Data Collecting and Opt Outs
In addition to data collecting, parents should be aware of the dangers of the Internet especially now that children as young as 5 are using iPads and Chromebooks in school. See our sections on Internet Safety for Children and EBSCO, GALE and MN ELibrary for helps to monitor and keep your child safe.
- FOIA/Open Records Requests
It is your right to view public records. If you are having difficulty being allowed to see school records such as the surveys given to your child, the curriculum used, etc., submit what is called an Open Records or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Use these links to help you with the process…. - Data Mining Your Children (PDF)
What information is your school collecting on your children? This article is as relevant today as it was in 2014 when it was written. - How Well Do You Know Your Rights?
Take the parental rights quiz and learn more about parentalrights.org 
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Data Collection
Each child’s responses are collected in a “data dashboard” and measured to see whether the child demonstrates change in regard to attitudes, feelings and behaviors. The results are entered into a national SEL data bank, often to 3rd party vendors.
Watch our SEL Webinar to learn more about this program infiltrating most of our schools.
Find additional information under Social and Emotional Learning.- It’s Time to OPT OUT of the Minnesota Student Survey!
You can OPT OUT your children for the Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) that is run by a partnership of four state agencies, the Minnesota Departments of Education, Health, Public Safety, and Human Services, and administered every three years to students in grades 5, 8, 9 and 11. [Read More]
Minnesota Students Survey Questions
• 2019 Minnesota Student Survey for Grades 9 and 11, ALCs, and JCFs (PDF)
• 2019 Minnesota Student Survey for Grade 8 (PDF)
• 2019 Minnesota Student Survey for Grade 5 (PDF) - Keep Your Children Home on the Day of Silence
Each year, usually in April, schools across the country allow students and teachers to refuse to speak all day. The Day of Silence is a tool of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to force all school children, their parents, teachers and administrators to support and affirm this ideology by remaining silent. By refusing to speak, they marginalize those who disagree.
• A Day of Silence?
• The ‘Day of Silence’ Walk Out
Is Your Child Unsafe at the Doctor’s Office? Invasive Teen Questionnaire
A HealthPartner’s policy is being implemented that requires clinicians to administer a pre-teen/teen invasive health questionnaire answered only by the adolescent. The parent is then asked to leave the child alone with the clinician so the clinician can engage the child “one-on-one” about the answers and personal concerns. Plus with whom is this data being shared? State law allows the Minnesota Department of Health to require providers and health plans to “provide patient health records and claim files” M.S. 62J.321 Data Collection & Processing Procedures. Please read the following for details so you can protect your child!
• Is Your Child Unsafe at the Doctor’s Office?
• Questionnaire (PDF)
• Letter: Parents beware of new health survey (PDF)
• When the Sign Says “No Parents Allowed”
Beware of doctors that won’t let you as a parent accompany your child to the clinical area. The HIPPA Privacy Act is supposed to protect us from tyranny or any unethical deeds done by doctors and any other outside parties. It is absurd to think that a child’s privacy is being violated by having their own parent with them.
Comprehensive Sexual Health Education (CSE) and Your Rights as a Parent
Attention Parents: SIECUS and Planned Parenthood are trying to MANDATE Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) through legislation in MN and throughout the nation. If the CSE bill passes in the 2020 MN session, every school will be required to teach CSE from K-12 in all public and charter schools. Read more and stay informed at Stop Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE)
You have a legal right to know what health curriculum and resources your school is using. Please check with your own school. Look at the list of Prominent CSE curricula. Many have been surprised to learn that their own schools have already adopted CSE curriculum. Take it before other parents, your school administrators and your school boards if necessary. CSE is not a state mandate…yet. You still have a voice and you still have parental rights in directing the education of your children. It’s up to you.
With the ever-expanding use of CSE in schools, it is important for you to know what the Minnesota state law currently states.
MN law 120A.22, Subdivion 1
The parent of a child is primarily responsible for assuring that the child acquires knowledge and skills that are essential for effective citizenship.
MN law 120B.20
Each school district shall have a procedure for a parent, guardian, or an adult student, 18 years of age or older, to review the content of the instructional materials to be provided to a minor child or to an adult student and, if the parent, guardian, or adult student objects to the content, to make reasonable arrangements with school personnel for alternative instruction. Alternative instruction may be provided by the parent, guardian, or adult student if the alternative instruction, if any, offered by the school board does not meet the concerns of the parent, guardian, or adult student. The school board is not required to pay for the costs of alternative instruction provided by a parent, guardian, or adult student. School personnel may not impose an academic or other penalty upon a student merely for arranging alternative instruction under this section. School personnel may evaluate and assess the quality of the student’s work.
The parental non-consent form prepared by The Liberty Council law firm, Lynchburg, VA, may be used by Minnesota parents in their local schools concerning curriculum that they object to. The purpose of this form is to put the school on notice regarding what is/is not acceptable for your child and that you must be provided preemptive notice.
The introductory letter explains how to use this form and recommends that you fill one out for each of your children. Liberty Council states that they are prepared to assist and provide guidance in this area.
Public Policy
Legislative Issues and Bills
Issues and potential bills happen so fast that it is often difficult to keep up. This is where CPL can help! We do our best to keep you informed of bills affecting our children so that you can submit public comment and contact legislators.
For details about current MN legislation, go to our Take Action page.
Sign up to receive our newsletters using the form Receive Email Updates. If you have any concerns or additional information, please let us know by using our CPL Online Form.
School Policies
- School Boards are the Front Lines
School boards are often the gate keepers for the school districts. The new strategy of those pushing radical agendas to “fundamentally transform our nation” is to do so locally, through our children. Local community leaders are often hostile to the values and virtues of the family.Parents are beginning to rise up! They want reading, writing and arithmetic – not lessons on Critical Race Theory, Equity, gender identity, to name a few. CPL is here to help! Learn ways you and your community can make a difference at the school board level!Go to School Boards—The Key - Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Equity
Schools are integrating Critical Race Theory (CRT) into all aspects of curriculum, even math! Is your child being exposed at school to this detrimental theory? According to Britannica, CRT is the view that race, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is socially constructed and that race, as a socially constructed concept, functions as a means to maintain the interests of the white population that constructed it.Read more details on this hot topic at Critical Race Theory and Equity. - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
FERPA is a federal privacy law that affords parents the right to:- Have access to their children’s education records,
- Confirm the accuracy and seek to have the records amended,
- Review and appeal the information, and
- Consent to the disclosure of personally identifiable information
Have you ever wondered what EdTech apps your student is required to use at school and what information is collected and shared? The Student Data Privacy Project is addressing this issue by providing parents with sample templates and letters so that you can request your child’s data from their school.
What Is FERPA (PDF) explains what each of these rights mean. Document provided by the Capitol Resource Institute.
- Racial Quotas in School Discipline
Overview: Minnesota is full steam ahead implementing the racial quotas in school discipline in schools throughout the state.History: Upon recommendation of the Federal Commission studying school safety, acting U.S. Attorney General Whitaker rescinded the Obama-era “Racial Equity in School Discipline” directive that disregarded federal law and subjected public school students to two-tiered discipline based on race. However, the Dayton administration anticipated this sea change and initiated its own racial equity directive. In October of 2017, the MN Department of Human Rights (MDHR) sent a letter to 43 school districts informing them that they have a “racial discipline disparity” in violation of the MN Human Rights Act. Unless they entered into a “settlement agreement” with the state, they would file charges and investigate them for civil rights violations.Read Minnesota Goes Full Radical on Race Based School Discipline. - MN State High School League (MSHSL) Transgender Policy
The issue of transgender was addressed by the MSHSL in 2014 which, as predicted, opened the door for girls’ sports teams to biological males. The Child Protection League was active in sounding the alarm. Take a look at the ads CPL produced that are just as relevant today and read the history about this policy at MSHSL Transgender Policy.
Gender & Privacy Policies
The gender ideology is now creeping into our schools indoctrinating our children even at the elementary level. What is the pronoun mandate? Are our children safe when male students can use female restrooms and locker rooms because the male student decides he now identifies as a female despite his male biological body? Be aware of what is occurring in your schools and communities that embrace this dangerous new trend.
- The “Toolkit” Agenda
Despite strong opposition, the Toolkit to Ensure Safe and Supportive Schools for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students was passed in MN by an unelected, governor appointed Minnesota Department of Education committee. It’s not just about bathrooms and locker rooms. It’s about indoctrination into a dangerous gender ideology. The pronoun mandate is the most dangerous part of the Toolkit. Use this extensive resource to educate yourself on the issues. - A Critical Review of Schools In Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12Schools (PDF)
Radical gender activist groups such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gender Spectrum, and the LGBT & HIV Project have published this guidebook, Schools in Transition (PDF), for schools across the country to use in setting school policies that endorse and promote transgender ideology. The MN Department of Education (MDE) recommends this guidebook as a credible resource. - Governor Doubling Down on Obama Transgender Policy
President Trump withdrew the Obama administration’s threat to withhold federal funding if schools don’t comply with gender inclusive policies, however; the MN governor and the Department of Education are exerting pressure on districts to adopt the now-rescinded policy. Will the new MN governor follow suit? - Title IX Dear Colleague Letter (PDF)
Alliance Defending Freedom refutes the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice issued “Dear Colleague” Letter claiming that Title IX requires every school district to treat students consistent with their gender identity.