Miami-Dade school board members say parental permission rule goes too far

Parental rights in education have been a priority for the Florida legislature over the past three years. Now there are Miami-Dade School Board members saying the concept has gone too far.

Their concerns stem from the state Board of Education’s new rule requiring parental permission for any activities deemed to be extracurricular, which turns out to mean all sorts of things that routinely happen in schools. 

“So where do we draw the line, as relates to, these areas are consistent with instruction?” said board member Dr. Steve Gallon.

Gallon wonders if on-campus school events enhance or enrich a topic already being studied, why does a student need parental permission to attend?

“It most recently had been requested as a part of Black History Month activities,” Gallon said at a school board committee meeting.

A parent at one school complained about having to fill out a permission slip for her child to experience Black History Month events on campus.

“Our schools do not require permission slips for the instruction of African American history,” said deputy superintendent, Dr. John Pace, to the board members at the meeting.

However, Pace acknowledged the state Board of Education does require parental permission to see, for example, a Holocaust survivor or any other guest speaker who comes to school, including military and college recruiters.

“We understand that at the school district, we have to follow the law, but we have to have clarity about what the intent of the law is,” Gallon said. “What happens when a parent fails to sign that consent form? Is that student excluded from this experience? Is that student excluded from this instruction?”

School board member Luisa Santos spoke about her own time as a student in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

“Are we going to then limit the experience that our students can have in our schools because, things that I remember doing plenty of in one week in school, from college visits to guest speakers to the DARE program, for example, will now require a permission slip?” Santos said. “Those experiences, whether it’s the arts or a guest speaker, a Holocaust survivor, they are the things that make our educational experience relevant to our students.”

That’s the big concern, that kids will be left out because their busy parents forget to fill out a form.

“We don’t want to over-exert a rule, we want to follow a rule, not over-exert a rule to the harm of children,” Pace said.

He promised the board members that he would ask the state Board of Education to clarify the parental permission rule.