Bill calls for better access to children’s school records

Thursday, April 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Parents are allowed by federal law to look at their children's school records, but that hasn't quieted the debate over whether the state should enact an identical Nevada law.

Conservative groups clashed with school officials before the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities Wednesday over Senate Bill 168, which would mandate that schools turn records over to parents when requested.

Betty Johnson of Las Vegas told the committee that the state Board of Education "seems to feel this is their record."

"They are our children," Johnson said. "The records belong to the parents."

She urged the committee to "take a step forward for parents rights."

The committee heard testimony that school officials told parents the records were "copyrighted." Parents said they would be told they would be charged for copying the documents and that there were counseling records that are confidential.

Karen Scott, a primary-grade schoolteacher in Carson City, argued the proposed law would "force parents and teachers into an adversarial position." The bill is vague when it says that surveys can't be conducted on certain subjects and questions can't be asked that might be embarrassing to the student.

Scott said she often asks her young students what their parents do for a living and if a child answers that her father is in jail, that opens the teacher to charges of violating the law, she said.

School counselors added their voice to the complaints that the bill was vague in its definitions of surveys.

Gov. Bob Miller vetoed a similar bill in 1995, but a spokesman for the governor said Miller backs the bill as it is written.

Another section of the bill would require that students read parts of the Federalist Papers and the farewell address of President George Washington.

Doug Byington, lobbyist for the Nevada Association of School Administrators, said his group was opposed "to expanding an already bloated curriculum." He said the teachers need to have flexibility in teaching subjects.

He was supported by Nathaniel Morrell, a high school government teacher in Las Vegas, who said he ought to be able to cover the subjects he feels most important in this area. He said he covers part of these subjects in his lectures but the Federalist Papers would be "tough reading" for some of the students in his class.

But parents and representatives of Nevada Concerned Citizens supported requiring these courses in the public schools.