Policies

This bill creates the “Safety in Private Spaces Act,” and states the legislative purpose and intent of the bill as providing restrooms and changing facilities for exclusive use by females or males, respective to their sex, in order to maintain public safety, decency, decorum, and privacy. The bill requires each educational institution to establish in its code of student conduct disciplinary procedures for any student who willfully enters a restroom or changing facility designated for the opposite sex on the premises of the educational institution, for a purpose other than the authorized uses listed in the bill and refuses to depart when asked to do so by an authorized person. The bill defines “restroom” as a room that includes one or more water closet but does not include a unisex restroom. The bill also defines sex as the classification of a person as either female or male based on the person’s gender at birth. To read the full bill summary or HB 1521 in its entirety, CLICK HERE.

 

As an alternative to filing a declaratory judgment action in court, parents may request the appointment of a Special Magistrate to address certain parental disputes with a school district or a charter school. The law pertaining to special magistrate requests for unresolved student welfare complaints is in section 1001.42, Florida Statutes. The process for requesting a special magistrate for unresolved disputes within a school district is in Rule 6A-1.094125, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.). The process for requesting a special magistrate for unresolved disputes at a charter school is in Rule 6A-6.0791, F.A.C.

 

Special Magistrates are available for some, but not all, types of disputes. A Special Magistrate is either an administrative law judge provided by the Division of Administrative Hearings or a person appointed by the Commissioner of Education who is a member of The Florida Bar in good standing with a minimum of five years of administrative law experience.

 

Please refer to FLDOE.org for more information regarding the use of a Special Magistrate.