BURLINGTON, MASS. (WHDH) - The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into Burlington Public Schools, accusing the district of violating parents’ rights when some middle school students were given a survey earlier this year.
The department said the district failed to comply with parents’ written requests to opt their children out of that survey, which asked questions about drug and alcohol use, sexual encounters, and gender identity.
The school district said it will cooperate with the investigation and that it has taken steps to address the reported issues, including terminating its contract with the company that drafted the survey.
“The School Committee also unanimously voted that no new student surveys will be administered until a new policy is written and approved by the School Committee,” the district wrote.
Parents are speaking out.
“There’s definitely a lack of responsibility from the administration to make sure that the whole process of opt outs and parental rights is being respected,” Adrianne Simeone said, a Burlington parent.
“Unfortunately what we find in a lot of Massachusetts school districts is that the opt out procedures for things like surveys and sex education are seen more as an inconvenience, [compared] to a parental right that has to be honored,” Sam Whiting said, of the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center.
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