By: Nora Scarbro 

House Bill 8 is a bill that was put into effect April 9. Known as the Parents Bill of Rights, it gives guardians more guaranteed access to their students’ privacy. The text of the law states, “The general assembly maintains that a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.” 

This legislation alerts parents when a student’s mental health is in question. However, this specific part of the bill didn’t really change the immediate education environment. Faculty has always been required to report if a student’s well-being is in jeopardy as mandatory reporters.

“The requirements through the legislation are things I would have done anyway,” a Bellbrook High School counselor said. 

Another portion of the law concerns the use of alternative names or pronouns for students. Parents and the school now take a more documented role when a student goes by alternative names/pronouns in school. “I had to wait like four days just to get a form to say, hey, I prefer to go by a gender neutral name,” a high school sophomore who recently went through a name change said.  

House Bill 8 also notifies parents when their student may be exposed to sexuality content or gender ideologies in an education setting. The legislation intends to, “Ensure that any sexuality content is age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate for the age of the student receiving the instruction, regardless of the age or grade level of the student.” In instruction, the law also says no sexuality content or instruction can be used in grades K-3.

However, it is up to the schools to create policies that adhere to the law. “The school board made the decision to [expand limits to sexuality content for] K-8, and then as far as high school, it is an opt-in policy,” Bellbrook high school librarian Amanda Brenner said. This means that high school students’ parents must submit forms with their decision for the possibility of encountering sexuality content in library or classroom materials.

Parents being guaranteed these extensive rights to their children’s lives isn’t necessarily something all parents feel is necessary. “If you’re a good parent and have a strong relationship and open communication with your kid, you don’t need House Bill 8,” a Bellbrook parent said.