Let Kids Be Kids recently raised an issue with schools ‘Promoting Inclusion’ policy… what happened next is good… and not so good…and parents need to know.
Over the last month Let Kids Be Kids (LKBK) has published their findings about SchoolDocs, the company who provides automated school policies to 90%* of schools.
Summary of recent findings
- SchoolDocs policies are templated for all schools. Boards can make amendments specific to their school. Boards are responsible for the policies set in schools, and those that have purchased SchoolDocs service pay between $1200-$3900 a year to outsource much of the work.
- We found that in their ‘Promoting Inclusion’ policy, they incorrectly listed ‘gender identity’ as a protected ground for discrimination, referring to the Human Rights Act 1993. However ‘gender identity’ is not included in the Act. (SchoolDocs also referred to the wrong section of the Act).
- The Let Kids Be Kids email to SchoolDocs resulted in SchoolDocs changing parts of the ‘Promoting Inclusion’ policy. Which is good. And bad. They removed ‘gender identity’ from the list of protected grounds for discrimination, which brings the policy in line with the Human Rights Act. BUT they added a statement and referred to the Human Rights Commission, who have added in ‘gender identity’ as part of the definition of ‘sex’. But it’s not in law. The sudden change highlights a potential concern where a third party company (SchoolDocs) arbitrarily changes all school policies at their discretion. We are yet to find evidence that schools who use SchoolDocs were notified of the change. The law firm who assisted SchoolDocs with the change, promoted and raised money for Pink Shirt Day last year, an ‘anti-bullying’ fundraiser which focusses heavily on the trans/rainbow community, rather than than the wider issue of bullying. Pink Shirt day funds raised, go to InsideOut.
For more information, and evidence of what is claimed here, check out these two Let Kids Be Kids updates:
- First update from LKBK – Are School Policy Providers Quietly Re‑writing New Zealand’s Human Rights Law?
- Second update from LKBK – SchoolDocs Backs Off “Gender Identity” – But Now Leans On An Activist Human Rights Commission
Yesterday I was invited onto The Platform to discuss the situation with Leah Panapa…
Our chat included related topics I have recently posted about, relating to Human Rights, discrimination, disability law and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Check out this article and this one.
The SchoolDocs website recently updated % of schools they provide automated policies for, from ‘80-85%’ to 90%.
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Republished with permission from author’s Substack.
