Hall County Superintendent Will Schofield said Wednesday that the school board is considering a county-based Parents’ Bill of Rights centered on keeping parents involved in children’s education.
The board has reportedly been in talks for the past year about what a county Parents’ Bill of Rights might look like, according to Schofield.
“Rarely a week goes by that I don't read about what I believe to be pretty incredible overreaches by public schools in different parts of the country,” Schofield said. “I just really felt it necessary to reassure the Hall County public that in your school district, and I hope you notice I said your school district, we firmly believe that parents are the primary educators of their children.”
The idea for the Parents’ Bill of Rights stemmed from a desire of the school board to “walk alongside parents” in their children’s education, rather than take full control, Schofield noted.
The Peach State has its own Parents’ Bill of Rights, which starts off with a similar statement finding that it is the right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Additionally, the state’s bill says important information relating to a child should not be withheld from parents.
“For the 18 years that I've been here, we've made it very clear that these children belong to their parents,” Schofield said. “If the parents want to see assignments, if they want to see resources, if they want to challenge a book that their child has been asked to read, they can do that at a local school level.”
While the Hall County School District has reportedly not fielded a high number of curriculum-specific concerns, most conversations taking place between the board, superintendent and parents have been centered on what parents are seeing happen in districts around the country, Schofield said.
There currently is not any docket item or public hearing scheduled to address the Parents’ Bill of Rights in Hall County, however, it is a matter officials hope to bring before the public in the coming months.
“Let me be the first to say we won't be able to make everybody happy about everything that they want,” Schofield said. “The world that we live in, again, lends itself to having a lot of varying opinions, but what we do want to make clear is that we want to be a partner for families and parents and guardians and give parents just as much input, as much transparency and as much participation in their children's education as they want to have.”
Several potential issues that might be addressed in the Parents’ Bill of Rights include sexuality, assignment topics, assigned books and data protection, according to Schofield.
