The Moore County School Board in North Carolina voted Monday night to approve a “parents’ bill of rights” policy that requires school personnel to notify parents if their children desire pronoun and name changes in keeping with a new gender identification.
The policy, which passed by a vote of 6-1, requires that teachers in the district’s schools notify parents of a child’s claim of a desire for pronoun or name change before making the changes in school, reported WRAL.
Moore Schools requires teachers to notify parents if students change gender pronouns https://t.co/rDkvtFVGo5
— WRAL NEWS in NC (@WRAL) April 18, 2023
Teachers can keep pronoun preferences a secret from parents; however, if informing the parent places the student in danger, notes the report.
Supporters of the new policy said parents have the right to know about their children’s expressed psychological health issues while at school and that keeping secrets from parents places a wedge between parents and their children.
One supporter of the policy said during the school board meeting:
It will stem the hijacking of classrooms by a fringe element that demonizes parents while grooming children and ignoring their mental health.
“If you think your policies can target just the gay and trans kids, you are wrong,” another speaker who opposed the new policy said. “What children see done to their peers, they feel is done to them. Don’t pass policies that target and marginalize kids. And don’t pass policies that keep them from talking to their teachers.”
In February, North Carolina State Senate lawmakers passed a Parents’ Bill of Rights measure by a vote of 29-18 along party lines that provides for parents whose children attend government schools.
The bill states parents have the right to access their children’s education and communication records, as well as the right to “direct the upbringing and moral or religious training of his or her child,” and to “make health care decisions” for their child.
Additionally, the bill provides that “[i]nstruction on gender identity, sexual activity, and sexuality would not be permitted in the curriculum provided in kindergarten through fourth grade.”
Schools must also create policies that promote parental involvement rather than keep a child’s information a secret from parents, according to the legislation.
School officials would be required to communicate with parents about textbooks, allow them to review materials used in class, and inform them of a means to object to them.
State Senator Amy Galey (R-Alamance), a primary sponsor of the legislation, said while North Carolina’s schools and families demonstrate various worldviews, schools should not decide which worldviews are discussed or promoted, according to EdNC.
“The Parents’ Bill of Rights is really about acknowledging parents’ vital roles in their children’s lives,” she said.
According to EdNC, Galey responded to several Democrats’ objections to the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
The state senator noted, for example, that keeping name and pronoun changes from parents is damaging to the child.
Galey also urged teachers who are asked non-curriculum-related questions by children to respond by saying, “Ask your mom and dad.”
Finally, she asserted that confidential relationships between students and government employees that exclude parents should not exist.
The bill will now be considered by the State House.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
