Education Week - February 23, 2022 - 7

would have to disclose to parents
what those lessons would entail.
One proposed bill from Indiana requires
parent permission before students
learn about topics such as abortion,
" transgenderism, " and gender
identity.
Students also need written permission
from parents before receiving
counseling or medical attention
related to abortion, gender-transitioning,
hormone blockers, genderreassignment
surgery, and " pronoun
selection. "
The same bill also requires that students
" must receive instruction that
socialism, Marxism, communism,
totalitarianism, or similar political
systems are incompatible with and in
conflict with the principles of freedom
upon which the United States was
founded. "
The author of the bill, Republican
State Rep. John Prescott, did not respond
to requests for comment.
Another bill, introduced in Oklahoma,
would ban school libraries
from housing, and teachers from
using, " books that make as their primary
subject the study of lesbian,
gay, bisexual, or transgender issues
or recreational sexualization. " The
bill clarifies that recreational sexualization
means " any form of nonprocreative
sex. "
A similar Oklahoma bill would
prohibit school libraries from having
books " that make as their primary
subject the study of sex, sexual preferences,
sexual activity, sexual perversion,
sex-based classifications, sexual
identity, or gender identity or books
that are of a sexual nature that a reasonable
parent or legal guardian would
want to know of or approve of prior to
their child being exposed to it. "
The author of this second Oklahoma
bill, Republican Sen. Rob Standridge,
did not respond to requests for
an interview. But in a Facebook post
from December, he claimed that the
availability of books on gender identity,
sexual orientation, drag, and consent
in school libraries contributed to
" oversexualization of children in our
public schools, " calling it " grooming. "
" Public school libraries are not
the appropriate place to provide and
promote such sexual material; this
is exclusively the role of parents and
guardians unless a parent or guardian
explicitly gives informed permission
for such sexual training, " he wrote.
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, the
executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy
group, GLSEN, sees these bills
as evidence that LGTBQ students are
the newest target in the fight against
" critical race theory. "
'Parents' Bills of Rights' enable
curriculum review, book challenges
The proposed legislation is a backlash
to the increased visibility and
rights the community has gained over
the past decade, she said, noting that
the Black Lives Matter movement following
George Floyd's murder in 2020
also was met with similar pushback.
" It's about the advancement of the
recognition and the representation
of these distinct minority communities, "
Willingham-Jaggers said. " Both
of these communities have long been
silenced, marginalized ... kept out of
power and positive representation, and
I think that there is a coming together
for both of these communities. "
Unlike bills that restrict teaching
around race and gender, " parents'
rights " bills don't generally name
specific topics that families might object
to. But some of these bills' sponsors
have drawn a link between anticritical
race theory legislation and the
parents' rights push.
All share the common aim of directing
" more focus on core academic
concepts and less of a focus on cultural
factors, " said Dave LaRock, a
Virginia Republican who introduced
a parents' rights bill in the state.
Many of these " parents' bills of
rights " share language with a Florida
law of the same name, signed by Republican
Gov. Ron DeSantis in June
2021.
The law states that school districts
cannot withhold information from
parents related to minor children's
" health, well-being, and education. "
It also requires schools to develop a
procedure for parents to object to instructional
materials, based on concerns
about " morality, sex, and religion
or the belief that such materials
are harmful. "
Texas' governor, Republican Greg
Abbott, introduced a similar proposal
last month.
There's also model legislation on the
issue: The American Legislative Exchange
Council, a free-market, limitedgovernment
group, has a model bill
that proposes involving parents in preapproval
of all instructional material
used in social studies courses and posting
lists of all those materials online.
But some experts say parents already
have options for questioning
instruction or materials that they feel
emphasize the wrong lessons.
" Teachers do hand out syllabi, libraries
do have open access to the catalogs.
This is assuming that there is an adverse
relationship when there isn't one, " said
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director
of the American Library Association's
Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Most school libraries also have a
procedure in place for parents who
want certain materials reconsidered,
she said. The ALA recommends that
libraries put such a policy in place, she
added, and provides a toolkit that can
help them craft one.
When it comes to in-class readings,
teachers usually share the outlines of a
course, but they're less likely to post a
list of every worksheet a student might
do or every in-class reading they might
assign, said Marc Turner, the presidentelect
of the South Carolina Council for
the Social Studies, and a high school
teacher. But, he added, there's a reason
why this isn't common practice.
Most teachers aren't just using a
textbook, instead pulling from a lot of
different sources to craft their lessons.
And these plans often change day to
day and week to week, especially during
the pandemic when school schedules
are so often disrupted.
A requirement that teachers post
all of the materials they use could encourage
district leaders to standardize
teachers' lessons out of caution,
potentially sacrificing the opportunities
for critical thinking that students
gain when they can compare the perspective
of multiple sources, Turner
said. " It would just push people back
to things like textbooks. "
Anti-racism advocates worry that
'outrage motivates'
In interviews with Education Week,
representatives who introduced these
bills said it's necessary to codify parents'
rights to review curriculum into
law, even if they might place administrative
burdens on educators.
" What we're asking for is not to
do new paperwork, but simply to
provide us with the lesson plans that
we have now, the paperwork that we
have now, " said Rep. John Wiemann,
a Missouri Republican who introduced
a parents' rights bill. " We just
want to make sure that's transparent
to parents. "
Some bills, including ones in Indiana,
Missouri, and Virginia, go farther,
giving parents prior right of review
before new materials are added
to the library or new curriculum is selected.
LaRock said these provisions
are necessary to filter out books that
don't have " any value to children. "
Caldwell-Stone said that ignores
the professional training and judgment
of librarians and educators, who
have detailed protocols for selecting
resources. This kind of policy would
also be an " administrative nightmare, "
she added.
But, more importantly, she said, one
parent shouldn't have the right to make
decisions for school libraries that serve
entire, diverse communities.
" School libraries do more than support
the curriculum, " Caldwell-Stone
continued. " For many students, they
may be the only library that students
have access to. ... They provide entertainment,
artistic expression, access
to literature that may not be part of
the curriculum. "
In some cases, these bills would
allow parents to challenge school
districts and individual educators
directly in court and collect damages.
A bill in Oklahoma would require
individual educators to personally pay
up to $10,000 in damages if parents
find them to be teaching " critical race
theory. " Under proposed legislation in
Missouri, parents could collect up to
$5,000 from a school district per violation,
if the district doesn't provide
lists of all materials used and honor
parents' requests to review materials
or opt out their children.
Richey, the Missouri representative
who filed this bill, said it includes safeguards
against parental overreach-
parents can lodge a complaint with
the school board, which has the power
to reject it. Schools shouldn't have to
" chase after every frivolous interest or
concern that a parent might be able to
come up with, " he said.
Even so, Fleming, of the Missouri
Equity Education Partnership, worries
that this bill and others like it could
have a chilling effect on teachers if
signed into law. The proposed legislation
suggests that teachers are spreading
messages in public schools that
families should object to, she said.
" When we look at the general public,
outrage motivates. "
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EDUCATION WEEK | February 23, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 7
"
They're packaging
some of these laws
as 'parents' bill
of rights.' What
parents? Because
my daughter is
entitled to see her
culture and her
heroes, people who
look like her, in the
curriculum, too.
HEATHER FLEMING
Founder of the Missouri Equity
Education Partnership
https://www.edw.link/SupportingTeachers http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - February 23, 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - February 23, 2022
