GREEN RIVER — The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees voted 4-3 on third and final reading to approve the district’s new parental rights policy and corresponding grievance procedures, with the intention of making amendments to the policy.

The policy is in compliance with parental rights described in Senate File 9, which is a bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature in 2024 that deals with parental rights in education. School districts across the state have been tasked with implementing the law into their policies.

“This is new to everyone, it hasn’t been into practice,” Assistant Superintendent and HR Director Jason Fuss said. “There is some anticipation that at the Legislative session here in 2025 that the state statute will be reviewed and most likely sharpened based on some of the growing pains that all 48 districts are going to be going through here the rest of this fall and partly into the winter.”

Board Chairman Steve Core, who was one of the votes opposing the policy, said that he hopes one of the state’s school districts challenge the state on this new law and policy. He said the policy takes away local control.

“The legislature created this problem, again. Well, the Freedom Caucus created this problem and we got to deal with it. There are some districts in the state that aren’t going to approve it, they’re going to challenge it. I think we already communicate very well with our parents in this district…The real problem I have is they’ve taken local control out of our hands,” Core said.

Green River resident Marlene Brady discussed one of her complaints with the district’s policy, stating it does not follow SF9 as it requires parents to withdraw consent for students to participate in instruction that addresses sexual orientation or gender identity. She believes to follow SF9, parents should have to opt their children into curriculum dealing with these topics, rather than opt out.

“Can you tell me where in SF9 the district has the authority to opt in any student? We certainly don’t want to break any law,” she said.

However, Core said that he does not get the issue with withdrawing consent.

“[If] you want to opt out, opt out. I don’t know why we have to opt in. I don’t get that,” Core said.

Well-Being Questionnaires and Health Screenings

Jennifer Whitten, Green River resident, licensed clinical social worker, behavioral health therapist, and parent of students in the district, also expressed an issue with the policy in regards to its wording with the well-being questionnaires and health screenings. The policy states that prior to administering any well-being questionnaire or health screening tool to students, the school district shall make available a copy of the questionnaire or information on the health screening tool and obtain written or verbal consent from the parent. Whitten noted there are exceptions in the policy for audiology, vision, and scoliosis tests, which are required health assessments by federal law.

“I can easily interpret the way it’s currently worded as needing parental consent before screening and questioning students, even about if they are considering suicide or ending their life,” Whitten said.

She gave evidence-based information on suicide rates in Wyoming, stating Wyoming is steadily in the top five states for suicide deaths, and Wyoming is always double the national average for suicide. Additionally, she said suicide is the 7th leading cause of death among adults in Wyoming, and 2nd among ages 10-44.

“There is a common belief that mentioning suicide or asking people, adolescents included, directly if they’re considering suicide that it will lead to that—there is zero evidence in our evidence base to show that,” she said.

She said that in other school districts across the country who have implemented similar policies to this one, it has tied the hands of school counselors and other mental health professionals to ask or screen students who may be at risk for suicide. She asked for this part of the policy to be amended so professionals within the schools can use evidence-based tools to help prevent suicide among students.

“My concern is, with the way it is currently worded, it won’t allow those tools to be utilized without parental consent,” Whitten said.

Trustee Ashley Castillon said that whether they approved the policy or not Tuesday night, she believed it should go back to the Super 8 Committee, which she is a part of, to ensure they don’t tie the hands of professionals.

Amendments Needed

Prior to the vote, the trustees all spoke about the need to make some changes to the policy. Superintendent Craig Barringer recommended the board approve the policy and then make amendments to it, as the policy was supposed to be put in place in August so they are already a bit behind. He said that passing the policy and then amending it will give the district guidance for now and will leave the district in less of a limbo than if they didn’t pass it or if they tabled it until next month.

“We have a lot of people not sure how to do this and without any guidance we’ll do nothing but fail,” Barringer said.

Trustee David Young said he still has reservations with the policy, especially after hearing the public comments at the start of the meeting. However, he said he isn’t sure how they will get the policy perfect, as not everyone is going to be happy with it. Trustee Mark Sanders also said he had issues with the policy.

“I think parental rights are a great thing, I think they’re going about it the wrong way,” Sander said. “I think the liability factors here to try to turn teachers into mental health counselors is foolish, I think there’s a lot of liability, and the state has not addressed any of that.”

Trustees Castillon, Young, Tom Wilson, and Brenda Roosa all voted in favor of approving the policy, while Core, Sanders, and Daniel Flom voted against.

While the trustees are unhappy with the policy for various reasons, Fuss said that the district’s legal team has previously reminded the district that “state law does hold authority over district policy.”

Though the policy was approved, it will go back to the Super 8 Committee to be amended. Depending on how substantial the changes are, it may have to go through three more readings before those amendments can be approved.