We are Washington parents and community members who refuse to accept a system that hides serious student harm from the very people who love and protect them most. Our children are being bullied, assaulted, and traumatized in school settings. Yet schools are allowed to keep these incidents from parents by citing privacy laws.

This is not protection. This is concealment. And Senate Bill 5181 made it worse.

Senate Bill 5181 weakened the Parents' Bill of Rights established under Initiative 2081. It stripped away core protections that were supposed to ensure parents had access to critical information about their child’s education, health, and safety. Instead of enforcing transparency, this law carved out broad exceptions that allow schools to:

• Withhold key medical and mental health information
• Keep parents uninformed about disciplinary and safety-related incidents
• Interview and isolate children without parental knowledge or consent

Children have come home with bruises. They have suffered repeated bullying, harassment, and emotional breakdowns. Parents have only learned about these incidents because their children found the courage to speak up. We have seen this in Kennewick, in Tri-Cities, at Vista Elementary, at Ki-Bi Elementary, and beyond.

Schools are now operating in fear of lawsuits or public exposure, and using SB 5181 as legal cover to avoid informing parents. That is not acceptable in any school system that claims to care about children.

We are calling on the Washington State Legislature to repeal Senate Bill 5181 or amend it immediately to restore the following rights:

• Full and prompt parental access to all records involving a child’s safety, including behavioral and disciplinary issues
• Mandatory notification to parents within 48 hours when a student is involved in an act of physical violence, repeated harassment, or credible threats
• A ban on school officials questioning children about traumatic or disciplinary events without parental notice
• Clear legal accountability when school administrators fail to protect students or inform families

The legislature must fix what SB 5181 broke. We are not asking for access to everything. We are asking for access to our children when they are in pain, in danger, or in crisis. Parents cannot protect their children if the schools we trust with them every day are legally permitted to keep us in the dark.

Sign this petition to demand real parental rights. Demand student safety. Demand the repeal or amendment of Senate Bill 5181.