs are funded by the federal government, and the ACF has made it clear that this part of the curriculum must be terminated within 60 days.

Before that, on Aug. 21, 2025, the HHS, acting through the ACF, terminated California’s PREP grant because the state “refused to remove radical gender ideology from the federally-funded education program to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections in school children.” The administration further stated that the PREP curriculum of California was misusing federal funds and taxpayer money “to teach curricula that could encourage kids to contemplate mutilating their genitals.” Examples of this provided by the HHS were altering their bodies through hormone therapy, adding or removing breast tissue and changing their name.

The ACF also asked for all PREP curricula to be submitted for review earlier in the year. According to the New York Times, the federal government has also cut funding from schools in New York City, Chicago and Fairfax, V.A., withholding over $65 million, and accusing them of discrimination against girls due to their recognition of transgender identities, which violates Title IX, a 1972 federal law stating that sex-discrimination is not permitted in any educational setting.

However, in a way of reassurance for students, Superintendent Courtney Goode has stated that current TUHSD policies uphold students’ right to gender identity expression and that will not be changing.

“Just because the administration in Washington, D.C. is trying to change things or roll back rights for people does not mean at all that we are doing that here. We have a policy that says otherwise,” said Goode.

Assistant principal Lisa Kemp explained that any federal funding comes from the state government, and they are the ones who accredit or ensure that we meet the state’s standards of quality. If Redwood were to change its policies and curriculum to align with the federal government’s outline, then it would be going against the state government, which has refused to comply with federal policy.

“It’s not that [the federal government] would cut our funding, but they have the power to dictate more of the courses we teach and scrutinize that we’re meeting standards,” Kemp said.

The policies that TUHSD currently has in regards to dress and grooming state, “Students shall not be prohibited from dressing in a manner consistent with their gender identity or gender expression or with their religious or cultural observance.”

Regarding athletic competition, the Board of Trustees has stated, “The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that equivalent athletic opportunities are provided for males and females, and that students are permitted to participate in athletic activities consistent with their gender identity.”

According to Principal Barnaby Payne, these policies aren’t going to change, even with the demands of the Trump administration.

“Students and families self-identify. It is not the school’s responsibility. The school cannot gender students,” said Payne.

TUHSD will also continue to honor the safety and fairness that all students deserve.

“My thoughts and feelings on this are kids are kids. All of our kids, regardless of their background, their life circumstances, who they are, deserve our love and respect and care. And that’s what they’ll get when they’re a kid here,” said Goode.

Payne, in addition to Goode, echoes the sentiment that it is Redwood’s job as a school to ensure that all students have access to an education that is fair and as good as it can be.

“All students in California have the right to an education that’s equitable and is free from harassment based on identity factors, and as a school and a district, it’s our job to do everything we can to protect that right,” Payne said. “That can be incredibly challenging, but nevertheless, that is our legal and moral responsibility.”

During administrative discussions about how the school’s administration should navigate providing equal treatment to students regarding identity, they look at data to see which groups need more support to feel comfortable at Redwood.

“All the time, we deal with issues around how students identify. That’s a racial, cultural identity, gender identity [or] any type of way that students identify themselves,” Payne said.

Part of Payne’s personal values is that identity and experience are interconnected, and are greatly considered when managing a school.

“It’s definitely part of my core belief that there’s this intersection between identity and experience that has to be recognized and validated in schools if we’re about meeting the needs of our students,” Payne said. “Anybody who walks through the doors of Redwood, it’s our job to meet their needs [and] to meet the needs of our students.”

Concerning course content and how California’s PREP curriculum is being incorporated at Redwood is through the Life Lab course, which replaced Social Issues at the beginning of this school year. It is not likely that the federal government will be able to force any changes to course content in TUHSD because this will be met with resistance from the California Department of Education and will work its way through the courts. Although this process will be lengthy, according to Goode, no curriculum is changing in the foreseeable future.

The Life Lab course covers topics such as “identity, community and self, teen mental health and wellness, healthy relationships, sexual health and substance use/misuse.”

Kemp is the co-author of the course, and mentioned that it has potentially more emphasis on aspects of identity than Social Issues, and has been experiencing parental pressure about the course curriculum, particularly the unit about gender and sexuality. However, by Ed code, parents can take their kids out of the sexuality lessons, but not the ones a

bout gender. So the parental pressure is changing the content of that section to adhere to these complaints.

“When I taught a couple of the Stop and Learns for teachers who weren’t here, one of the ones I taught was the one where we were talking about gender identity. I remember two students who came up to me afterward and were like, ‘Thank you so much for doing that.’ And I’m like, ‘I had to’. And they’re like, ‘No, but this is really important.’ And I could tell in the discussion that there was some energy around, like, ‘Finally, we get to talk about this,’” said Kemp.