Parents in the Santa Barbara Unified School District now have the ability to opt their children out of reading books or taking part in lessons if they deem the material to be religiously offensive.
Public schools must provide parents advance notice and an opportunity to opt their children out of direct classroom instruction that conflicts with their moral or religious beliefs, according to U.S. Supreme Court decision Mahmoud v. Taylor, issued in June.
Students who are opted out by their parents would have the ability to participate in alternative lessons, books and activities.
The school board voted 5-0 Tuesday night to adopt the policy.
Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said she stands with LGBTQ+ students and families.
“Although we must make this administrative adjustment, I want to be profoundly clear. I stand in opposition to any attempt to erase the humanity of the LGBT+ community,” Maldonado said. “While we may be required to formalize an opt-out rule, we cannot and we will not silence or try to change who our students and staff are.”
Only two people spoke about the issue, which didn’t begin until 11 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting lasted 5½ hours.
The Mahmoud vs. Taylor case stems from parents in Maryland who were opposed to books that included LGBTQ+ stories for classroom reading.
Tanya Marks spoke during public comment and said the new policy conflicts with the district’s pride resolution.
“If you allow blatant discrimination of this community in our Santa Barbara public schools in favor of individual families’ belief systems, you are working in direct contradiction of the SBUSD pride resolution,” Marks said.
Marks said the resolution should not be just words, but “they require action,” and “when you erase an entire people, you engender fear and hate.”
Marks said they have no faith that the district will protect LGBTQ+ students and staff.
One board member disagreed.
“This is not pre-compliance,” board member Dr. Sunita Beall said. “I completely reject the statement that we do not support our LGBTQ+ students in the district.”
Beall said the board members are legal representatives of the district. She said the district is not making the policy narrower than what is provided by the Department of Education.
“It is our duty to not put the district at risk of lawsuits based upon not doing anything,” Beall said. “We do have to take action on things.”
Teachers will not proactively recommend lessons that families should opt out of.
“We are not going to be asking teachers to identify which of their lessons or instructional materials might implicate Mahmoud,” attorney Joanna Powell said. “We’re going to ask them to give us everything, and we are going to give parents everything.”
She said they can review the materials and then request what they want to opt out of.
“The teachers will not have to be making any sort of call about what religion and what book and how they might conflict with each other,” Powell said.