A requirement of Alabama’s recently passed “Parents’ Right to Know Act” is that all required reading materials and books used in the classroom be posted at the beginning of each school year.
Parents can ask a teacher to clarify how a particular piece of information pertains to the local school boards’ standards if they have any concerns. A parent may then make a complaint if the teacher disobeys.
Some fear that the new law may be abused by parents. However, the Alabama Education Association’s regional manager, William Tunnell, predicted that the measure will be beneficial.
“I don’t foresee that being a huge thing in Alabama,” Tunnell stated. ‘You hear a lot of things happening in other states, but of course in our state, we feel pretty confidence with the curriculum that our state department of education, state board of education and our local boards put together for our children.”
In Alabama, Catherine Curran recently completed her first year of kindergarten teaching. She thinks this law will provide a lot of opportunities for kids.
“I think that open transparent conversation with parents is so important in every aspect of teaching,” Curran stated. “That’s a very high priority.”
However, according to Curran, teachers don’t always get to choose what they teach.
Read Also: New YouTube Policies Target Gun Videos with Stricter Rules
“‘Think OK, well, I didn’t learn to do math that way. I learned it the other way,'” Curran stated. “And if they’re overly upset about that, that could be not very fair to a teacher who is just doing their job.”
Merritt Kopec is a south Alabama mother of two children. Although she claimed that instructors already accomplish a lot, the regulation will aid in openness.
“I don’t know everything that they are teaching our children throughout the day,” Kopec stated. “So a lot of it is I just don’t want them to be taught something that I don’t agree with, which I do think this law will help with that.”
