Thread by @KrisNordstrom

There are many reasons to oppose the #NCGA's latest bigoted attack on the LGBTQ community: #S49, aka the "Parents' Bill of Rights."

Here (imo) are the four biggest reasons to oppose this bill:

#nced #ncpol
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1) The bill allows bad actors to tie up school district operations and resources by filing frivolous requests for information and/or objections to instructional materials.

There are no penalties for parents who file excessive or frivolous requests, making this process rife for abuse by disgruntled parents and opponents of public schools.

If a parent is "unsatisfied" with a district's response, they can keep escalating to either:
1) Get a hearing before the State Board; or
2) Bring a declaratory judgment action for injunctive relief

In both cases, costs are borne by the school board

2) The second big problem is requiring school personnel to notify parents about changes to students' gender identity. This requirement obviously endangers students who don't reside in supportive, affirming households.

S49 supporters will point to language exempting disclosure if "a reasonably prudent person would believe that disclosure would result in the child becoming an abused juvenile." But this language offers little real protection to children for two reasons:

a) There are no protections against emotional or mental abuse
b) It puts the decision in the hands of the teacher. But the student is in a much better position to know the impact of disclosure. This isn't about hiding information from parents, it's about granting agency to kids.

3) The third problem is the bill's prohibition against “instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality” in grades K-4. This language is unnecessary. The things bill sponsors are mad about aren’t part of the early grades curriculum.

But this language is overly broad. It actually prohibits any mention of pronouns as pronouns identify gender. Schools will have to ban books about families with two dads and they’ll also ban books about families with moms and dads, as these too are gender identities.

4) Finally, it adds parental consent reqs for students participating in surveys and for seeking mental health services. These reqs will make it harder to collect valid data on student conduct and for students to receive much-needed mental health services.

Of course, higher barriers to mental health services disproportionately harms LGBTQ youth.