School is often seen as a place where students can learn and where they can express themselves. Oftentimes, their teachers are some of the most influential adults in their lives. In Ohio, however, the student-teacher relationship could be changing due to a new bill being passed.

The Parents’ Bill of Rights was a bill proposed and passed by Ohio Republicans. The bill sets standards and defines procedures to be followed on various topics within schools, and aims to increase communication between schools and parents. Critics fear the bill will have a wide range of negative impacts, while proponents believe that it clearly defines the roles of schools within a child’s life.

The bill has four essential components: medical records, sexuality/gender, religion within schools and how parents can issue concerns with the school. For students, the second is arguably the most controversial issue within schools.

The component including sexuality and gender has two main parts. The first states that teachers have to report to a parental figure if a student displays any physical or mental changes. This includes, but is not limited to, telling the teacher they belong to the LGBTQ+ community or if the student shows signs of mental illnesses. The second states that parents should be notified of any material involving sexuality content within the curriculum and have the right to withdraw their student from said material.

As both left and right-leaning individuals are for and against this bill, the first part of sexuality and gender content is what many consider the most polarizing part of the entire bill.

Prior to the bill being enacted, the most common argument against this is that teachers can be trusted adults, and therefore students often feel more comfortable coming out to teachers than their parents. In some scenarios, this option is also safer in cases of abuse.

“For most situations, informing parents of anything involving their child’s health and wellness is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, some parents are abusive when they disagree with their child’s choices,” parent Augustine Mastrione said. “ My experience in education and health care has taught me that reporting abuse and getting it to stop are two very different things…students in this situation are put at risk.”

Along with this argument, many individuals also believe the bill will diminish trust between students and their teachers.

“I also think children need an adult to talk to that is safe. If parents are not safe, another trusted individual in the student’s life may be a teacher,” Mastrione said.

On the other hand, many people also believe that it is important to not only provide parents a way to learn about their child, but also to establish set boundaries between teachers and students.

“I believe that the days of a teacher being close to a student is drifting apart, is drifting away for the student…. and I believe that not every single person has pure concerns and that’s where the issue popped up,” Plain Local Board President Dr. Ambrose Perduk said.

This idea of the lack of pure concerns and intentions is put into practice within curricula through the component of sexuality content.

Sexuality content is defined as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or

description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting.” by the Ohio State Department. Due to the definition being vague, however, there are many differing definitions and policies within the state.

“[sexuality] mentions a very explicit direction; it has everything to do with gender. I’ll use my own words: habits, lifestyle, etc,” Perduk said.

This specific part has already created state-wide concerns and consequences, with one school district near Dayton even going as far as to close its school library temporarily as a way to regulate sexuality and gender content.

“[sexuality content prior to the bill] was really focused more on sexual concepts, porn or sexual reproduction. Now we are seeing gender ideology,” lawyer Kaylee Price said.

The bill states that a parent can withdraw their child from any educational material relating to sexuality content that they feel is unfit for their child. This has led some people to think that this can help increase parental involvement within the district.

“Parents now have to be involved in their child’s education. If they like some things, then so be it. If they do not like some things, they have tools at their discretion now to use, to safeguard what they want to prevent,” Perduk said.

These tools that are accessible to parents have led to policies being changed within schools. Various schools have been tackling this bill with different forms of policy, however, one thing remains consistent: the confusion over how to navigate these new policies and what they mean.

Many people believe the bill was written to be vague to apply to more situations; however, because of this, some lawyers are concerned about what this entails for the schools.

“My opinion is that it is vague on purpose so that it can encapsulate a large variety of things. Anything that anyone could interpret as being gender ideology, such as, and what it is really going to fall under is the LGBTQ+ community and specifically the trans community,” Price said.

Some school districts are also somewhat concerned about this vagueness and potential issues that may arise from not fully understanding the bill.

“As a boardman, we do policy. I have asked a lot of questions, but I have to understand it better, and I do not think that we will fully understand it until we get feedback from students and parents,” the Akron Board of Education Vice President, Bruce Alexander, said.

This is not the only vague definition, however, as the bill also does not clarify or state what the punishment for the schools or teachers would be if they do not follow this bill.

“At this point, it sounds like the state is leaving it up to the individual schools to go through that. Termination seems to be extreme, but we have seen that before in other states for less. Teachers could be suspended. Teachers could be terminated. I think it all comes down to the complaints the parents make on an individual case-by-case basis, what the situation surrounding it is,” Price said.

Although the bill does not spell out specific consequences for teachers, many people believe that this is best for not only the students and parents, but also the teachers.

“It spells out what is expected of our teachers. What is required, what is not. It is for their [teachers’] protection. It is for the students’ protection. It is for the parents’ protection,” Perduk said.

What is expected of people can vary between districts; however, the sentiment behind the bill remains the same: both students and teachers have to follow many new rules.

“I think the students have to be aware that they can not take any topic to their teacher without some type of reaction or action…. Teachers and the students have to be aware. Teachers can not talk about whatever they want unless they are following this. And the students can not bring up whatever they want unless they are following this,” Perduk said.

While this bill has gained a lot of positive and negative attention, the end result of the bill is still unknown. For more information on this bill, visit the Ohio Legislature website.