In May of 2023, Governor Bill Lee passed a law that permits any student who wishes to be involved with a school club or organization to be authorized to have parental consent. This law is called The Senate Bill 1443, and was passed because parents found out that their children were a part of certain organizations that talked about things that they did not support.
All high schools in Tennessee offer clubs and organizations for students to join and be a part of. To many people, most of their memories come from the relationships and accomplishments they build and make within the clubs.
Before this school year, clubs were free will, students just joined by showing up to meetings or paying whatever fee the club or organization required.
The law states, “No school shall permit a student to become a member or participate in any activities of a club or organization if the parent or legal guardian of such student has tendered a written communication prohibiting such student from such membership or participation. In order to be valid, the written communication shall be signed and dated by the parent or legal guardian.”
Along with those guidelines, many schools have gone ahead and made other rules that permit parents to have access to different plans club leaders have for every meeting or event organized for said club.
Therefore, regarding all the guidelines, it has raised a lot of controversy between the department of education, school systems–teachers–and parents. Particularly, the law puts more of a burden on teachers and schools who already have limited clubs because of resources, and deliberately strives to limit the talk of the LGBTQ+ community.
With that being said, even though the law was passed, students attending school will still be exposed to people with different views and ways of life. Therefore, is the law truly necessary if parents are still going to send their kids to school in the “real world”?
Despite this controversy, and talk of the ineffectiveness of the law, there is no discussion of reversal. This new law is here to stay, and Tennessee schools are going to have to make adjustments.
