Need tutoring? Want to attend book fair, homecoming? New rule requires parental permission

During the first weeks back at school, some Florida students found themselves being turned away from tutoring. Kids in Miami hoping to attend the Scholastic Book Fair — held throughout August and September at various schools — now needed parental permission. And students looking forward to events like homecoming or football games needed more than just a ticket, they also had to get a parent or guardian to sign a form granting them permission to attend.

"It's like every day (my daughter) is bringing home a form for us to sign," said Tony Riopelle, athletic director at West Shore Junior/Senior High School in Brevard, where his daughter is a junior. "There was one day she brought home eight forms."

Under the strictest reading of a new rule from the Florida Board of Education, which requires school districts around the state to get parental consent for activities outside the classroom, students would be barred from all out-of-class activities without explicit parental consent. With little guidance given outside the actual written text of the rule, not every district is interpreting it the same way, and even different schools in the same district are reading the rule differently.

The result: students are missing out, in some cases, even from getting extra tutoring help from their teachers.

"Teachers are turning kids away at the door, saying, 'sorry, you can't come in because your parents haven't signed this form,'" said Brevard School Board member Katye Campbell.

The rule came down from the state in mid-July, just weeks before the start of the school year. It was one of many changes that left superintendents scrambling. Others included whether or not educators could teach AP Psychology according to Florida law, adoption of a new Board of Education-mandated form for students who don’t go by their legal name and recent legislation dictating to what could and couldn't be discussed in class surrounding topics including sexuality, gender, specific books and the history of slavery in the U.S.

The Board of Education has touted the rule as part of an effort to expand parental rights, but some have criticized it for creating unnecessary barriers to students and extensive paperwork for parents and teachers.

Aug. 23 Board of Education meeting: New Florida rule for college staff: Use bathroom of your sex assigned at birth or be fired

Brevard school board coverage: Community members question handling of Viera hazing incident: 'Football is over for him'

What does the rule require?

The new rule, which covered school-sponsored events and activities, was created to “protect the fundamental rights of parents by ensuring that children are not exposed to inappropriate school-sponsored events and activities,” according to a document posted to the Board of Education’s July 19 meeting agenda. Additionally, the Board said the rule would improve safety and welfare of students.

Within the text of the rule, “school-sponsored events or activities” are defined as an event or activity the school created for students to study or participate in while in the custody of the district, field trips, extracurricular activities or other supplemental programs and activities.

The rule requires that any policies districts create related to events and activities must be consistent with Florida's Parental Bill of Rights and provide parental notification. That's why parents or guardians now have to sign permission slips, which must include specifics such as what the event is, when it takes place, its time and location, types of sponsors or guests and what kind of supervision will occur.

The rule also added that districts “may not admit a child to an adult live performance” — something both critics and supporters of the rule agreed was specifically an effort to keep drag performers from speaking at school-related events or clubs, like gay-straight alliances.

Impact of the law: What is Florida's new drag show law, SB 1438? Breaking down the law's impact.

Explainer: What is drag? Did Florida ban drag shows?

How are districts handling the rule?

Some districts are being extra cautious and requiring a form for every activity that occurs outside the classroom. That’s the approach Brevard Public Schools is taking.

“Based on the state’s rule, it is our position that a form is needed for all activities with student participation,” said BPS Spokesperson Russell Bruhn.

The form, which was created by the district this year and sent to all schools to use as needed, includes spaces for all the information the Board of Education rule required. It also includes a space where parents can write in any parts of an activity they would like their child to be exempt from.

In Seminole County, parents have more ways to consent to their child's activities, depending on the type of event.

Katherine Crnkovich, communications officer for Seminole County Public Schools, said some forms are electronic, while some might be paper.

“For activities where electronic ticketing is used (football games, dances, etc.) the required notification and information is provided on that platform, and by purchasing the tickets, consent is provided,” Crnkovich said, adding that other clubs or activities may use paper forms.

How the rule is being implemented within each district varies.

At West Shore Junior/Senior High School in Brevard, if a child needs tutoring, a parent must sign an individual permission form for each teacher who may tutor them. A form is required for "basically everything" outside of attending sports games as a spectator, said Riopelle.

"I think there are things we haven't even come across yet because they haven't happened, and we're not sure what's going to happen there," Riopelle said.

At Merritt Island High, teachers used a recent open house to encourage parents to sign on-the-spot a partially completed form for tutoring, noting that signing it would make their student eligible for tutoring in any subject.

Needing parental approval for tutoring from a teacher has been one of the biggest points of contention with the new rule.

The requirement to sign a form for a struggling student is "impeding teachers from doing their jobs," said parent Danielle McDonough.

With one daughter in middle school and another in high school, she's had to sign forms for both of them before they could receive tutoring.

"So my student is struggling with a topic, and if they go to a teacher to ask for help, they will be turned away without a signed permission slip," she said. "This is not improving parental rights."

At Winter Springs High School in Seminole County, some activities are grouped together on their website as "standard events," such as pep rallies, music performances, class meetings and more. Their website links to the form parents can sign, noting that homecoming, prom, teach-in guest speakers, tutorials, clubs and off-campus evens will require separate forms.

During the Aug. 22 school board meeting in Brevard, the district discussed using electronic options or accepting items like homecoming tickets in place of a form. While that may be an option next year, there was not enough time between the July 19 meeting and the start of the school year to create a more organized system, though School Board Attorney Attorney Paul Gibbs clarified that the district will accept both printed copies and electronically signed forms.

"You can certainly do a packet," Gibbs said. "You can put together, in your beginning of the year stuff, here's all the activities, all of the clubs, when they meet, and all that in a big packet at the beginning, and have parents sign off on all those activities at the beginning that they want their child to participate in."

"All things that will be easier next year," board member Campbell said.

Parental rights or extra hassle?

During the Aug. 22 school board meeting, both Campbell and Board Chair Matt Susin expressed frustration and uncertainty about how to proceed, saying students were missing out on opportunities because of the form.

"It's hard for some of the (kids from) low socio-economic areas to go home to get a form filled out by their parents," Susin said.

Campbell said she felt the rule had good intentions behind it, but that it "went too far."

Riopelle shared a similar sentiment.

"I guess I understand the premise of it — we want parents to be informed as to what their kids are involved in, that makes sense," he said. "But I feel like there's a better way to go about doing that."

McDonough disagreed, saying the entire exercise was unnecessary. She was particularly critical of the requirement that she OK any tutoring help.

"(My daughter) is almost 17," she said. "She does not need my permission to talk to her teacher if she has a question about her math."

Campbell encouraged parents to reach out to the Board of Education, who she said had provided next to no guidance on how to implement the rule.

"(Reach out) to make sure that they understand that this is a vague rule and it's really caused a paperwork nightmare," she said.

She added that the rule seemed to be in contrast to other recently passed legislation, such as House Bill 1, which allows any Florida student to use public funding to attend private school.

"In a year that HB 1 is saying, 'Hey, let's deregulate the school districts,' they just added all this on," she said. "At the very least, it would be good for them to provide some more clarity as to exactly what kinds of things need to be."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Confusion over Florida Board of Education-mandated permission slips