The Florida legislature, on March 8, 2022, passed House Bill 1557, which bill was approved by the Governor on March 28, 2022 and was filed with the Secretary of State on March 28, 2022 as Laws of Florida Ch. 2022-22. Said bill added requirements for each school board throughout the State of Florida to amend policies and procedures to further define the fundamental rights of parents of students by requiring notification of parents upon the occurrence of certain conditions, to restrict the adoption of procedures which prohibit school personnel from notifying parents of students in instances in which students mental or physical health or personal wellbeing is at risk or which procedures have the effect of discouraging students to withhold information from their parents. The legislation does provide for withholding information from parents when, in the judgment of the disclosure would result in the neglect, abuse or abandonment of the student by the parent. The legislation prohibits classroom instruction of certain parties on matters of gender orientation or identity, requires standardized training to be provided to school district personnel, requires parental notification of specific healthcare services, requires school districts to obtain written permission prior to administration of healthcare procedures, requires school districts to resolve concerns of parents or to notify parents as to why the concerns were not resolved, allows a parent whose concerns were not resolved to seek a hearing before a special magistrate to resolve the parental concerns through the State Board of Education at the expense of the District and provides for suit by the parents against the District to seek injunctive relief, damages and court costs and attorney’s fees. The requirements of this legislation take effect on July 1, 2022. The School Board Policy additions set forth herein meet the requirements of the legislation and provide for further definition and implementation by the Superintendent through the establishment of procedures promulgated through his office. The attached Policy, was created to accomplish the legislative requirements by the set deadline. The Superintendent is asking that it be adopted on an emergency basis on June 30, 2022 because there was insufficient time to comply with the full adoption process required by Sec. 120.54, Fla. Statutes. Because it meets the definition of a “Rule” it is required to be approved by the School Board prior to implementation. Florida law provides that a Rule adopted by emergency procedures shall not be effective for more than 90 days during which time the School Board may initiate and complete rulemaking to adopt a rule addressing the subject of the emergency rule if it wishes the rule to extend beyond 90 days. This process requires publication of notice of adoption and a public hearing.

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Approval of this item will allow the School Board to implement the Policy while it continues with the formal adoption process for the Policy.

Provide FAPE to all students of the free public schools operated by the School Board of Clay County, Florida in compliance with the requirements of the Florida legislature.