Parents' Bill of Rights

A parent of a minor child at any school within the district may exercise his or her parental rights using the following procedures:

• A parent may review education records relating to his or her minor child by contacting the office at his or her child's school and requesting the same. A mutually agreeable time for parent record review will be scheduled during regular business hours.
   
• Requests for Records by Parents/Guardians

Upon a written request from a parent, legal custodian, or another person or entity legally authorized to receive student records, Forsyth County School District (“District”) will provide the records to the requestor by 5:00 p.m. on the third business day after the request. If a portion of a student’s education record is not maintained in electronic format, the District will notify the requestor when copies of the remainder of the student’s education records will be ready for retrieval.  FCS Records Request

• Requests for Records by Another School

Upon a written request for student records from a public or private school, including schools operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice, the District will provide a student’s educational records to the parent or the school receiving the student by 5:00 p.m. on the third business day after the request for records. To the extent the District  has records that indicate (1) whether the student was adjudicated guilty of a Class A or B felony, (2) whether the student is currently serving a short-term suspension, Ben Hill-term suspension, or expulsion from another school, (3) whether the student is currently the subject of a notice of disciplinary hearing, or (4) whether the student has ever been the subject of a notice of report of criminal action, notice of chronic disciplinary problem, disciplinary and behavioral correction plan, or report of the commission of a prohibited act, the District will  provide those records.

• District Receipt of Transfer Student Records

Each time a transferring student's education records are transferred to the District, such student's parent or legal custodian shall be notified in writing by the District of the transfer of such records and shall, upon written request made within five school business days of the date of such notice, be entitled to receive a copy of such records from the District. Within five school business days of the receipt of a copy of such records, the student's parent or legal custodian may make a written request for and shall be entitled to a meeting with the principal of the school or his or her designee for the purpose of correcting the content of such records. The parties may mutually agree for such meeting to occur at a date and time outside of such five-day period.

• A parent may learn about his or her minor child’s course of study, including, but not limited to, parental access to instructional materials intended for use in the child's classroom, by contacting school administration and requesting the same. Such instructional materials will be made available for parental review during the first two weeks of each grading period, either online or on site upon a parent's request made during the review period. 
   

• A parent may object to instructional materials intended for use in his or her minor child’s classroom or recommended by his or her minor child’s teacher by contacting the school principal. 
   

• As required by the United States Supreme Court decision, Mahmoud v. Taylor, a parent may request to opt out of instructional materials and supplementary or ancillary materials as defined in policy if those materials substantially interfere with the religious development of their child or pose a very real threat of undermining the religious beliefs and practices a parent wishes to instill in the child.

  • Such instructional materials are available at: FCS Instructional Resources.  Supplementary or ancillary materials will be made available for parental review upon request of the parent during the first two weeks of each grading period by submitting Exhibit JRB-E(1) and/or Exhibit JRB-E(2)  to the school principal.
  • Such materials will be made available within five (5) school days of receipt of Exhibit JRB-E(1) or Exhibit JRB-E(2).
  • Within five (5) days of receipt of the requested materials, a parent may submit a request for their student to opt out of instructional materials and supplementary or ancillary materials by fully completing and submitting Exhibit JRB-E(3) and/or Exhibit JRB-E(4). Exhibit JRB-E(3) and Exhibit JRB-E(4) must be completed in its entirety for consideration.
  • Upon receipt, the school principal will forward the parent’s request to opt out to the Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning or designee for review. The Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning or designee will make a determination in their discretion whether the materials substantially interfere with the religious development of their child or pose a very real threat of undermining the religious beliefs and practices a parent wishes to instill in the child.
  • A decision to approve or deny the request to opt out will be submitted in writing to the parent within five (5) school days of receipt of the completed request in Exhibit JRB-E(3) or Exhibit JRB-E(4).
     

• A parent may withdraw his or her minor child from the school's prescribed course of study in sex education if the parent provides a written objection to his or her child's participation. Parents will be notified in advance of the sex education course content and parents will be given the opportunity to opt his or her minor child out of participation by notifying the minor child’s teacher in writing. 
   

• A parent may provide written notice that photographs or video or voice recordings of his or her minor child are not permitted, subject to applicable public safety and security exceptions, by notifying the Department of Communications.  FCS Annual Consent Form