Should Teachers Lie to Parents? Democrats in New Hampshire say YES – JP
Another blow to parental rights is taking place in The New Hampshire House and Senate. SB341 is a simple and logical proposed Bill. SB341 would require all school employees to respond honestly and completely to written requests by parents regarding information relating to their children.
Many people will wonder why that isn’t standard practice to begin with. Shouldn’t teachers answer the questions from parents honestly?
Several years ago, The New Hampshire School Boards Association put forward a model policy for school districts to adopt.JBAB addressed school policies for transgender students. Within the policy, there is a provision that directs teachers to lie to parents if parents ask about their child’s gender status while they are at school. The NHSBA withdrew its support for this policy a few years ago, but several schools still have it in place. You can go to your district’s website and look for school policies to see if your district still requires school personnel to lie to parents under III. Guidance A. Privacy:
III. GUIDANCE A. Privacy
The Board recognizes a student’s right to keep private one’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation at school. Information about a student’s transgender status, legal name, or gender assigned at birth also may constitute confidential information. School personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents and other school personnel, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure. Transgender and gender nonconforming students have the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information.
When contacting the parent or guardian of a transgender or gender nonconforming student, school personnel should use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s gender assigned at birth unless the student, parent, or guardian has specified otherwise.
Since then, one parent in Manchester has sued the district, and other parents are now beginning to wonder what else school officials are willing to hide from them.
Federal law requires districts to disclose all records on students to their parents (FERPA)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are “eligible students.”
*Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student’s education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records.
So, who decided that this information should not be included in a child’s record and that parents should be denied any information about their children?
If you are concerned about a child’s safety, the proposed legislation does include a clause that allows a teacher to withhold information from a parent if they suspect the child will be harmed. Like teachers, parents are innocent until proven guilty. So, there is no reason to withhold information from parents unless they are a threat to that child.
None of that mattered to the Democrats on the House Education Committee. This week, they voted against SB 341, while the Republicans voted to support it. With a 10-10 vote, SB341 now goes before the entire NH House for a vote without recommendation.
SB341 did pass the NH Senate down party lines. All Democrats opposed it. All Republicans supported it.
Why is it that Democrats think it’s ok for teachers to lie to good parents?
Now would be a good time to contact your State Representative and ask them to vote Ought to Pass on SB341. Tell them that school personnel lying to good parents is unacceptable.
You can find your State Representative here: https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/
The constant attack on parental rights needs to stop. Trying to break a sacred bond between parent and child is wrong.