The Park County School District 1 board will not be acting on a resolution passed by the Park County GOP that asks for the adoption of their April 13 Parents Rights resolution as school policy.

Following discussion during the school board’s workshop meeting on Tuesday the board agreed to allow Superintendent Jay Curtis to draft a reply. In it, he’ll explain the current practices, along with district and federal policy, that are already in line with the Park County GOP’s resolution.

The resolution is based on Senate File 117 “Parental Rights in Education.” The bill passed through the Senate but Rep. Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale), speaker of the House of Representatives, refused to introduce SF 117. The speaker’s reasoning was that the bill was addressing issues that should be handled on the local level.

The resolution asks the Powell, Cody and Meeteetse districts to pass policies that would prohibit any person from providing instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in K-12. The resolution also stipulated that the school immediately contact a parent or guardian if the student’s services and monitoring change as it relates to mental, emotional or physical health and wellbeing, and prohibits withholding of health and education records from parents and guardians.

“Procedures adopted under this paragraph shall reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the care and control of their children by requiring school district personnel to encourage a student to discuss issues relating to his well-being with his parent or guardian and to facilitate discussion with the parent,” the resolution said. 

Also included is parents’ right to bring a formal complaint if these policies are not followed in order to seek relief. 

The letter with the resolution attached was sent to School Board Chair Kim Dillivan on June 16. It also asked that “Not later than July 1, 2023 each Park County School District Board of Trustees shall ensure that each district's procedure, guidelines and standards are in accordance with this resolution.”

During the school board's Tuesday workshop meeting Dillivan offered his thoughts on the necessity of the resolution and the feasibility of implementing policy within the suggested timeline.

“So we received this letter and this policy from the Park County GOP, they respectfully request that we consider this policy … they would like to see us pass this … they wanted to see this done by July 1. Of course that’s impossible,” Dillivan said. “Even if we had the willingness, you know, to work to consider this and pass this it will take months.”

Before asking the board for their input, Dillivan said he thinks that the board already acts in line with the “lion’s share” of the resolution and a policy is not needed. In regards to classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation and gender identity he said, “We do not do that, never have, I don't believe we ever will.”

Dillivan also said that he did not want to implement policy for what is already being practiced in the school district.

“If we're already doing what they want us to do, if we're not doing what they don't want us to do, we don't need a policy, it would just be a waste of our time,” he said. “And I think it opens the door, in my opinion, sets a precedent for other folks … who maybe have a policy in mind, that is frivolous, silly, they have an ulterior motive. It opens the door for them to come to us and say, ‘Well, hey, consider this policy and, you know, pass it.’”

Dillivan also noted that the school district complies with the  Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act which is federal law that protects parents right to see their children education records. Dillivan said he thinks this includes health records as well.

Superintendent Jay Curtis agreed that the majority of items that the Park County GOP would like done are already done. 

He advised the board they had no obligation to respond but that he would recommend the board direct him to write a letter describing current practice, federal laws and school policies already in place that would be reviewed by the board and then signed by its members. Curtis added that he thinks the resolution is coming from good intentions but said that there were issues with Senate File 117, including requiring schools to contact parents about changes to the student’s physical wellbeing, such as bruises, when the best course of action may be to contact the Department of Family Services or sheriff’s office.

New member Dusty Paul said that he had talked to people who were a part of the resolution and as a father he would also like it in writing, but realized that it would be a lengthy process. Paul also said he had talked to members of the county GOP and assured them that parent rights were not being violated. He also said the concern of the group is that the distric’s practices could change at any point. Paul also questioned whether or not the board should attend the July 6 county GOP meeting they were invited to in order to explain in person. Dillivan said that he will not be attending and suggested that if members attend they do so on their own behalf. Laura Reilly also said she will not be attending the July 6 meeting.

“They want to be able to intimidate lawsuits, and they have the ability to come back on the district if we break our policies,” Reilly said. “I’m not sure that I play into the intimidation of, ‘And if you don't do this, we're going to take you to court.’ Because with any of our policies, if we don't follow our policy, we could end up in court.”

Fellow freshman member Beau Fulton agreed that as a father he wants to know what’s going on with his kids but is under the impression that he can currently do so.

“If you want to know what's going on with your child, teacher, principal, counselor, whomever, whoever he's with that's available, essentially everything that they're asking of us outside of the timelines is available to us [as parents].”