LAKESIDE, Calif. (KGTV) – There is a new bill of rights for parents in the Lakeside Union School District.
“A set of policies that allow for parents to have greater access to their kid’s education,” Andrew Hayes, Lakeside Union School District Board President, said.
Hayes told ABC 10News there are different points in the resolution the board passed unanimously Thursday night.
“One key point is a public listing of all curricula in the district where you can go online on our district website and see it,” Hayes said. ”But, in order to do that, we need to make sure that our district policy aligns with that.”
Some of the other points in the new parent’s bill of rights are parents being able to restrict a child’s access to certain books and being able to opt out of particular topics like sex education.
It also includes notification of official or unofficial district actions relating to academic achievement, bullying, suicidal intent and sexual transitioning, which is garnering controversy.
“Since that is the only thing right in the entire bill of rights that they’re not already legally obligated to do, in my opinion, it’ll be forcing the schools to our children to their parents,” Nancy Colbert, President of PFLAG San Diego County, said.
Colbert said there could be mental health impacts on those students, let alone possible legal challenges to this point in the bill.
“If they are not allowed to come to terms with it in their own time and come out too early, it definitely affects their mental health, especially when parents are not accepting,” Colbert said. "Children are allowed privacy per state law in schools, and Chico was trying to do this, and they were advised by their lawyers not to because they would've been sued and would've lost the lawsuit."
Now, Hayes told ABC 10News the district has given staff until the end of June to compile existing policies and regulations related to the bill of rights for review; adding some changes may need more legal input due to state codes.
ABC 10News asked the school board president for his response to some of the criticisms of the provision in the new bill.
“I would argue that there’s been no policy change that would suggest that’s the path this board is going to pursue. So, at that time, this is why we are reviewing the policies to go through it. Because we want to make sure we’re maximizing parent involvement while also balancing the rights of everybody,” Hayes said.
