GREEN RIVER — The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees will consider approval of a new parental rights policy on third reading tonight.

The policy is in compliance with parental rights described in W.S. 21-3-135, 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.

According to the bill summary, W.S. 21-3-135 does the following:

• This act specifies procedures and requirements for K-12 public schools to provide parents and guardians notice regarding their children as soon as practicable if there is a change in their child’s educational, physical, mental or emotional health or well-being.  The act requires school districts to adopt policies to reinforce the fundamental right of parents and guardians to make decisions regarding the care and control of their children.

• Pursuant to this act, school districts cannot prohibit parental and guardian involvement in critical decisions involving their child and must provide parents and guardians with access to their child’s educational records.

• This act requires school districts to make any well-being questionnaire or health screening tool available to parents and guardians and obtain consent from the child’s parent or guardian prior to administration. School districts must also obtain parental or guardian consent prior to a child participating or receiving instruction that addresses sexual orientation or gender identity.

• This act specifies a process for parents and guardians to resolve complaints and concerns related to the sharing of information relevant to their children or failure by school districts to adhere to provisions of the act.

Prior to the second reading of the bill at the August Board of Trustees meeting, Green River Carolynn St. John asked for some changes to be made to the bill before it goes up for a third reading.

“The policy states the district staff will obtain written or electronic parental consent at least one day prior to any training, courses, or classes that address sexual orientation or gender identity. The next paragraph states that parents who wish to withdraw consent must notify staff in writing at least one day prior to instruction,” she said. “Therefore notification to the parents should definitely occur more than one day prior to instruction to allow parents ample time to respond.”

That change was implemented in the draft that is up for third reading and adoption Tuesday night, which now states the school district must notify parents within one week of instruction that addresses sexual orientation or gender identity. However, St. John’s request to remove the wording of “withdraw” was not implemented. She said the withdraw wording indicates an “opt out policy”, whereas she believes it should be an “opt in policy”.

To view the policy in its entirety, see below.

The SCSD No. 2 Board of Trustees will meeting tonight, September 10, at 6 p.m. at the Central Administration Building. The meeting can be attended in person or streamed on the district’s YouTube page. The meeting agenda can be found here.