Parents of elementary school students in San Rafael City Schools will be allowed to remove their children from classroom activities that they believe violate their religious beliefs, the Marine Independent Journal.
The district council voted unanimously in favor of the policy last month, which could include removing activities such as reading books involving an LGBTQ+ character.
District Superintendent Carmen Diaz Ghysels said the policy will be rolled out this fall semester and parents will be able to fill out an online form to request that a child be excused from an activity for religious reasons. The school would offer an alternative activity to the student.
“The principal is the one who will have the responsibility to find an alternative that will work for that student,” Diaz Ghysels said. “That’s what we’re working on.”
The district will need to address other implementation challenges, such as making parents aware of the opt-out policy even though the district is not required to advertise the option, and ensuring that schools do not track opt-outs in a student’s profile.
The policy also prohibits a teacher or school from penalizing a child who is excused. The district issued an opt-out policy following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that ruled in favor of parents removing their children from LGBTQ-related storybook lessons in the classroom. John Carroll, Marin County’s superintendent of schools, said districts are not required to update their policies since the Supreme Court ruling.
This story was originally published by EdSource.
