Washington § 28A.320.235 - Supplemental instructional materials — Policies and procedures — Definitions.

(1) By the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, each school district board of directors shall adopt or revise as necessary policies and procedures governing requested reviews and removals of supplemental instructional materials. The policies and procedures must:

(a) Include a summary of, and citation to, the requirements governing supplemental instructional materials established in RCW 28A.320.233;

(b) Require that requests for the review and potential removal of supplemental instructional materials be in writing from a parent and submitted to the applicable certificated teacher or teacher-librarian and school principal;

(c) Seek to resolve requests for reviews and potential removals of supplemental instructional materials at the school building level through, if requested by the parent, a meeting with the parent, the applicable certificated teacher or teacher-librarian, and school principal;

(d) Require, if a resolution cannot be agreed upon with the parent and the school principal, and following a review of the supplemental instructional materials by the principal, in consultation with a teacher-librarian of the school district if one is available, the principal to provide a written decision on whether to remove the materials within: (i) 30 days of the meeting with the parent; or (ii) 60 days of receiving the request under (b) of this subsection if the parent does not request to meet with school personnel as provided in (c) of this subsection; and

(e) Provide a process for appealing decisions of principals, either by the parent or the applicable certificated teacher or teacher-librarian, to the superintendent of the school district or a designee of the superintendent. Appeal requests must be made in writing and decisions by the superintendent or designee under this subsection are not subject to appeal. Final decisions at any point in the process made in accordance with this subsection (1) may not be reconsidered for a minimum of three years unless there is a substantive change of circumstances as determined by the superintendent.

(2) Decisions made in accordance with subsection (1)(d) and (e) of this section must be in conformity with RCW 28A.320.233 and may be limited in application to only the student or students of the parent who submitted the complaint.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(a) "Parent" means a parent or legal guardian of a student who is enrolled in the school or school district;

(b) "Supplemental instructional materials" or "materials" means: (i) Materials in school libraries; and (ii) educational materials that are not expressly required by the school or school district and are instead selected at the discretion of a certificated teacher or teacher-librarian for materials in school libraries; and

(c) "Teacher-librarian" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.320.240.

(4) This section governs school operation and management under RCW 28A.710.040 and 28A.715.020 and applies to charter schools established under chapter 28A.710 RCW and state-tribal education compact schools subject to chapter 28A.715 RCW to the same extent as it applies to school districts.