Parental Rights Information

The St. Lucie County School Board (the “Board”) is committed to honoring the rights of parents and guardians and promoting parental involvement in the District. In accordance with HB 241, the Parents’ Bill of Rights (2021), which was codified in Chapter 1014, Florida Statutes, the Board recognizes the fundamental rights of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children. Accordingly, the Board establishes the following standards and expectations.

(1) Parent and Guardian Rights.
(a) The Board recognizes the following rights of a parent and guardian:

1. The right to direct the education and care of his or her minor child;

2. The right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child;

3. The right to apply to enroll his or her minor child in a public school, or as an alternative, a private school, including a religious school, a home education program, or other available options;

4. The right to access and review all school records relating to his or her minor child;

5. The right to make health care decisions for his or her minor child, unless otherwise prohibited by law;

6. The right to access and review all medical records of his or her minor child, unless prohibited by law or if the parent is the subject of an investigation of a crime committed against the minor child and a law enforcement agency or official requests that the information not be released;

7. The right to consent in writing before a biometric scan of his or her minor child is made, shared, or stored;

8. The right to consent in writing before any record of his or her minor child’s blood or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is created, stored, or shared, except as required by general law or authorized pursuant to a court order;

9. The right to consent in writing before the school district makes a video or voice recording of his or her minor child unless such recording is to be used for the following purposes:

a. A safety demonstration,

b. A legitimate academic or extracurricular activity,

c. A purpose related to regular classroom instruction,

d. Security or surveillance of buildings, grounds, or district transportation, and/or

e. A photo identification card.

10. The right to be notified promptly if an employee of the school district suspects that a criminal offense has been committed against his or her minor child, unless the incident has first been reported to law enforcement or the Department of Children and Families and notifying the parent or guardian would impede the investigation.

11. This policy, however, does not preclude a Board employee from acting in his or her official capacity within the scope of his or her authority.

(b) Any school district employee who encourages or coerces, or attempts to encourage or coerce, a minor child to withhold information from his or her parent or guardian may be subject to disciplinary action.

(c) Except as otherwise provided by law, a health care practitioner, or an individual employed by such health care practitioner, will not provide or solicit or arrange to provide health care services or prescribe medicinal drugs to a minor child without first obtaining written parental consent.

(2) Promoting Involvement.

(a) The school district shall provide parents and guardians with opportunities to participate in schools to improve parent, guardian, and teacher cooperation in such areas as homework, school attendance, and discipline.

(b) The school district shall provide a parent and guardian with opportunities to learn about his or her child’s course of study, including the source of any supplemental education materials.

(c) Parents and guardians will be able to object to instructional materials and other materials used in the classroom, based on beliefs regarding morality, sex, and religion or the belief that such materials are harmful. “Instructional materials” means items having intellectual content that by design serve as a major tool for assisting in the instruction of a subject or course. This may include other
materials used in the classroom, including workbooks and worksheets, handouts, software, applications, and any digital media made available to students.

(d) Parents and guardians can withdraw their minor child from any portion of the school district’s comprehensive health education that relates to sex education or instruction in acquired immune deficiency syndrome education or any instruction regarding sexuality if the parent or guardian provides a written objection to his or her minor child’s participation. Parents and guardians shall be notified in advance of such course content so that they may withdraw their minor child from those portions of the course.

(e) Parents and guardians shall have the opportunity to learn about the nature and purpose of clubs and activities offered at their minor child’s school.

(3) Requests for Information.

(a) A parent or guardian may request, in writing, from the district school superintendent the information required under this section. Within ten (10) days, the district school superintendent or designee will provide such information to the parent or guardian. If the district school superintendent or designee denies a request from a parent or guardian for information or does not respond to the parent’s request within ten (10) days, the parent or guardian may appeal the denial to the district school board. The district school board Chair or Vice Chair will place an appeal from a parent or guardian on the agenda for its next public meeting. If it is too late for an appeal from a parent or guardian to appear on the next agenda, the appeal will be included on the agenda for the subsequent meeting;

(b) The District will inform parents or guardians via the district webpage how to:
1. Opt out of comprehensive health education.

2. Receive information about school choice options.

3. Exempt a child from immunizations

4. Review statewide standardized assessment results.

5. Qualify a child in gifted or special education programs.

6. Inspect instructional materials.

7. Access information relating to the school district’s policies for promotion or retention, including high school graduation requirements.

8. Access a school report card and be informed of his or her minor child’s attendance requirements.

9. Access information relating to the state public education system, state standards, report card requirements, attendance requirements, and instructional materials requirements.

10. Participate in parent-teacher associations and organizations that are sanctioned by a district school board or the Department of Education.

11. Opt out of any district-level data collection relating to his or her minor child not required by law.

St. Lucie Public School parents and guardians can access many school records on the SLPS Family Access Portal including current year attendance, schedules, grades, discipline, standardized test scores, report cards and online forms.

Students that are actively enrolled or recently graduated should contact their schools for their student records.

For more information on student records and how to access the Student Records Authorization form, please visit SLPS Student Records.

Parents have the rights regarding the student records of their children, including the right of access, right of waiver of access, right to challenge and hearing, and right of privacy, in accordance with the provisions of s. 1002.22. For additional information on Student Records, see St. Lucie School Board Policy 5.70.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians receive annual notification of open enrollment for School Choice options through School Connect. School Choice information can also be accessed by visiting Student Assignment under the section “About School Choice”.

The right to access and review all medical records of his or her minor child, unless prohibited by law or if the parent is the subject of an investigation of a crime committed against the minor child and a law enforcement agency or official requests that the information not be released.

Parents have the rights regarding the student records of their children, including the right of access, right of waiver of access, right to challenge and hearing, and right of privacy, in accordance with the provisions of s. 1002.22. For additional information on Student Records, see St. Lucie School Board Policy 5.70.

All student immunizations must be up-to-date to attend school in St. Lucie County. The immunizations are recorded on a Florida Certification of Immunization (DH 680) form, which can be obtained through the St. Lucie Health Department or your doctor’s office. St. Lucie Public Schools parents and/or guardians can find additional information on immunizations here.

Private health care providers may grant a Temporary Medical Exemption (TME), documented on the Form DH 680, Florida Certification of Immunization, for those who are in the process of completing any necessary immunizations. The TME requires an expiration date after which the exemption is no longer valid, and the immunizations must be completed before or at that time.

A Permanent Medical Exemption, documented on the Form DH 680, can be granted if a child cannot be fully immunized due to medical reasons. In this case, the child’s physician must state in writing, the reasons for exemption based on valid clinical reasoning or evidence.

Form DH 681, Religious Exemption From Immunization, is issued if immunizations are in conflict with the religious tenets and practices of the child’s parent or guardian. This exemption is issued by a County Health Department (CHD) and based on established religious beliefs or practices only.

Please contact the St. Lucie County Health Department for more information on immunization exemption at (772) 462-3800.

Gifted Education

St. Lucie Public Schools parents, guardians, and school staff may refer students for evaluation for the gifted program in Kindergarten-12th grade at any time during the school year.

Referred students are screened at the school by completing an individual standardized brief intelligence test. Individuals who score at a high level are scheduled for a more lengthy and in-depth evaluation by a school psychologist.

A school psychologist administers an individualized test of intelligence to determine a student’s intellectual ability. In Florida, a student must score two standard deviations above the mean or higher (130) in order to meet the intellectual criterion for the gifted program.

In conjunction with the psychologist’s testing, a checklist of gifted student behavioral characteristics is completed by the parents/guardians and one or more teachers familiar with the student. All information is then reviewed by an eligibility staffing committee at the school to determine if the student has a need for the gifted program and meets eligibility criteria.

Parents may also choose to contract with a private psychologist for their child’s evaluation. The private psychologist must be licensed. When a private psychologist is used, the child’s school psychologist will review copies of the evaluation and determine eligibility. The eligibility committee will then determine eligibility according to the same criteria mentioned above.

All other Exceptional Student Education Programs

St. Lucie Public Schools parents, guardians, and school staff may request that a students be evaluated in Kindergarten-12th grade at any time during the school year.

A list of eligibility criteria and required student evaluations for all 14 available ese programs can be found in the 2020-2023 St. Lucie Public Schools Exceptional Student Education Policies and Procedures (P&P) starting on page 60.

The P&P can be found by clicking here or by visiting SLPS Exceptional Student Education.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can view a list of currently adopted instructional materials (i.e. textbooks).

SLPS Learning Resources provides parents and guardians with a complete list of digital applications adopted by the district.

To learn about the process to request a physical or digital material be reconsidered please visit: https://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/curriculum/IM/Reconsideration_InstructionalMaterials.pdf

As a parent/guardian of a minor student, you are able to determine the access to his/her school library books. There are three levels of access:

• Full access to materials in the school library/media center.
• Restricted access to materials in the school library/media center.
• No access to materials in the school library/media center.

Parents can find the form electronically within the SLPS Family Access Portal. For more information on the policies for educational media materials, see St. Lucie County School Board Policy 4.22.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can access and view the instructional materials used in SLPS reproductive health and disease curriculum.

Parents are able to exempt their children from the teaching of reproductive health or any disease, including HIV/AIDS (per FL State Statute 1003.42). Parents and/or guardian who wish to exempt their children from participating in reproductive health and disease instruction, including instruction relating to HIV/AIDS, can make a written request to their children’s school principal.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can access and view assessment results in Skyward Family Access.

Florida statewide assessment results can also be viewed on the state’s Family Portal.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can click here to view the current Student Progression Plan for the specific grade band:

• Elementary
• Middle
• High School

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can click this Skyward Family Access link to view student grades, progress reports and report cards in the Skyward Family Access app. For directions, please visit https://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/parents-students/family-access/.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can find information on attendance requirements on the Attendance Matters page within Student Services.

St. Lucie Public Schools curriculum follows the state adopted Florida Standards. St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can access information relating to the state public education system, state standards, report card requirements, attendance requirements, and instructional materials requirements.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can click this SLPS Family Access Portal link to access and view grades, attendance and discipline in the Skyward Family Access app.

St. Lucie Public Schools parents and guardians can communicate and cooperate with their child’s teacher through the SLPS Family Access Portal to send a message, by emailing the teacher. Please allow 24 hours for a response to a phone call and 48 hours to a response to written communication.

In accordance with s. 1002.23(4), the right of a parent to participate in parent-teacher associations and organizations that are sanctioned by a district school board or the Department of Education.

The School Advisory Council (SAC) is a school-based group intended to share responsibility for guiding the school toward continuous improvement. Each advisory council shall be composed of the principal and an appropriately balanced number of teachers, education support employees, students, parents, and other business and community citizens who are representative of the community served by the school. Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO) are school-based groups that support the school in which it serves. Each school website and/or social media page has more information about how to get involved in these School Based Organizations.

For more information on SAC and PTO, please see St. Lucie County School Board Policy 2.30 and 9.10.

Extracurricular activities have been shown to improve academic performance, the opportunity to learn a variety of skills, provide a sense of commitment, and provide a venue for more social interaction. Each school has information on athletics, activities and clubs offered at their school site on the webpage.

St. Lucie Public School parents and guardians have the opportunity to opt out of district-level collection not required by law. Parents will be notified when the district is conducting student data collection/surveys and provided an opportunity to opt out.  For more information, call the Assessment and Accountability office at (772) 429-3641.