‘You need a policy where children aren’t told to keep secrets from their parents or other caregivers,’ he says. Since late July, six California school districts have adopted a transparency policy that has state officials wigging out. On its face, the parent-notification push at the local level would seem unnecessary, embedded as it is in state...

Last week, I signed a permission slip for my 11th grade son allowing him to see a PG-13 movie for his United States history class in our local public high school. I was thankful that the school respected our relationship enough to ask permission to show a movie based on a historical event that is...