Parent Rights

TEC, §26.0083(g), requires each school district and open-enrollment charter school (school system) to provide the parent of each enrolled student before the first instructional day of each school year with written notice of each health-related service offered at the campus the student attends. The notice must include a statement of the parent’s right to withhold consent for or decline a health-related service. 

As a parent or guardian, you have the fundamental right to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of your child. Our goal as a school is to be a supportive partner in that effort, providing effective academic instruction to maximize student learning. In service of that goal, we also work to support the general well-being of our students so they can remain academically focused. As you might expect, teachers and other employees will periodically inquire about a child’s well-being, (e.g., asking how a student is feeling). In some cases, though, more formalized efforts may be appropriate, and if that is the case, our intent is to work in ways that are consistent with your goals as the parent. Our school counselors offer a variety of health-related and health care services to each student, all of which are contained within this Program Guide. As on overview, some of these services include: 

• Guidance- Guidance is a Tier 1 service offered to all students enrolled in Joshua ISD. Guidance consists of classroom lessons on Texas Education Code's positive character traits, Texas Comprehensive School Counseling Program guidance curriculum, & state mandated guidance including drug abuse, fentanyl poisoning awareness, suicide prevention, etc. Guidance may also be offered through classroom programming in classroom teacher lessons as well as through our partnerships with outside organizations.  To learn more about guidance in Joshua ISD, please visit the the JISD Texas Model Program Curriculum  webpage. 

• Individual Planning- All JISD students may engage in individual planning with their counselor both directly & indirectly. Counselors may engage in individual planning for academic purposes, schedule planning & course selection, postsecondary planning, development of executive functioning skills, emotional regulation, etc. In circumstances where a counselor is meeting with a student to engage in on-going individual, direct services, the counselor will make parent contact & communicate the need for these services & seek parent permission. 

• Responsive Services- Responsive services are not required for every student in JISD. Rather, Responsive Services respond to student needs, including crisis. Counselors may engage in responsive services when working with students who report suicidal ideation or self harm, students in need of basic life necessities such as food or clothing, & connecting students to outside service providers such as mental health specialists or community support programs. Counselors may refer families to service providers featured in our Community Resource Guide . When a student is in need of responsive services, counselors will contact the parent to make connections to outside resources however, parents always have the right to seek their own community resources. 

• Systems Support- Counselor engage in systems support in the planning & creation of counseling programming. When counselors are creating programming for their campus or engaging in district-wide initiatives, they may use time to pull resources, write lessons, contact parents, collaborate with teachers, etc. When new programming is planned, the district Coordinator of Counseling will seek the feedback and guidance of the counseling advisory council, which is enveloped within the district's SHAC members. 

This notice is meant to inform you of all available services, not necessarily to indicate all these services will be provided to your child. You have the right to withhold consent or decline the provision of any of these services to your child. If you have consented to the provision of health care services, medication, or a medical procedure considered by the district to be routine care and that will be provided by a person authorized by the district to provide physical or mental health related services, that consent will be considered effective until the end of the school year, unless you object. 

School personnel are always expected to encourage your child to discuss any issues related to their well-being with you. School personnel can also facilitate a conversation between you and your child about any issues related to their well-being. Furthermore, employees are expected to keep parents informed related to observations of their child’s mental, emotional, or physical health. You have the right to access your child’s education and health records at any time. 

Sometimes in addition to general inquiries into a student’s well-being, school personnel might determine that a student needs some additional observation – called monitoring – and perhaps specific services in relation to the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being. Monitoring in this context means planned and recurring observations of a student in one or more areas of mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being. A service in this context is the planned, routine, and standard use of a method or technique that is designed to affect the behavior, attitude, emotions, or physical health of a student beyond what is taught in a course of instruction. These would not include in-the-moment or unplanned interactions or techniques used to deescalate isolated behavioral incidents. Any proposed change in services provided to a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being will be shared with you before the change takes place, except in emergencies. You will have the right to withhold or decline consent for the service. The district will attempt to notify you prior to initiating any proposed change in monitoring related to a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being. 

With certain legally required activities, such as behavioral threat assessments, district personnel must provide parental notification, but the law does not expressly allow a parent to opt-out of such activity.

Before administering a well-being questionnaire or a health screening form to your child, a copy will be provided to you. Consent would have to be received by you for the school to move forward with administering the questionnaire or form.