Palo Alto, San Francisco and North Monterey school districts are the target of new investigations by the U.S. Department of Education, for allegedly violating federal parental rights laws.
The Education Department this week announced that its “Student Privacy Policy Office” has begun investigations into the Palo Alto Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District and North Monterey County Unified School District for allegedly “requiring students to reveal intimate details about themselves and their families without parental consent or knowledge.”
The investigations, according to federal officials, will determine whether the school districts violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, which requires schools to notify parents and obtain their written consent before surveying students on topics that would reveal protected information.
Education officials warned that failure to comply could jeopardize federal funds of school programs.
The Palo Alto school district stated that it will cooperate fully with the federal investigation and plans to respond directly to the allegations.
Federal education officials in August announced they were investigating San Jose State University and San Francisco State University for ignoring complaints of anti-semitism and harassment, and are also continuing to investigate San Jose State and the state’s community colleges for discrimination by allowing transgender athletes to compete in interscholastic sports. The investigations are continuing.
In a statement this week, federal education officials claimed that, “according to public reporting, the districts require students to participate in ‘Wheel of Power/Privilege’ and/or ‘Mapping My Identities’ activities as part of mandated Ethnic Studies curricula.”
“These invasive questionnaires require students to identify personal information such as their sexual orientations, gender identities, mental and physical health conditions, family economic status, race, and more,” the Department of Education said in a statement announcing the investigation. “Students are then asked to determine their ‘privilege status’ based on the information they provide.”
The department said that parents complained that the three school districts were not responsive to requests to review the ethnic studies curriculum.
“Schools in California seem to be collecting a myriad of protected and private information on students without involving parents, raising serious concerns that they deliberately keep parents in the dark about the most sensitive information pertaining to their children,” said the department’s Director of the Student Privacy Policy Office Frank Miller. “Students should not be pressured into identifying intimate details about themselves and their families without parental awareness and consent. Education leaders in California must stop undermining parental rights and we will work with these Districts to bring them into full compliance with federal laws.”
He said federal law requires schools “to notify parents and obtain written parental consent before administering a survey, analysis, or evaluation that would reveal protected information regarding the student and their family.”
Last October, President Donald Trump’s Departments of Education and Justice sent letters to all state attorneys general warning that their school districts’ lack of compliance with federal laws regarding mental health screenings conducted in schools. The letter said parents should be included in their children's education, not treated like “domestic terrorists.”
