San Diego Policy Postponed

We reported in an earlier Capitol Update that the San Diego Unified School District was having a board meeting on January 22 to discuss an alarming policy change. The proposed policy change would eliminate parental notification when children as young as age 12 are let off campus for “confidential medical services,” including abortions and psychiatric counseling.

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood have challenged the current policy, in effect for more than 20 years, which states that “under no condition is a student to leave the school grounds before dismissal without the approval of his/her parent or guardian and the principal or the principal’s specifically designated representative.”

The board meeting to discuss a policy change has been delayed because school district attorneys are still working out the details of a new policy.

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are deceptively arguing that a 2004 state attorney general opinion requires children to be released from campus for confidential medical services. On the contrary, this nonbinding opinion simply states that schools “may” release students without telling parents. Nothing requires that students be released and school districts are perfectly free to have a policy that notifies parents when children are released, for any reason.

Karen England is the executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute in Sacramento. This feature is excerpted from the California Capitol Update that she compiles for CRI.