Parent urges Oak Harbor School District to use new parents' bill of rights to notify families about GSA meetings

Kasara Eliph, a parent with children in the district’s Home Connection program, told the Oak Harbor School Board on Nov. 25 that Initiative 2081 requires schools to provide parents written notice and an opportunity to opt their children out of student engagements that include questions about sexual orientation or related topics. “This law states that parents and legal guardians of public school children younger than 18 years old have the right to receive written notice and the option to opt their child out,” Eliph said.

Eliph said a student-led Gay–Straight Alliance has met twice a month at lunchtime on the Home Connection K–12 campus and that parents should be given a form that includes the language and scope of Initiative 2081. “Parents need to be notified that this type of group exists and provided a form which includes the language and scope of Initiative 2081,” she said, urging the board to “bring our school district into compliance.” The board’s presiding officer said the district would hear public comments and that the superintendent would follow up.

Why it matters: parents’ notice and opt-out requirements are a new legal obligation for public schools under Initiative 2081; the request, if adopted, would change district practice for communication and permission forms. The comment was part of a broader public-comment sequence that also included critiques of GSA activities and requests for clearer policies from other parents.