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NHSBA Responds To HB 542- New Law On Parent Objections To Course Material
In response to the New Hampshire Legislature’s recent override of Governor Lynch’s veto of HB 542, NHSBA has received numerous inquiries from its members and local media regarding the impact of this new law, which requires school districts to adopt policies to allow "an exception to specific course material based on a parent's or legal guardian's determination that the material is objectionable."
Because of the broad language of the new law, significant concerns have been voiced over how much staff time will be devoted to providing alternative instruction to students whose parents exercise their rights under this new law. Additionally, the law does not address what happens to a student in the interim while an alternative lesson is being developed by parents and administrators. Questions remain as to whether the student stay in class? Is the student removed from class? What happens if the student misses significant class time while the parents and administrators seek to find an agreed to alternative? The law is silent on these issues. NHSBA also has concerns that wide spread opting out of students in a single class could be administratively infeasible. These are but a few examples of the challenges we see in the implementation of the new law.
In response, NHSBA believes that issues that arise under the new law should be handled locally on a case-by-case basis. As experience evolves under the law, we hope that a body of best practices will develop to help manage the implementation of the law.
To assist in the implementation of HB 52 at the local board level, NHSBA has issued a new sample policy to its policy subscription members.
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