It seems that the school distributed the permission slip as part of its efforts to align with the requirements outlined in Florida’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, aimed at ensuring parental involvement and oversight in educational matters within the state. This proactive measure reflects the school’s commitment to transparency and compliance with relevant legislation regarding parental rights in education.
A Florida school, Coral Way, under Miami-Dade County Public Schools, faced backlash for requesting parents to sign permission slips allowing their children to listen to a reading from a Black author. This action was prompted by the school’s efforts to adhere to the guidelines set forth in Florida’s 2021 Parents’ Bill of Rights, which mandates schools to establish policies promoting parental involvement and grants parents the authority to object to classroom content based on beliefs regarding morality, sex, religion, or perceived harm of materials.
In November, the Miami-Dade School Board implemented updated regulations mandating schools to provide comprehensive information to parents regarding all school-sponsored events, activities, or supplemental programs. Additionally, schools are now required to secure signed permission forms from parents to authorize their children’s participation in such activities.
Steve Gallon, a Miami-Dade School Board member, informed WPLG that the policy is an extension of a recent state board regulation aligned with the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
Chuck Walter, a parent, shared a photo of the permission slip he received for his first-grader, revealing the activity description: “Students will participate & listen to a book written by an African American.” Walter expressed surprise, questioning whether his child’s participation depended on his permission.
Walter, who is also a parent to a fourth-grader, expressed his shock to NBC News upon receiving the permission slip, noting that he had never previously been required to sign one for a guest speaker visit in either of his children’s classes.
A district spokesperson issued a statement acknowledging that the event description may have caused confusion and emphasized the importance of clarity for parents regarding activities requiring permission. However, the statement clarified that permission slips were distributed in compliance with state law, as guest speakers were scheduled to participate in school-authorized education-related activities.
State education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. released a statement affirming that Florida law does not mandate permission slips for teaching African American history or commemorating Black History Month, emphasizing that any school implementing such measures is acting erroneously.
Earlier this month, iPrep Academy, another Miami-Dade school, found itself embroiled in a similar controversy after requiring parents to sign permission slips for students to participate in Black History Month events.
The Florida Department of Education refuted the notion that Florida students necessitated parental consent to study Black history, denouncing it as a “media-driven lie” in a statement to Business Insider.
Nathalia Medina, Press Secretary for the Florida Department of Education, cited a statement on Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ social studies webpage, emphasizing that the district fully supports the teaching of African American history as mandated by the State of Florida throughout the academic year. The statement clarified that schools within the district do not require permission slips to teach African American history.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alongside the state’s GOP lawmakers, has spearheaded a campaign to eradicate what they deem as “woke” instruction from public education. The state’s Stop WOKE Act, which prohibits the teaching of “critical race theory” in Florida schools, has had profound repercussions on educators’ capacity to delve into discussions about Black history. This law forbids any endeavor to “indoctrinate or persuade” students with principles conflicting with specified notions of individual freedom, while also prohibiting instruction that attributes responsibility for past actions based on “race, sex, or national origin.”
Similarly, the enactment of the Don’t Say Gay law, officially termed the Parental Rights in Education Act, bars classroom discourse on gender and sexual identity for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
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