Lakeside parents push for ‘Parents Bill of Rights’

LAKESIDE, Calif. (AP) — Lakeside Unified School Board President Andrew Hayes is organizing a coalition of educators and parents to fight new state mandates that he says undermine and hinder parents’ involvement in their children’s education to be informed about things that affect your child’s health and well-being.

“Sacramento signed a law last year that says 12-year-olds can be referred to mental health services without parental notification, that’s ridiculous,” Hayes said.

Hayes plans to submit a “Parents Bill of Rights” to the district next month, and he hopes other school boards will submit their own parent-focused list that includes things like notification of curriculum changes, books and an opt-out clause on content deemed inappropriate.

The list also includes notification of bullying, suicidal intentions or sexual transition, as well as written parental permission to administer medications, from cold medicine to sex hormone therapy.

“Would that be a referral to medical offices, any medication of any kind that should be done with parental consent, that’s all it should be,” Hayes said.

“The fact that Sacramento now wants to say that government should be that voice instead of parents is absurd,” said mother Chrissy McCullough.

McCullough has four children, ages 4 to 12. She says she has always been very active in her education and says parents need to be informed in order to be successful.

“If we don’t inform parents about this at all, we end up in a dangerous position where we don’t inform parents that this could be potentially harmful, and if we automatically assume that the home is not a safe place to be “It also gave the kids doubts that it shouldn’t be there,” McCullough said.

The president of the Lakeside Unified School Board wants to develop a “Parental Bill of Rights.”