As Georgia School districts prepare to welcome students back over the next week, many have spent the summer hammering out policies to comply with new laws passed by the general assembly last session.
One of those bills, the so-called 'Parents Bill of Rights,' gives parents more of a say in their child's education, but it grants many things that Georgia law already guaranteed, like the right to examine school curriculum.
"Anytime a parent has a concern about what's happening with their child at school and the content that they're being exposed to, I want them to come forward," said Kevin Bales, Hall County Schools Deputy Superintendent. "For our district, we had a lot of built-in transparency already in place [and] we have some confidence that it does not change much with regard to how we'll do business."
The legislation does not cover supplemental materials like news articles and some outside websites, but Bales says the district will be allowing parents online access to that information as well.
Recently, the Gainesville City School Board has been considering changes to policies related to the Parents Bill of Rights and the law which bars the teaching of nine so-called "divisive concepts." The public comment period for those changes runs out on August 30, 2022.
Like Bales, Gainesville City Schools Superintendent Jeremy Williams explained that the new legislation would not lead to significant changes to district policy.
"There's always a lot of eyes on what we try and do as a school system, but we always have something in place so that if an issue comes up, we have a process in place," Williams said.
Districts must walk a fine line between politics and ensuring that students get a complete education. All of the officials interviewed for this article believe that parental involvement can only add to that.
"Our education has always been guided by the parent, the educator and the school board working together [for] a common good, and that is to educate the kids of White County," Deputy Superintendent Scott Justus told AccessWDUN.
Forsyth County Schools made headlines earlier this year after numerous parental complaints led to the removal of several books from library shelves. This followed a review by a committee within the district.
"[The new laws] provide guidance to teachers about sticking to the standards, teaching the standards, and not bringing in any personal beliefs that you may have into the classroom," said Jennifer Caracciolo, chief communications officer for the Forsyth County School District. "It's just clarifying to all involved the partnership that makes public education so great [and] that parents know the expectation and teachers know the expectations."
