Parents’ Bill of Rights

In 2023 North Carolina enacted the Parents’ Bill of Rights (Article 7B of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes). It lists rights every parent has in their child’s education and requires public schools, including charter schools, to publish those rights and the way to make a request about them. This page summarizes the law for families of Bonnie Cone Classical Academy and Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy. The statute itself controls.

Your rights as a parent

Under G.S. 115C-76.25, a parent has the right:

  1. To consent or refuse to consent to their child’s participation in reproductive health and safety education programs.
  2. To seek a medical or religious exemption from immunization requirements.
  3. To review statewide standardized assessment results as part of the State report card.
  4. To request an evaluation of their child for an academically or intellectually gifted program, or for identification as a child with a disability.
  5. To inspect and purchase the textbooks and other supplementary instructional materials used in the school.
  6. To access information about the school’s promotion and retention policies, including high school graduation requirements.
  7. To receive regular student report cards that clearly show the student’s academic performance in each class or course, the student’s conduct, and the student’s attendance.
  8. To access information about the State public education system, State standards, report card requirements, attendance requirements, and textbook requirements.
  9. To participate in parent-teacher organizations.
  10. To opt in to certain data collection about their child.
  11. To consent before their child takes a protected information survey.
  12. To review all available records of materials their child has borrowed from the school library.

How to make a request about these rights

G.S. 115C-76.40 sets the steps and the deadlines. At Bonnie Cone Schools the school Director fills the role the statute assigns to a principal, and the Board of Directors is the governing body.

  1. Ask the Director in writing. Within 10 business days the Director either provides the information or tells you in writing that more time is needed. With an extension, the information is due within 20 business days of your request.
  2. If the request is denied or not answered in time, you may take it to the Board of Directors. Submit the appeal within 20 business days, stating when the Director denied or did not answer the request. The Board places the appeal on the agenda of its next meeting held more than three business days after it is received.
  3. The Board’s decision is final and is not subject to judicial review.

Send requests to the Director of your child’s school by email or by letter to the front office. Contact details for each school are on the Contact Us page.

Concerns that are not resolved

Under G.S. 115C-76.60, if you raise a concern about a right under this law and the school has not resolved it within 30 days, the school must explain in writing why it has not. After that you may request a hearing before the State Board of Education or bring an action in court for a declaratory judgment.

Information the school provides every year

The law (G.S. 115C-76.30) requires schools to give parents, students and staff a written guide each year covering promotion requirements and course materials, how progress is assessed and reported, teacher qualifications, school entry and immunization requirements, how parents can support learning, support services and parental involvement opportunities, advanced course options and educational choices, the rights of students with disabilities, and contact and health information. Bonnie Cone Schools provides this through the Parent and Student Handbook, the Academics and Enrollment pages of each school’s website, and the school report card. Policies on reviewing course materials, objecting to materials, and the purpose of school clubs are in the board policies.

Health and well-being notifications

Under G.S. 115C-76.45 the school will notify you:

  • each year, of the health care services offered at school and how to consent to or decline them;
  • before any well-being questionnaire or health screening is given to a student in kindergarten through grade 3, with a copy of it and how to consent;
  • before or alongside any change in services or monitoring related to your child’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being;
  • before any change to the name or pronoun used for your child in school records or by school staff.

Staff may not discourage or prohibit parental notification of and involvement in these decisions. Under G.S. 115C-76.65 you receive the full text of any protected information survey at least 10 days before it is given, and your written consent is required before your child takes it.

Related pages