Hundreds of parents learned more about Oak Park Unified School District's roll out of gender diversity lesson plans during a meeting Tuesday night.

About 300 parents listened to school officials and a clinical social worker discuss the importance of a safe climate for all students, including those who are gender non-binary, gender fluid or transgender.

Next month school counselors will start giving gender diversity lessons to kindergarten through fifth-grade classes. Parents will not be able to opt their children out of these lessons.

The plan alarmed some parents and caused some fissures in the small bedroom community. Parents, many of whom learned about the new lessons a week before school started, say the social media comments on the issue have turned to name calling and gotten nasty.

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After the meeting at Oak Park High School, some parents walked away with their concerns eased; some were still uncertain. Some parents declined to go on the record with the media, saying their views differ from those of other district parents.

"At the end of the day, it's an overreach," said Amy Sitarz, who has three children in the district.

Sitarz said the topic of gender diversity is already confusing for adults, and she can't imagine bringing it up to elementary students.

"I feel it's too young, too soon," she said.

Sitarz said she's frustrated that due to her opposition to this program, some have called her transphobic.

Last week, a group of parents, including Sitarz had their children stay home as a form of protest to the gender diversity program and parents' inability to opt out.

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Superintendent Tony Knight said he's not concerned that some parents pulled their children from school to protest.

"It doesn't upset me," he said. "I respect all those people."

Knight said he understands the lesson plans can be difficult for some to understand because it's new. But he believes once the lessons are discussed in class, the controversies will die down.

District officials say the gender diversity lessons, which range from 30 to 45 minutes, are taught by a school counselor once a year and are age appropriate.

The lesson is centered around a book with discussions and an art activity to follow.

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For example, in first grade, students will be read a book from Michael Hall called "Red, A Crayon's Story." The children's book is about a blue crayon that was mislabeled as red and is treated as red by those around him. Eventually, a new friend helps the crayon let go of the label and be truly blue.

According to the lesson plan, the counselor will ask students to describe an aspect of themselves that might not be apparent on the outside.

These lessons have been modified after the district received community feedback. Knight said they could continue to be modified as more comments come in.

"This is not about tolerance or acceptance," Knight said. "It's about appreciating differences."

That students are identifying themselves across the gender spectrum is not new. When Knight was an Oak Park principal in the 1990s, he had students who didn’t identify with the gender in which they were born. At the time, Knight said, he felt unprepared to address the issue.

“Now, we have more students who are gender nonconforming than we’ve ever had,” Knight said.

The superintendent did not have a number but said based on general statistics, there could be 45 to 50 students out of the district’s 4,600-plus students who are gender non-conforming.

District officials are now working on a grant to bring the gender-diversity lessons to grades beyond fifth.

"There's a need for it," Knight said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, statistics and research on transgender and gender-fluid students were shared with parents. According to the slide presentation shown at the meeting, a 2015 National School Climate Survey was cited for its findings that three-quarters of gender non-conforming students report feeling unsafe at school. For K-8 students who identify or were perceived as gender non-conforming, 13% were sexually assaulted and 17% left school due to maltreatment.

The meeting was open to Oak Park parents only and not the press. However, Knight spoke to reporters after the meeting.

Outside, a group of parents, some of whom were not from Oak Park, passed out fliers to drivers pulling into the parking lot for the meeting. The group “Keep Gender Identity Out of K-5 Schools” made fliers that accused the school district of showing little transparency and called gender diversity lessons “unscientific ideology.”

The meeting gave parent Venkat Cheruku a lot to think about it. He said he’s not sure whether to send his third grade daughter to school on the day of the gender diversity lesson.

Through the district’s website, parents can find out more about the gender diversity lesson plans and when they will be given at each school. The first one is on Oct. 8.

Cheruku said he felt like district officials listened to parents’ concerns but he’s not sure if it has been an entirely open process.

“This is something they decided. Now, it’s a point of no return,” Cheruku said.

One of the more controversial aspects of the program is parents' inability to opt out. District officials cite the California Education Code, which states that while parents can opt their children out of sex education, they can not opt out of instruction on gender, gender identity or gender expression.

The district does not consider these lesson plans instruction but rather a social emotional program focusing on gender identity, not sexual identity. District officials also believe that allowing parents to opt out could increase gender related bias and bullying.

Carlos Velasco, a father of a second- and sixth-grader, said the district should at the very least allow for an opt out instead of putting parents in a position to keep their children at home and counting it as an absence.

He said less than a year ago the Woolsey Fire united the community and now the issue of gender diversity in schools is driving a wedge.

"For me, this is more dividing to have a protected class, to be told why they are special and should be accepted," Velasco said.

Velasco said he would support a school program that discussed transgender issues as well as racism and biases against students with disabilities. Velasco, who is Mexican American, disputes any assertions that the district teaches the histories and cultures of different races.

"I don't remember seeing any books about Mexican-American culture," he said.

Velasco, who was among the parents who kept their children home last week for two days as a form of protest, said he'll continue doing so to pressure the district to change.

Wendy Leung is a staff writer for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at wendy.leung@vcstar.com or 805-437-0339. You can also find her on Twitter @Leung__Wendy.