A Texas mom says her child’s public school asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in order to visit the school, which she refused to do, according to a complaint.
On August 15, Amber Longacre said she tried to visit Kitty Hawk Middle School, a school not far from San Antonio, according to the New York Post.
Several school staffers and the school resource officer approached her and requested that she sign an NDA, a legal agreement meant to guard against sensitive information being leaked, Longacre said. She was not allowed to enter the school to discuss signing the document, her lawyer said.
“They were like, ‘Just sign it. What’s the big deal. Just sign it,’” attorney Janelle Davis told the Post.
Ultimately, Longacre refused to sign the NDA.
“There is no way to know how many parents signed the NDA without asking any questions,” Longacre told the outlet. “I shared my story because I want to encourage other parents to speak up when something seems off.”
Longacre also said she felt “backed into a corner” and as if the school was hiding information from her.
After the incident, Longacre had a meeting with Assistant Superintendent of Operations Joseph Guidry, a meeting that she recorded. Guidry claimed at first that the NDA was in place to protect children, but he did not explain how or why specifically the NDA was in place or why the same document appeared on the check-in kiosks at the administration building, according to video footage obtained by the Daily Caller.
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Longacre filed a complaint with the Judson Independent School District about the NDA.
“Texas law is clear that parents are to ‘be encouraged to actively participate in creating and implementing educational programs for their children,’” reads the complaint. “Unfortunately, it appears that Judson ISD has implemented a visitor check in policy that is inconsistent with this state mandate.”
On August 22, one week after the incident with Longacre, the school district told Longacre that the NDA was no longer required for check-in and claimed it was a default document in the visitor system. Longacre’s attorney said she is no longer considering legal action since the district informed her that the NDA was removed and agreed to revoke the previous NDAs signed by parents.
“I am grateful that Judson ISD recognized the error and removed the non-disclosure agreement from their visitor management system, and look forward to a good school year,” Longacre said.
Transparency in public schools has become a hot button issue for parents over the last several years especially since remote learning during the pandemic gave parents a window into their children’s classrooms. Parents across the country have sounded the alarm about their children’s schools allegedly hiding information about sexually explicit curriculum and school library content as well as schools supporting children’s new gender identities without parental notification, which can sometimes involve biological boys using the girls’ bathroom and locker rooms.
Last year, Texas mothers in Fort Worth were charged more than $1,200 to see the public school district’s K-12 curriculum book lists, prompting one of the moms to file a complaint.