In a new episode of TPPF’s Sweet Tea podcast, Rep. Hillary Hickland says schools should be required to notify parents when faculty are accused of serious allegations.
“We were finding out about pretty serious crimes that were not being communicated to parents,” she told Sweet Tea host Ariana Guajardo, referring to a case of an athletic trainer who was watching sexually inappropriate material on his phone at school. “It was the students who saw it.”
“The issue is that parents weren’t made aware even though he was arrested and charged,” she recounted. “For parents or potential victims, they need to know what’s going on in their children’s school…There really is a need for transparency and accountability and we’re just not seeing that to a full level.”
Rep. Hickland introduced HB 1551 which requires schools to notify parents if alleged criminal contact conduct is happening with faculty.
“Those charges are associated with an arrest and are public information,” says HIckland. “So, it’s just the school taking that extra step to communicate with parents when something like that happens.”
“When parents asked the school for information, we were directed to file a public information request,” she said. “We had to go through the legal process, which takes weeks, and a lot of parents don’t know how to do that. You shouldn’t have to file a public information request to know what’s going on inside your kids’ classroom.”