2 weeks Ago
In contrast to years past, a bill of rights for parents co-authored by every Republican state senator drew a tiny turnout at its initial public hearing in Representatives Hall on Monday. State Sen. Timothy Lang, R-Sanbornton, said the goal with his bill ( SB 72 ) is to codify in an easy-to-find, understandable place all rights parents have in asking educators to provide them with information about “the child’s health, the child’s school environment, or the child’s in-school behavior.
” “There needs to be this place where non-lawyer parents can go to see in clear language what their rights are,” Lang said. Parental rights bills in the past drew hundreds to the State House on both sides, including many LGBTQ+ activists who charged that a parental rights bill could pose a risk of harm from parents learning a child was questioning his or her gender identity. “There are a lot of kids in crisis who can’t talk to their parents, because they said, ‘I am gay,’ and they get beat up or are sent to a reprogramming school,” Susan Stevens of Sanbornton testified Monday.
“What about a students’ bill of rights?” David Trumble, a past Democratic legislative candidate from Weare, and Stevens were the only two who appeared to raise alarm about the bill’s potential consequences. “School can be a safe place, having one trusted adult significantly benefits a student’s well-being,” Trumble said. “This bill makes it impossible for a teacher to be that one trusted adult.
” While the word “gender” and the phrase “gender identity” are not found in the bill, Lang said it would empower parents to ask and receive information on those topics from educators with one key exception. The bill cites a “compelling state interest” to protect the child from abuse or neglect. Lang said that means teachers or guidance counselors could withhold information if there was “clear and convincing evidence” of such potential harm.
“The important thing to remember is we are a mandatory child abuse reporting state, which means if that teacher feels the student is already at risk from a parent, they must under state law report that threat to the authorities,” Lang said. “You can’t have it both ways; withhold the information from the parent but not do your duty to report a threat if one exists.” Gov.
Kelly Ayotte said this is a priority bill that she hopes the Legislature will put on her desk this spring. Melissa Blasek, executive director with RebuildNH, a right-of-center liberty group, is taking no position on the bill because she said it merely codifies what is already state law. Lang has a companion bill ( SB 96 ) that mandates educators give public disclosure to questions put in writing from parents.
Blasek said it’s that bill that would cover questions parents have about a child’s gender identity. Leaders of the state’s two public school teacher unions with the National Education Association of New Hampshire and American Federation of Teachers, said they were neutral on the bill and praised its intent. “This could lower the temperature and make more fruitful collaborations,” said AFT-N.
H. President Deb Howes. NEA lobbyist Brian Hawkins and Howes said the bill contained vague language that they would want to change so it doesn’t significantly expand rights that parents already have.
“We are just looking for some clarity,” Hawkins said. Courtney Tanner, a lobbyist for Dartmouth Health, said the bill could be in conflict with existing state and federal laws that allow children over age 12 to receive treatment for substance abuse or sexually transmitted diseases without getting parental consent. Ann Marie Banfield, a parental rights advocate, urged the Senate Children and Family Law Committee to add “access to mental health services” as included under the parental rights rubric.
“This is a great start; I think we can do better,” Banfield said. Lang said his bill is identical to one Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, authored over the past two years. “The mental health issue is already addressed in another bill; I’d prefer this bill remain intact.
” A prime moving force for the movement came after the Manchester school board denied access to the mother of a student who found out the child was using a different name and pronouns while at school. Last August the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the school board policy that allowed educators to withhold the information. “The child was never LGBTQ,” said Sen.
Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester. “I want to put aside this idea that parents, especially in this case, were somehow abusive.” House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, authored his own bill ( HB 10 ) that will likely face a hearing later this month.
Packard’s bill would make violation of parental rights by an individual educator a crime, a Class A misdemeanor which carries up to a year in county jail. Lang’s bill makes violations a civil offense subject to fines against the school itself, not any individual teacher or counselor. klandrigan@unionleader.
com.
