The 2024-2025 academic school year is ushering in a wave of new, mandatory policies to be adopted by public schools across North Carolina. Statutory and regulatory changes at the state and federal levels have imposed requirements for schools to have adopted several policies by the start of the 2024–25 school year. This article highlights five policies that North Carolina public schools will need to adopt if they haven’t already, as they embark upon the 2024-2025 school year.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights
While the North Carolina legislature has required school policies related to the Parent’s Bill of Rights since last school year, the legislature and its implementation is still fairly novel. As such, it is worth reviewing as you prepare for the new academic year. As the name indicates, the Parent’s Bill of Rights is a bill describing ten rights parents have regarding their children. While not all of the rights involve education, education—and parents’ roles in their children’s education—is a cornerstone of the bill. In accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 114A-10, schools shall adopt a policy which informs parents that they have the right to:
- Direct the education and care of their children;
- Direct the upbringing and moral or religious training of their children;
- Enroll their children in any public school, nonpublic school, or in any other school choice option for which the child is eligible;
- Access and review all education records of their children;
- Make health care decisions for their children;
- Access and review all of their children’s medical records in accordance with HIPPA, except in instances of crimes committed against children or cases of abuse and neglect;
- Prohibit the creation, sharing, or storage of biometric scans of their children without parental consent;
- Prohibit the creation, sharing, or storage of their children’s DNA without parental consent;
- Prohibit the creation by the State of a video or voice recording of their children without parental consent, with a few exceptions; and
- Be promptly notified if an employee of the State suspects that a criminal offense has been committed against their children.
It is important that schools and their employees are aware that the Bill provides for penalties for State employees who encourage or coerce—or attempt to encourage or coerce—a child to withhold information from their parent.
Title IX
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education published its highly anticipated updated Title IX regulations. Title IX prohibits discrimination based upon sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. As a result, schools that receive federal funding should adopt revised Title IX policies that comply with the updated Title IX regulations. Pursuant to Title IX, schools are required to act promptly and effectively in responding to conduct that may constitute sex discrimination and must train employees about their obligation to address sex discrimination and notify the schools’ Title IX coordinator upon learning of potential discrimination. Upon receiving claims of sex discrimination, schools are required to offer supportive measures to restore or preserve a party’s access to the school’s education or activity programs. Schools are required to implement a fair, transparent, and reliable process to promptly respond to and evaluate claims of sex discrimination by using unbiased, trained decision-makers to assess relevant evidence. The new regulations grant schools the flexibility to adapt grievance procedure requirements that fit their specific educational community. The new Title IX regulations also expressly provide that schools must protect students, employees, and applicants from discrimination based upon pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions such as childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, and recovery from these conditions.
Under the new Title IX regulations, the U.S. Department of Education has expressly provided that schools must prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics against students and employees. Schools may not separate or treat people differently based upon sex in a manner that subjects them to more than minimum harm. Schools must protect students, employees, and others from retaliation and may not intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against individuals for the purpose of interfering with their Title IX rights or because they reported discrimination. Schools must clearly and effectively inform students, employees, and applicants of their nondiscrimination policies and procedures.
Parental Involvement
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-76.35 mandates that North Carolina public schools adopt policies that promote parental involvement in schools. Schools shall develop and adopt these policies through consultation with parents, teachers, administrators, and community partners. The policies should provide for parental choices and parental responsibilities.
Some of the required policies aim to increase parental involvement in schools. Schools shall provide information to parents for community services; establish opportunities for parental involvement in the development, implementation, and evaluation of family involvement programs; and establish opportunities for parents to participate in numerous activities, such as participation on school advisory committees and in school volunteer programs.
Other required policies have the stated goal of increasing parental knowledge regarding their children’s education. For example, schools will have to implement policies providing methods to increase teacher‑parent cooperation regarding homework, attendance, and discipline. Principals will be required to effectively communicate to parents how assigned textbooks advance curricular objectives. Similarly, schools must implement procedures for parents to learn about their children’s course of study. This includes developing procedures, which the school must publish on its website and have available for review at the school, where parents can inspect and review assigned textbooks and supplementary instructional material. Schools must also establish a process for parents to review reproductive health and safety educational materials and consent, or withhold consent, from their children’s participation in reproductive health and safety programs. Further, schools must establish a manner by which parents can object to the use of certain textbooks and supplementary instructional materials. Finally, schools are required to establish a process by which parents can learn about the nature and purpose of both curricular and extracurricular clubs and activities.
Remedies for Parental Concerns
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-76.60 requires schools to establish procedures by which parents can notify principals of their concerns. Schools must implement a process for resolving parental concerns within seven days of parental notification. If the school does not resolve parental concerns within thirty days, the school must provide parents a statement explaining the reasons why the concern had not been resolved. Additionally, a school that does not resolve a parental concern within thirty days opens the door for parents to sue the school or request a hearing to address the concern with the State Board of Education.
Threat Assessment
Session Law 2023-78 addresses school safety. The bill requires that school boards develop policies for the assessment and intervention of threats, which should be aligned with the guidance from the Center for Safer Schools. Schools shall adopt compliant threat assessment policies prior to the start of the 2024-2025 school year. The law requires that the superintendent, or functional equivalent, of a public school unit must establish a threat assessment team for each school within the unit. The superintendent must also establish a committee to monitor the threat assessment team. The committee shall consist of individuals with expertise in human resources, education, school administration, mental health, and law enforcement. The threat assessment team is responsible for conducting threat assessments upon becoming aware of threatening behavior and shall consist of individuals with expertise in administration, instruction, law enforcement, and counseling.
Schools’ threat assessment policies shall provide that threat assessment teams have the duty to provide training to students, faculty, and staff regarding the recognition and reporting of threatening behavior, to identify members of the school to whom threatening behavior shall be reported, and to utilize anonymous reporting systems for students to report safety concerns.
