FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth school district now requires parental consent before teachers can ask students to pick an emoji reflecting how they feel.
The new policy came after parents pushed back on such efforts and demanded more say in what schools ask their children about their emotions or overall well-being.
Educators have said such tools help them gauge how their students are doing and identify challenges they might be experiencing. And they say that building relationships is a fundamental part of their job.
Now, Fort Worth families must opt their children into using one particular app, but the policy varies for other surveys or questionnaires.
“Fort Worth ISD parents: we hear you, and we have created a process that gives you a greater say in the district surveys your child takes,” read a press release announcing the new process earlier this month.
District leaders did not return requests from The Dallas Morning News seeking further comment on the new process.
Rhithm, created by a Dallas-based start-up, launched during the pandemic as a way to assess how students are feeling each day. It’s used by more than 2,400 schools in 29 states, according to its website.
When used, the app allows students to select how they are feeling from several emojis depicting a range of emotions. However, company officials stress on its website that the app is not a “biopsychosocial” or mental health assessment and does not provide diagnostic data.
Rhithm representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Fort Worth’s move comes after parent Todd Daniel filed a series of grievances with the district, accusing it of “illegally surveying students and harvesting and sharing their personal information.”
After raising concerns to school administrators and district officials, Daniel took his grievance to FWISD trustees. That led to an Oct. 11 hearing to review his concerns and advice from legal counsel. Daniel could not be reached for further comment.
During that hearing, Daniel raised concerns about the surveys’ ties to social-emotional learning, which can include a range of lessons, activities or even procedures meant to improve campus climate and address students’ emotional, mental health or behavioral needs.
But such efforts have drawn the ire of some conservative groups that worry about public schools’ “indoctrination” of children and argue it is a “trojan horse” for liberal ideologies.
Now, Fort Worth families will be required to opt their children into using the app, but the policy varies for other surveys or questionnaires.
While parents must opt-in to Rhitim, they will have to opt-out if they don’t want their children to participate in other surveys.
For example, the district annually asks students about plans for life after high school, what they might need help with in preparing for college and careers or even about their experiences on sports teams.
Parents will soon have the option to review survey questions prior to them being administered to students, as well as survey outcomes, according to district officials.
Many of these surveys are tied to federal funding or required by state and federal law.
Every year, high schoolers also complete the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System questionnaire, which asks about a range of issues including dating, sex, violence and bullying.
These surveys help the district improve the overall school experience for students and ensure their voices are heard, according to the news release.
Hollie Plemons, a Fort Worth mother who spoke at the October meeting, questioned why the district wasn’t already seeking parental consent before surveying students or administering the Rhittim check-in.
She accused the district of administering psychological evaluations to students without parental consent.
“Are you afraid to get consent because if the parents find out you’ve been monkeying around with their children’s brains, doing psychological evaluation without consent by untrained people that they won’t be happy?” Plemons asked the board.
The News was unable to reach Plemons for comment.
Daniel and Plemons were among a group of parents who previously sued the district over COVID-19 policies, including FWISD’s mask mandate.
The parents also raised concerns about how the data collected from surveys is used or shared with third parties.
Federal privacy laws protect students but allow for data sharing between schools and vendors acting on their behalf.
Rhithm employees are bound by these laws and will not otherwise disclose student information without written consent, according to the company’s privacy policies.
Since the pandemic, parents are increasingly calling for more control over their child’s education and what they have access to or are exposed to at school.
This week, for example, Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, filed a bill that would protect “the fundamental rights of parents to raise their children.” Key Republican leaders — including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — have also favored strengthening parental rights.
Similar efforts to expand parents rights are underway in other states, especially those with conservative majorities.
In February, a group of parents in Alabama worried that schools would draw dramatic conclusions from the answers students provided to the daily check-in, according to The Montgomery Advertiser.
School trustees in Tennessee raised similar concerns months after conservative lawmakers trashed a plan proposed by that state’s education commissioner to implement child well-being checks in schools.
Schools are required to identify students who might be in need of additional services, such as special education. Texas educators must also report suspected abuse or neglect.
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The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
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