School-club bill called unnecessary
The bill, HB326, would also give parents the authority to view any content and material to be distributed in a club seven days prior to the meeting. And it would require the school appoint a faculty advisor to each non-curricular club. Some schools currently have parent volunteers and paraprofessionals as advisers.
However, if "the assignment would violate the conscience" of the faculty member they could refuse and not be subject to a negative evaluation.
Moreover, bill sponsor Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, told members of the House Education Committee that if the measure passed and was in statute, the Utah Attorney General's Office could defend districts sued over club application decisions, thus freeing districts from legal costs.
But Carol Lear, legal specialist for the State Board of Education, said the State Board of Education considers the bill unnecessary, and under board rule there is flexibility for local boards to make their own decisions.
"Alpine School District's club policy currently requires parental permission on a yearly basis for students to participate in clubs," said Jerri Mortenson, spokeswoman for that district. "We don't require any teacher to sponsor or advise a club and teachers can already say they don't want to do it without ramifications.
"We don't object to anything in the bill, but we also don't think it is necessarily needed," said Chris Williams, Davis District spokesman.
American Civil Liberties Union of Utah leaders said they don't like the idea of teachers being able to refuse a club advisory post if they are assigned because it could be used as an easy out, resulting in students not being able to have the clubs they want.
Moreover, Margaret Plane, legal director for ACLU of Utah, said they are concerned that requiring permission slips could exclude students with disengaged parents — uninvolved and absent parents are more difficult to get permission from.
"It would exclude students who need clubs the most," Plane said.
But the Utah Eagle Forum's Gayle Ruzicka said parents have the right to give consent and know what is going on in non-curricular clubs.
"Parents need to know what is going on and they certainly need to be involved, and to suggest that we can't (require) permission slips for anything that is involved at the school because parents who are not involved in the lives of their children wouldn't be available to sign the slip is really a put-down to parents," Ruzicka said.
The bill is similar to last year's bill that originally targeted gay-straight alliances.
Tilton is currently working on the bill with Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, who is openly gay. Biskupski said she is working on some amendments that have not yet been made public.
"We'll talk again before the bill goes before the House floor," Tilton said.
E-mail: terickson@desnews.com
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