It’s a fun day here at the law firm. On Halloween we like to take the opportunity to express our creative selves, and I can assure you, the lawyers in our firm are very creative. The associate attorneys in the Austin office show up for our Halloween festivities in costume, and it’s always built around a theme. One year they were characters from The Handmaid’s Tale. One year they were from Toy Story. But I think my favorite continues to be the year when they were dressed as the characters from Clue—all the way from Colonel Mustard to Miss Scarlett. We never did figure out who committed the murder, but we’re pretty sure it was with a lead pipe in the library. This year—who knows? But I’m looking forward to it.
Today is a good day to remind you of the right of parents to pull their children out of activities that they object to. This is spelled out in Texas Education Code 26.010. The statute authorizes the parent to give a written statement to the teacher to authorize the removal. The removal is only temporary, and cannot be done to avoid a test or to prevent the child from taking a subject for an entire semester. But there are many parents who object to Halloween activities, so you are likely to see a higher than normal number of requests for exemption.
Some parents object to Halloween because of their religious beliefs. Others find some of the activities morally offensive. In either case, the child should be exempt. The statute puts it this way:
A parent is entitled to remove the parent’s child temporarily from a class or other school activity that conflicts with the parent’s religious or moral beliefs if the parent presents or delivers to the teacher of the parent’s child a written statement authorizing the removal of the child from the class or other school activity.
Your district may have added some local policy provisions about that. If so, you will probably find those policies at EMB (Local).
DAWG BONE: REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!
Got a question or comment for the Dawg? Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com.