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Public speakers urge stronger protections and counseling-led notification as committee refines policy required by House Bill 8
Summary
After more than an hour of public testimony, the Columbus City Schools Policy Governance Committee voted to recommend amendments to its draft Parents Bill of Rights policy under House Bill 8, asking the board to add a preamble, involve counseling and social-work staff in parent notifications, and clarify exceptions when notifying guardians could place students at risk. The committee set those recommendations for the board's next reading.
Columbus ' On June 9, the Columbus City Schools Policy Governance Committee heard more than an hour of public testimony before voting to recommend changes to its draft policy implementing House Bill 8, the state law that requires boards to adopt parental-notification rules for student health, services and so-called "sexuality content." Committee members agreed to ask the full board to add a clear preamble about student safety, explicitly involve counselors and social workers in notification, and clarify when mandatory-reporting statutes or documented safety risks should alter notification procedures.
"Because of this, I am asking this committee to recommend the adoption of sample board policy 2," said Charlene Boland, a parent and juvenile-law attorney, urging changes that would include mental-health professionals in notification decisions and an exception where notifying a family could cause abuse, neglect or abandonment.
Board leadership framed the discussion around legal limits and deadlines. Chair Engles reviewed the statute and reminded the committee that the district must adopt a policy by July 1, 2025. Legal counsel repeatedly cautioned that the statute mandates parental notification for "substantial changes" to services and defines terms such as "mental, emotional or physical health," but that some confidentiality rules and mandatory-reporting laws could create narrow exceptions.
Committee members and public commentators pushed back on a literal, checklist-style implementation. Advocates asked the district to favor telephone or in-person contact over email, to ensure families receive support and context when notified, and to make clear that a student's request to identify their gender "must be heard directly from the student, not heard secondhand or as a rumor," as one sample policy put it. Several speakers said trained mental-health staff, not principals alone, are better suited to lead such conversations.
The committee adopted a set of recommendations to bring to the full board: strengthen a values-focused preamble; add administrative guidance for how "prompt" notification is carried out; involve counselors and social workers in the notification process; clarify that student requests should be verified directly with the student; and explore how mandatory-reporting statutes should be integrated so that student safety is preserved. The committee voted unanimously to forward those recommendations.
Legal counsel and administrators will draft suggested language and administrative guidance to accompany the revised policy before the board's next reading, the committee said. The committee did not adopt final policy language at the meeting; instead it asked staff to reconcile statutory requirements and community proposals so the board can deliberate at its upcoming session.
