MORGANTOWN – The House Education Committee spent two hours hashing over the details of a bill to allow parents, guardians and grandparents to inspect instructional materials and books used in their children’s classrooms.
Delegates – primarily the opponents – went deep into details and what-ifs, and they ran out of time before they could debate and vote. Work will resume on Saturday.
The bill is SB 704. It passed out of the Senate on Wednesday with bipartisan support and no debate, in a 28-5 vote.
The bill says a classroom teacher must comply with the request of any parent, grandparent (later amended to say custodian) or guardian to inspect instructional materials adopted by the county board, materials brought in by the teacher and books available for the students to read.
It says the teacher may require an appointment to meet with the person requesting inspection, to be scheduled within 10 business days. Upon request, the teacher must demonstrate how the materials relate to the state content standards.
Also upon request, the teacher must supply a syllabus of any books used.
A parent, custodian or guardian may file a complaint with the county if the teacher fails to comply, and if the complaint isn’t resolved it goes to the state superintendent. County superintendents must track and report the number of complaints to the state superintendent, who in turn will report that data to the Legislature.
The concerns were many, the chief being parents using repeated complaints as a form of harassment.
Drew McClanahan, with the state Department of Education, answered the host of questions. “Parents can file a complaint on anything, he said, and already do.
Valid complaints, he said, are limited to those in the bill: complying with a request for a meeting, and allegations the materials don’t comport to state content standards.
Delegate Ed Evans, D-McDowell, brought up the example of parents in his area who might attend a snake-handling church and object to their child coming home with the information that a particular snake is poisonous. McClanahan circled back to the point that if the information comports with state standards, there’s no basis.
Several delegates worried that complaints might go into a teacher’s personnel file, and pile up. McClanahan said that these complaints are different from personnel matters and would not be treated in the same way. Except in the case of a teacher who repeatedly used material not in line with standards, the data would be merely aggregated with no names attached.
McClanahan also pointed out that county boards approve curriculum, not the state.
Delegates also asked what would constitute a syllabus and if every teacher will now be required to create one.
McClanahan said that a teacher won’t need to create one – except in certain circumstances where they’re already required, such as AP courses – and if asked the teacher could compile a simple list of books used in the class.
Delegates went into the weeds of who constitutes a parent, grandparent/custodian or guardian and if someone who simply picks up a child from school or babysits a few hours could demand an appointment – including in cases where the parent has no issues but the grandparent/custodian wants to usurp privilege.
McClanahan said the details of who can access a child’s information is dictated by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
The committee had gotten to the point of considering amendments offered by the members and was in the midst of one on to change making an appointment with the teacher from permissive to mandatory in order to limit imposition on the teacher’s limited time.
Members will continue with the amendment process on Saturday. Also on the agenda are SB 653, to merge Pierpont College back into Fairmont State, and SB 498, the Anti-Racism Act.
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