The fourth hearing on House Bill 8, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, was held Tuesday at the Ohio Statehouse.
If passed, the bill would force all teachers and school staff – including social workers and school counselors – to report to parents of LGBTQ+ students.
Under the bill’s language, schools must “notify a student’s parents of any changes in student services or monitoring related to the student’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being.”
In April, the bill was amended to add “counseling services,” now requiring parents to be notified of everything a student shares during confidential counseling sessions.
Tuesday’s hearing featured adversarial testimony: people testifying against the bill before the Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education.
Here are 18 of the most memorable quotes from the fourth audition.
1. “First, we would like to assure this committee and all legislators that working with parents is already a key part of what school counselors do.”
—Renee Stack of the Ohio School Counselor Association began her testimony by trying to refute the bill’s supporters’ arguments that the goal of nefarious school officials was to withhold information from parents.
2. “Our primary ethical obligation regarding confidentiality is to our students. We believe a balance can be struck between this and parental involvement, but unfortunately House Bill 8 crosses that line to the point of creating unworkable requirements for school counselors that may be harmful to students.”
—Stack, who explained that it is unreasonable to require school counselors to notify parents of every modern emotion expressed by a student, given that counselors serve hundreds of students.
3. “Asking school counselors to wait until they are certain that statutory reportable abuse is in fact occurring before making a ruling to protect a student from harmful emotional distress is a dereliction of our primary responsibility to serve and support students.”
—Stack, speaking about a part of the bill previously removed by Republicans that allowed school staff to refuse to notify parents if the counselor reasonably believed that the resulting situation would be hazardous to the student.
4. “If this bill is passed, at the beginning of the next school year it is likely that all students will receive a message saying: ‘Due to the latest regulations, school employees are now required to report to their families.’ This message will likely be irritating and will be perceived as an infringement on students.”
—Heather Fairs, Ohio School Counselor Association.
5. “Trust is the basis of what we do. This is where the magic happens. Without trust in the school counselor, students will undoubtedly hesitate to come to us.”
—Fairs, explaining how this hesitation can lead to harmful emotional and academic consequences for Ohio students.
6. “A child belongs to the parent, not the state.”
—Rep. Josh Williams (Oregon) apparently doesn’t see the irony between this declaration and support for bills like HB 68 to ban gender-affirming care, in which the state would act as an intermediary between parents in determining the best medical care for their children.
7. “Boasting as the ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights,’ these rights are already well established and protected by law.”
—Savannah Carlstrom website, Kaleidoscope Youth Centerone of many witnesses who emphasized that Ohio law already requires public schools to develop policies that allow parents to actively participate in their children’s education and maintain “consistent and effective” communication between parents and their children’s schools.
8. “Bill‘S “supporters would like to protect a parent’s right to harm their child, especially if the child identifies with the LGBTQIA+ community.”
—Carlstrom’s website.
9. “It is worth noting that lawmakers are asking everyone who testifies here today for better ways to communicate [between] minor children and parents. This bill is definitely not that.”
—Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) moments after Vice President Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula) asked witnesses to come up with better language that would make it easier for schools to communicate with parents.
10. “It is not the goal of school staff to withhold information from parents. In fact, the opposite is true, as we know that parental support is one of the main ways to improve youth mental health.”
—Danielle Smith, Ohio chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
11. “If this bill is passed, students simply won’t talk to school staff about their concerns.“
—Blacksmith.
12. “This bill not only rejects the devastating rates of abuse, violence and suicide among LGBTQ+ youth in their own homes, but also rejects the professional recommendations and protocols of trained medical, legal and educational experts on the very complex issues of gender identity and sexuality.”
—Cynthia Peeples, Fairness for Education in Ohio.
13. “In Ohio, the first public school was built in 1772. I suspect that some students immediately sought help from the teacher to solve their problems or escape a toxic home environment, and this is still the case today. There are certainly people in this room, perhaps on this committee, who have once confided in a trusted adult at school about something they would never do or do with their friends, classmates, or parents. House Bill 8 recognizes this dynamic and eviscerates it.”
—Gary Daniels, ACLU of Ohio.
14. “Pass HB 8 and the word will spread quickly among students. “Career counselors, nurses, teachers, schools – these people can no longer be trusted. We will have to find another place to go with our problems, assuming there is something else. For many children, there is nothing else.”
—Daniels.
15. “Supporters of this bill specifically equated affirming LGBTQ+ identity with “sexually explicit content.” To someone who is offended by the very existence of LGBTQ+ people, the mention of [LGBTQ+] identity is implicitly a reference to sexually explicit content. This could result in severe censorship of LGBTQ+ families.”
—Maria Bruno of Equality Ohio, talking about a less-discussed part of the bill that requires parents to be notified about sexually explicit material in the curriculum.
16. “It’s teacher appreciation week and that’s why I’m here.”
—Dion Manley of the Gahanna-Jefferson School Board, highlighting the irony of appreciating teachers during a hearing on a bill demonizing teachers as the enemy of parents.
17. “If children don’t tell their parents, there is a reason for it. Forcing this conversation can devastate families who are not prepared to deal with it.”
—Jeanne Ogden, mother of a transgender child, who shared her family’s story in which Ogden stated that she was not as supportive as she could have been when the child came out to her.
18. “You are considering a bill that would make it more likely for children to take their own lives.”
—Dr. Jennifer Simkins-Bullock, a neuropsychologist, sums up the situation. 🔥
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