Faribault board rejects amendment on parent notification for gender-affirming care and adopts revised pupil records policy

The Faribault Public Schools Board voted 5-1 on May 18 to adopt revisions to Policy 515 (Protection and Privacy of Pupil Records) after rejecting a proposed amendment that would have required the district’s "responsible authority" not to withhold information from parents about a student’s request to go by a different name or to receive gender-affirming medical care.

Linda Moore, a board member, moved the amendment and Lynda Boudreau seconded it. The amendment would have inserted a provision in Policy 515 Section VII.B stating that the responsible authority "must not conceal or deliberately withhold information to a parent regarding a child's request to go by a different name or be recognized as a different gender, or if a child requests or agrees to receive gender affirming care that involves medical interventions including but not limited to: puberty blocking medication, hormonal treatments, or sex altering surgeries." The amendment failed on a roll-call vote, 2-4; Boudreau and Moore voted in favor, and John Bellingham, Candace Knudson, Casie Steeves, and Chad Wolff voted against the amendment.

After further discussion the board approved the main motion to adopt the revisions to Policy 515. The adoption passed by roll-call 5-1; Bellingham, Boudreau, Knudson, Steeves, and Wolff voted in favor, and Moore voted against.

Why it matters: Policy 515 governs access to and privacy of student records. The amendment’s language would have explicitly constrained the district’s ability to withhold information from parents when a student requests changes to name/gender recognition or seeks gender-affirming medical interventions. Supporters of the amendment argued the change would increase parental access to information; opponents expressed concerns about student privacy and the scope of district authority to handle sensitive medical or identity-related requests (specific statements from individual board members are recorded as votes and motions in the meeting minutes).

What the minutes show: The minutes record the exact amendment language proposed and the roll-call vote counts for both the amendment and the final adoption. The minutes do not include verbatim debate quotations beyond the motion text, nor do they specify an effective date for the revised policy.

Other policy actions at the same meeting: the board also considered and approved other policy revisions and new language, including Policy 427 (workload limits for certain special education teachers), Policy 615 (testing accommodations, modifications, and exemptions), and MSBA Policy 625 (Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence). The minutes record separate votes to adopt revisions to Policies 530 (Immunization Requirements) and 618 (Assessment of Student Achievement).