On top of all that, though, schools are being forced to implement a huge number of new rules and policies to protect against censure and lawsuits. And many of these policies are ridiculous. The newest on on our radar? A Florida school district is now requiring anyone who uses a nickname that’s different than their legal to produce a signed permission slip from their parents.
Great — meaningless paperwork for parents, teachers, and staff that could prevent a kid from being called their preferred name at school. The Orange County Public School District , which consists of over 200 schools and teaches over 200,000 kids,that students are called by their full, legal name or their last name unless they provide a permission slip approving a nickname. Whether parents want a simple nickname approved on want their children called by a name of another gender, they must fill out a form called the “Parental Authorization for Deviation from Student's Legal Name Form.
Why? Because mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity violates the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and calling a child by a different name could bring up issues of gender identity. The bill also allows any parent to sue the school over these violations, making it wise for school to be as careful as possible — and apparently that means if your son Joseph wants to be called Joe, you will need to sign your name.
, “[A] parent may fill out the form allowing the usage of a transgender name. As an example, if the student’s legal name is Robert, but the student identifies as a transgender girl and uses the name Roberta, the parent may authorize a teacher or other personnel to call the student Roberta.