It may surprise you that the vast majority of school districts in California have policies that permit students in 7-12 grade to leave school campus for confidential medical services without parental notification or consent.
Confidential Medical Services relates to reproductive issues (contraceptives, abortions, etc.,), mental health services, drug therapy, psychotropic drugs and suicide counseling.
We, at Capitol Resource Institute, believe that this current policy completely disregards the rights of parents to be involved in important medical decisions affecting their children.
Parents should understandably be concerned about school policies that exclude them from the guidance process of their children during school hours. Parents want to be assured that when they drop off their children to be educated by the public schools that their children will remain on campus for the duration of the day. Parents want to be given, at least, the same opportunity to discuss important medical-related issues with their children as given to Planned Parenthood, a school nurse, guidance counselor or teacher.
Although California law allows school districts to dismiss minors from campus for confidential medical services, it does not require schools to dismiss minors for this reason. Individual school districts may, as a matter of local control, choose to require parental notification and consent before releasing minors from campus for any reason. This is clear from the plain language of California Education Code ยง46010.1, and also from carefully documented legislative intent records.
Please contact your local school district to find out if they respect the rights of parents when it comes to leaving campus for confidential medical services. Capitol Resource Institute wants to help you implement a policy that respects parents and their role in making decisions with their children.
We believe that the issue of parental rights is under constant attack in our day and age and we must fight this battle for our children.
Please let us know what your school districts local policy is regarding Confidential Medical Services.
