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Hillsborough will debate parental consent policy

Students might be required to have written permission to join any school club. Critics say the proposal is aimed at gay clubs.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published August 10, 2006

TAMPA - Hillsborough parents may have to sign off on the clubs their children join in high school - from honors societies to the gay-straight alliances that have sparked a broad debate about club policies.

"Anything that happens at a school should not be a surprise to parents," said Lewis Brinson, assistant superintendent for administration for Hillsborough schools.

Brinson said he was speaking both as an administrator and as a father of three children, two in high school. "Parents have a right to know what their children are involved in our schools," he said.

District officials say they will ask the School Board next week to require that information be sent home to parents about any club their child wants to join.

If parents do not give signed permission, their child would not be allowed to participate.

The recommendation, which School Board members are scheduled to discuss at a Tuesday workshop, follows last year's controversy over the start of a gay-straight alliance at Newsome High School in east Hillsborough. Similar clubs exist at other county schools and are common nationally.

But the attention at Newsome spurred an outcry from parents concerned about fostering discussions on sex and sexuality. District officials convened a task force with parents and students to study club policies.

The proposed parental notification goes a step further than the guidelines suggested by the panel, which would have asked parents to review a list of clubs offered at a school each year.

"It's a positive step," said Newsome High parent Allan Trovillion, who worried about gay-straight alliances and served on the task force. "Everything has to be approved by a parent. This is no different."

David Crawford, a senior at Brandon High School, thinks it's a bad idea. Although all clubs are included, he thinks gay clubs are the target because no such rule was proposed before the controversy erupted.

"The people who are going to be kept out are the people who need it the most," said Crawford, who is gay. "Parents aren't perfect. They're people, too. They're prone to prejudices, too."

Other school districts have required parental consent for club participation in the aftermath of a flareup over gay clubs, said Charles Haynes, a senior scholar for the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va.

"A public school is a place where school officials cannot get into the business of hiding what they're doing from parents," he said. "It's not illegal to put a chilling effect on kids, but it's, you could say, unfortunate."

Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, and Becky Steele, regional director for the American Civil Liberties Union, have concerns about the proposed policy.

But Brinson, the assistant superintendent, noted that schools could step in and provide counseling if there is friction between students and parents.

"My question would be: Why is it something that they wouldn't want to share with their parents?" he said.

The School Board workshop is scheduled for Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the district's offices at 901 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown Tampa. The public does not get to comment at workshops.

[Last modified August 10, 2006, 01:15:15]