HB 1461 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

15Feb2012… 0570h

2012 SESSION

12-2345

08/09

HOUSE BILL 1461

AN ACT requiring school officials to notify parents of a class or event involving an outside speaker and allowing parents to opt for their child not to participate in the class or event.

SPONSORS: Rep. W. Smith, Rock 18; Sen. Forsythe, Dist 4

COMMITTEE: Education

ANALYSIS

This bill requires school officials to notify parents of a class or event involving an outside speaker and allows parents to opt for their child not to participate in the class or event.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

15Feb2012… 0570h

12-2345

08/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve

AN ACT requiring school officials to notify parents of a class or event involving an outside speaker and allowing parents to opt for their child not to participate in the class or event.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Studies. Amend RSA 189:10 to read as follows:

189:10 Studies. The school board shall ensure that health education and physical education are taught to pupils as part of the basic curriculum. The school board shall ensure that all studies prescribed by the state board of education are thoroughly taught, especially physiology, hygiene, and health and physical education as they relate to the effects of alcohol and other drugs, child abuse, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and sexually transmitted diseases on the human system. The use of outside speakers in the school is encouraged as an invaluable component in support of all studies.

2 New Section; Notification and Parental Option of Outside Speakers in School. Amend RSA 189 by inserting after section 10 the following new section:

189:10-a Notification and Parental Option of Outside Speakers in School. Each public school district shall develop a policy to notify, in a timely manner, pupils’ parents of any school-sponsored event or class that will include a speaker from outside the school who might be considered controversial. Such policy shall permit notified parents to withdraw their pupil from the presentation without penalty, and, if necessary, complete an alternative project, at the parent's expense, sufficient to enable the child to meet state requirements for education in the particular subject area. The name of the parent and pupil and any specific reasons disclosed to school officials for the objection to the speaker shall not be public information and shall be excluded from access under RSA 91-A.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.