I deleted a post I made about California's AB 1955 because after reading the full text a few times, it seems a bit more nuanced than I first thought.

It appears the bill prohibits public/charter schools from requiring teachers to notify parents of the child's gender/sexual orientation. Perhaps a teacher could still voluntarily disclose this info to the parent, but the context and other stipulations of this bill in effect probably discourage that especially with the law's emphasis on the student's consent.

Here's the key sentence in the law: "An employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law."

Also, note that there is no age restriction on this new law. So, it appears it can apply to any age student, including the youngest children, in California public/charter schools.

Here's the full law text that was signed by Governor Newsom.

Bill No. 1955
CHAPTER 95
An act to add Sections 220.1, 220.3, and 220.5 to, and to add Article 2.6 (commencing with Section 217) to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of, the Education Code, relating to pupil rights.

[ Approved by Governor July 15, 2024. Filed with Secretary of State July 15, 2024. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1955, Ward. Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act.(1) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop resources or, as appropriate, update existing resources for in-service training on schoolsite and community resources for the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) pupils, and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils, as specified.This bill would require the State Department of Education to develop resources or, as appropriate, update existing resources, for supports and community resources for the support of parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils, as specified.(2) Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other characteristics, gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance, or enrolls pupils who receive state student financial aid. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt regulations to implement these provisions.This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools, and a member of the governing board or body of those educational entities, from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of those educational entities from being required to make such a disclosure unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or the state special schools, or members of the governing boards or bodies of those educational entities, from retaliating or taking adverse action against an employee on the basis that the employee supported a pupil in the exercise of specified rights, work activities, or providing certain instruction, as provided.DIGEST KEY

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act or SAFETY Act.

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

SEC. 2.
(a) All pupils deserve to feel safe, supported, and affirmed for who they are at school.
(b) Choosing when to “come out” by disclosing an LGBTQ+ identity, and to whom, are deeply personal decisions, impacting health and safety as well as critical relationships, that every LGBTQ+ person has the right to make for themselves.
(c) Parents and families across California understand that coming out as LGBTQ+ is an extremely personal decision and want to support their children in coming out to them on their own terms.
(d) Parents and families have an important role to play in the lives of young people. Studies confirm that LGBTQ+ youth thrive when they have parental support and feel safe sharing their full identities with them, but it can be harmful to force young people to share their full identities before they are ready.
(e) Policies that forcibly “out” pupils without their consent remove opportunities for LGBTQ+ young people and their families to build trust and have these conversations when they are ready.
(f) LGBTQ+ pupils have the right to express themselves freely at school without fear, punishment, or retaliation, including that teachers or administrators might “out” them without their permission. Policies that require outing pupils without their consent violate pupils’ rights to privacy and self-determination.
(g) Pupils have a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to sensitive information about them, and courts have affirmed that young people have a right to keep personal information private.
(h) Laws and policies that target or invite targeting of pupils on the basis of gender or sexual orientation are prohibited under state and federal law.
(i) Attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, gender-expansive, and other LGBTQ+ youth continue to grow across the country, including here in California. These efforts are having a measurable impact on the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ pupils, and have led to a rise in bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
(j) School policies that support LGBTQ+ pupils and their parents and families in working towards family acceptance on their own terms, without interference from teachers and school staff, build safety and trust within school communities.
(k) (1) Teachers and school staff can provide crucial support to LGBTQ+ young people and can play an important role in encouraging them to seek out appropriate resources and support.
(2)  Affirming school environments significantly reduce the odds of transgender youth attempting suicide, according to The Trevor Project Research Brief: LGBTQ & Gender-Affirming Spaces (2020).
(3)  LGBTQ+ students with supportive staff at their school experienced a number of positive outcomes, including being less likely to feel unsafe at school because of their gender expression or sexual orientation, or both, and reporting lower levels of depression, according to Joseph G. Kosciw, Ph.D., et al., The 2019 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth in Our Nation’s Schools (2019).
(4)  Transgender and gender-nonconforming youth with supportive educators had better education outcomes, according to Michelle Marie Johns et al., Protective Factors Among Transgender and Gender Variant Youth: A Systematic Review by Socioecological Level (2018).
(l) School personnel have faced increasing harassment and adverse employment actions because of their lawful efforts to protect pupil privacy, to protect pupils from discrimination, to provide instruction consistent with state standards, and to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all pupils, including LGBTQ+ pupils.
(m) This harassment and adverse treatment of school personnel prevents all pupils from accessing safe and supportive learning environments.
(n) No school employee should suffer an adverse employment action because the employee supported a pupil or pupils in exercising their legal rights to privacy, nondiscrimination, state-aligned instructional materials, and equal educational opportunity.

Article 2.6 (commencing with Section 217) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:
SEC. 3.
Article  2.6. Supports and Resources for Parents, Guardians, and Families of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning Pupils
(a) (1) The department shall develop resources, or, as appropriate, update existing resources, for supports and community resources for the support of parents, guardians, and families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) pupils and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils and thereby improve overall school and community climate. The resources shall be designed for use in schools operated by a school district or county office of education and charter schools serving pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive.217.

(2)  The department shall develop the supports and community resources for parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils in collaboration with parents, guardians, and families of, including, but not limited to, LGBTQ pupils.
(b) The department shall periodically update the supports and community resources for the support of parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils to reflect changes in law.
(c) (1) As used in this section, school-based supports and community resources for the support of parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils support groups or affinity clubs and organizations.
(B) Safe spaces for parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils.
(C) Antibullying and harassment policies and related complaint procedures for parents, guardians, and families to access.
(D) Counseling services.
(E) School staff who have received antibias or other training aimed at supporting LGBTQ youth and their parents, guardians, and families.
(F) Suicide prevention policies and related procedures for parents, guardians, and families to access.
(2)  As used in this section, community resources for the support of parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils include, but are not limited to, both of the following:
(A) Local community-based organizations that provide support to parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ youth.
(B) Local physical and mental health providers with experience in treating and supporting parents, families, and guardians of LGBTQ youth.
Section 220.1 is added to the Education Code, to read:

SEC. 4.
An employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf, or a member of the governing board of a school district or county office of education or a member of the governing body of a charter school, shall not in any manner retaliate or take adverse action against any employee, including by placing the employee on administrative leave, on the basis that the employee (a) supported a pupil in the exercise of rights set forth in Article 1 (commencing with Section 200) of, Article 2.7 (commencing with Section 218) of, Article 3 (commencing with Section 220) of, or Article 4 (commencing with Section 221.5) of, this chapter, (b) performed the employee’s work activities in a manner consistent with the recommendations or employer obligations set forth in this chapter, or (c) provided instruction to pupils consistent with the current content standards, curriculum frameworks, and instructional materials adopted by the state board, and any other requirements of this code, including, but not limited to, Section 51204.5 and the California Healthy Youth Act (Chapter 5.6 (commencing with Section 51930) of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2).220.1.

Section 220.3 is added to the Education Code, to read:

SEC. 5.
(a) An employee or a contractor of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf shall not be required to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law.220.3.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.
Section 220.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:SEC. 6.

(a) A school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school for the blind or the deaf, or a member of the governing board of a school district or county office of education or a member of the governing body of a charter school, shall not enact or enforce any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that would require an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil’s consent, unless otherwise required by state or federal law.220.5.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.
(c) Any policy, regulation, guidance, directive, or other action of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school for the blind or the deaf, or a member of the governing board of a school district or county office of education or a member of the governing body of a charter school, that is inconsistent with subdivision (a) is invalid and shall not have any force or effect.

link: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billText… If you read Sec 2. a-g, the language put there in effect tells teachers that they should not tell a student's gender or sexual orientation (what the text called "outing") to their parents without the student's consent.

SEC. 2.
(a) All pupils deserve to feel safe, supported, and affirmed for who they are at school.

(b) Choosing when to “come out” by disclosing an LGBTQ+ identity, and to whom, are deeply personal decisions, impacting health and safety as well as critical relationships, that every LGBTQ+ person has the right to make for themselves.

(c) Parents and families across California understand that coming out as LGBTQ+ is an extremely personal decision and want to support their children in coming out to them on their own terms.

d) Parents and families have an important role to play in the lives of young people. Studies confirm that LGBTQ+ youth thrive when they have parental support and feel safe sharing their full identities with them, but it can be harmful to force young people to share their full identities before they are ready.

(e) Policies that forcibly “out” pupils without their consent remove opportunities for LGBTQ+ young people and their families to build trust and have these conversations when they are ready.

(f) LGBTQ+ pupils have the right to express themselves freely at school without fear, punishment, or retaliation, including that teachers or administrators might “out” them without their permission. Policies that require outing pupils without their consent violate pupils’ rights to privacy and self-determination.

(g) Pupils have a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to sensitive information about them, and courts have affirmed that young people have a right to keep personal information private.

These are the areas that I'm focusing on with my kids' education:

• Reading - knowledge accumulation, ability to quickly become expert in domain
• Sports
• Music
• Math - plus economics/finance/business
• Technology, Design & Creativity - building, creating value with AI
• Communication - writing/speaking persuasively
• Second Language
• Empathy - relationships, ability to connect/feel
• Connection with Nature - wonder and awe

This is what I'm working on most of my day nowadays. Here's some more specifics on what I'm doing in each area: (btw, my kids are 6 and 9)

1. Reading - providing 1000s of physical books for them to read voluntarily. Kids love it and are voracious readers.

2. Sports - focusing in on tennis. I'm giving them 1.5 hour private tennis lessons 5x a week currently, and also getting outside coaching for them as well. Been a great bonding experience with my kids and I.

3. Music - Kids learning piano via SimplyPiano and other apps. Kids wanting to get better at singing, so I've created a singing app for them that gives real-time pitch detection and feedback for their singing of various songs.

4. Math - Kids were struggling so I created a math app for them to master the basic operational skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Kids' math skills have dramatically improved. Always talking to them about business, economics and finance. Kids are very fluent in business/finance concepts.

5. Technology, Design & Creativity - Kids watch me create and build with AI every day, we chat with AI daily, and kids are up-to-date on major AI news and developments. My 6 year old even knows all the LLM competitors 😂 . Kids also learn to play various iPad games because I want them to be exposed to good game design as my son has a lot of interest in that area.

6. Communication - I'm always talking and discussing w/my kids various pros/cons of issues/topics throughout the day to get them thinking in various angles. I believe this is the foundation of good communication. I created a simple Kid GPT app for them that helps them with spelling as they do their creative writing projects.

7. Second Language - My wife is trying to teach my kids Korean but have a challenging time. Son was doing DuoLingo for several months, but not learning enough. I've invested a lot of time trying to create a better second language learning app for him, but haven't cracked the nut yet.

8. Empathy - Lots of time as family, kids learn a lot of empathy through sibling relationship and going through and resolving conflict. My wife and I are there to guide and help them through.

9. Connection with Nature - Spent a lot of time RV company during my kids' younger years. Also have invested a lot of time hiking with them. Son is wanting an RV camping trip with campfire soon, so will be seeing if I can plan something for the Fall.

I’m very hands-on creating a personalized education for my kids (ages 6 and 9). The approach is constantly changing but here’s the status of what my kids are currently doing. The key is none of these activities are coerced.

CURRENT EDUCATION FOCUS VIA FLOW-STATES:

1). Reading
Frequency: Roughly 2 hours a day.
Method: A selection of over 100 books at a time from a larger collection of 1000s of children’s books, allowing free choice of books and no coerced minimum reading time.
Goal: To cultivate a love for reading/curiosity, enhance knowledge acquisition, understand character interactions, become expert in storytelling, develop a strong command of language, potentially understanding profound nature of language/communication, provide foundation for lifelong learning across many subjects/areas, equip to impact people via effective communication.

2). Piano
Frequency: 1-2 hours a day.
Method: Learning with the SimplyPiano app.
Goal: To grow in brain development, pattern recognition, musical skills, appreciation of profound nature of music/metaphysical.

3). Video Games (Street Fighter, Tetris, Adventure iPad games) and iPad educational apps (reading, math, brain puzzle, etc apps)
Frequency: 1-2 hours per day
Method: Playing a mix of strategic and creative video games, as well as educational iPad apps.
Goal: Develop cognitive decision making and rationale choices in high-intensity, fast-paced, high-amygdala situations to equip with skills of calm decision-making in real life, learn game dynamics/design, learn math/reading/logic skills in enjoyable manner.

4). Hiking
Frequency: 4-5 times a week for one hour each time.
Method: Hiking on nature paths.
Goal: To promote physical fitness, connection with nature/metaphysical, mindfulness/awareness, brain health.

5). Legos and Building
Frequency: Approximately 2 hours a day, three times a week.
Method: Building Lego sets and other building kits.
Goal: To encourage building skills/experience/confidence, creative thinking, spatial reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

6). Singing
Frequency: 30 minutes daily.
Method: Using the SimplySing app for guided singing practice.
Goal: To develop connection with music/metaphysical, develop singing ability for self-expression and influence of others.

7). Paw Patrol TV Episodes
Frequency: 30 minutes per day
Method: Watching episodes of Paw Patrol
Goal: To learn about storytelling, character interaction.

PROPOSED ADDITIONAL FLOW-STATES:

1). Second Language Learning (Spanish and Korean)
Frequency: To be determined.
Method: Interactive methods such as apps, games, or immersion techniques.
Goal: To enhance cognitive flexibility, cultural understanding, and communication skills in multiple languages. Take advantage of pre-puberty window of opportunity for second language acquisition’s impact on brain development.

2). Tennis
Frequency: 2-3x week up to 1 hour each time
Method: Hire private tennis coach or enroll in class
Goal: Get more blood and oxygen flowing to brain and organs to improve brain health and body health, reduce anxiety.

3). Martial Arts and Dance
Frequency: To be determined.
Method: Participation in martial arts or dance classes.
Goal: Increase blood/oxygen to brain/organs, develop spatial awareness, gain skills.

4). Drawing
Frequency: 30-60 minutes daily
Method: Learning to draw through SimplyDrawing app, other app, or classes. Unclear how to reach flow-state with kids.
Goal: Develop skills of drawing/art, encourage brain health.

Note: My kids are not enrolled in a traditional school... but are the sole students of my (and my wife's) school. 😂 Last year for about 3 months my kids got super into a bunch of math iPad game apps and they probably learned a couple years of math in just 3 months by spending 2-3 hours a day on them.

I'm looking for the next avenue to teach them the math they need in a way they'll have fun with.

In the meantime, I'm considering prioritizing learning a second language over math this year. But math is crucial and a foundational skill... it's just that I think my kids have a fairly good grasp of the fundamentals of math for their age.

https://x.com/AdamHendle/status/1749266452983455872?s=20

If Tesla released a van I think it would become an instant hit. I can just imagine all the vanlifers who make it their home. Add solar and Starlink to the roof.

Heat pump already provides heat/cooling.

All you need is to add a water/waste system as an aftermarket add-on and you've got the best camper van ever.

I just took slow-motion video from my iPhone of all my lights in my house and every light had MAJOR flickering (ie., strobe light effect) except two Ikea side table lamps. Will be figuring out how to replace all my other lights with flicker-free ones for the health of my kids. For those curious here's the main light in our living room. 😟

With the help of generative AI, here are several concepts of a Tesla Semi RV.

First up, the Tesla RV Zion edition. Comfortable fits family of 4. Hot or not? Next up, Tesla RV Yosemite edition. Full length slide-out. Family of 6.

The battle over the mind. That is the great battle of our times. I'm extremely skeptical of the talking points coming from thought leaders of both political extremes - intended to stir emotion/rage/fear.

Greed/ambition fuels seizing power from the other, ultimately spiraling society into decay.

Not enough focus on PRACTICAL development of skills in schools.

Good writing assignment for 5th grade could be: Try to schedule a 5-minute interview with mid-large company CEO by sending 1 email a day for 100 days and making each email better than the previous day's email. A good math assignment for 5th graders could be:

Interview a local store owner and write a summary of their business using mainly math.

Have kids do that 20 times and they'd know more about business than most adults. 🤣

https://twitter.com/jamesfynnhere/status/1596150252402352128?s=20&t=-2Uf0-Av_HboUjvG3RMW9g

"If you’re over-optimized on a metric, then you end up being just like a foolish AI. You pursue a number without common sense. What actually matters is: are we making the product amazing? If you make the product amazing, people will use it." - @elonmusk "Engineering-driven culture is really just are we advancing the core technology of the product... in the case of Twitter, we’re not shipping hardware. We’re shipping software. So we have to be writing great code that advances the product. It’s very obvious."

Here’s where I agree and disagree with @garyblack00 on the need for Tesla to have a PR team… @garyblack00 First I do prefer that Tesla has a PR team. I think a good PR team can be effective in helping (some) media report more accurately especially if media is needing clarification and is genuinely looking to report a truthful story.

I'll post my notes from the $TSLA Q1 earnings call here and follow up with a video.

Slide #1: Zach Kirkhorn opening remarks. #2: Elon Musk opening remarks

Just wanted to clarify my thinking around when and why I ask people to disclose conflict of interests. My approach and values can be different than others, so hopefully this will avoid misunderstanding in the future. (thread closed to avoid drama) First, obviously it’s overboard to demand disclosure of conflict of interests for anybody and anywhere. People are free to share their opinions and it’s not law in most cases that they share their motivations or their financial interests associated, if any.

CNBC released today a very critical 21-minute video on Tesla's FSD Beta program. It's too bad they let their bias dictate the entire narrative, rather than look at the objective reality of how much FSD Beta has improved over the past year. Also unfortunate that some of the people they featured were seething with vitriol against Tesla. One so-called “expert” is calling for Tesla’s FSD beta program to be regulated like how FDA regulates pharmaceutical drugs. Terrible analogy btw. 🤦🏻‍♂️

“Over time, we think full self-driving will become the most important source of profitability for Tesla. If you run the numbers on robotaxis, it's nutty good from a financial standpoint.”

🧵 @elonmusk arguing the bull case for Tesla FSD on latest $TSLA earnings call... @elonmusk “[When cars are autonomous] you have a car that is operating all the time. You reduce the pain of travel and you reduce the cost of travel so dramatically that there will be a crazy number of cars on the road.”

It’s easy to carry existing bias that makes it extremely difficult to accurately assess what @elonmusk is trying to do with AI robots.

Here’s some questions I ask myself to counter bias while trying to assess this seemingly crazy $TSLA venture of AI robots. @elonmusk My current personal assessment of Tesla’s chances with AI robots is as follows:

1. AI is the most impactful technological trend in the next 10-20 years

2. Companies that find a way to bring massive value with AI will be rewarded greatly

Elon Musk: We’re working on a product that will be larger than the current economy.

Wall Street: Whatever. Sell the stock. I feel like it’s dejavú all over again. Back in 2012 they ridiculed @elonmusk’s 500k cars by 2020 goal. We know how that turned out.

Now they ridicule Optimus as if it will never happen.

We're at a massive turning point in human history with the inevitable emergence of AI-powered robots.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1388980879175954433

Skeptics will say AI-powered robots are many decades away, if even that. But the hardest part of an AI-powered robot is the brain (or the neural nets), and neural nets are progressing at a blistering pace over the past decade.

$TSLA conference call starts in about 10 minutes but here's some initial thoughts based on Tesla's Q4 shareholder letter.

Pros:
$4B adjusted EBITDA
$2.8B operating cash flow minus capex
$2.87 non-GAAP eps if back out one-time $340m Elon payroll tax More pros:
- Over time acceleration of software-related profits
- Austin producing cars right now
- FSD Beta software in 60k cars
- Re-affirmation of multi-year 50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries

Used car prices are up 34% YOY. When does the madness stop? Used cars (up 34%) beat the S&P500 (up 27%) in 2022. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Just surpassed our $250k goal for Afghanistan food relief with 943 donors. Have raised goal to $300k and will keep open until midnight Dec 31.

gofundme.com/f/food-relief-… Just heard from the nonprofit last night and they're saying $250k can provide food for 1,500,000+ meals (3800 families * 5 person/family * 3 meals a day * 30 days).

Every $50k will help an additional ~800 families with a month of food (equaling about 360,000 meals.

What's been your favorite investing/finance email newsletter for 2021?

(My favorite is below.) My favorite investing email newsletter for 2021 is from Guy @coinbureau. He does a great job breaking down what's going on in crypto and his email newsletter shows the hard work his team puts into it.

Latest newsletter:
coinbureau.com/videos/interes…

Signup: guy.coinbureau.com/signup/