A new controversial law is now a part of the Wake County school board's policy books.
The board voted Tuesday night to align Wake County schools with Senate Bill 49. The bill is also known as the Parents' Bill of Rights by Republican sponsors. No members voted against it. The law goes into effect for all schools in January, and adopting it into policy books is a compliance measure.
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The board amended its parental involvement policy to include elements of the new law.
The law deals with a number of culture-war issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation.
It requires schools to notify parents if their children ask to go by different names or pronouns. LGBTQ-plus advocates say that could 'out' some transgender students to their families before they're ready.
It also prohibits instruction regarding sexual orientation, gender identity or sexuality before fifth grade, when instruction on puberty often begins. That's prompted questions about what is considered to be "instruction" and whether that restriction includes library books that might feature a gay character.
The bill also includes several more pages of requirements that schools across North Carolina have spent months asking attorneys and state officials for guidance on.
The policy changes have generated a few public comments in recent weeks, mostly from people either opposed to the new law or people asking questions about how it would be implemented. The policy doesn't indicate how the law will be implemented on a detailed level.
On Tuesday, Julie Page, founder of Wake County's Moms For Liberty chapter, urged the school system to go further than the law requires, by requiring more parental permission for health-related content.
In contrast, Jennifer Laabs lamented what the new law is requiring. She argued requiring schools to provide guides to parents that tell them about private school options and scholarships will hurt public school funding by encouraging people to send their kids elsewhere. Schools are funded via headcount, though some costs of operating them are fixed costs.
The Wake school board approved some other policies to implement parts of the law earlier this fall.
What exactly implementation will look like will come in the form of guidance for schools that's still being deliberated in many places.
A handful of LGBTQ-plus groups say they plan to file a federal Title IX complaint next month related to the bill.
The policies the Wake school board considered Tuesday night include requirements to compile certain information for parents. Parents would have access to academic guides for their children and lists of certain resources.
Some information could be sent home with parents. But, according to school system officials, some may only be posted in school administrative offices for inspection. Wake school websites are largely volunteer-managed and not always up-to-date.
How things will be made available is not in policy. Some board members have said they want to eventually find a way to better manage websites and make information available online. "Our websites should not be run by volunteers," Board Member Lynn Edmonds said at a policy committee meeting in November.
Board Chairman Chris Heagarty has said he's concerned about existing staffing being able to handle all of the additional paper and administrative work the law could require.
Some other details about how the law will be implemented will come down to the school level and also will not appear in the policy books. For instance, schools have different ways of communicating with parents, whether by email, portal messages, phone calls or other means. Therefore, it would be up to school principals how to "notify" parents of information that's now required by the law, such as a student's requested name or pronoun change.