[ATTW-L] the nickname crisis in Florida

[Dragga, Sam]

For a timely but disturbing example of technical communication that could jump start a vigorous conversation about ethics, social justice, and civil rights, consider the memo issued yesterday in Florida which explains that all nicknames or substitutions for legal names used by students in Florida public schools must be authorized in writing with their parent’s signature. (The nickname crisis in Florida is evidently of sufficient proportion that the distribution, completion, and collection of millions of signed authorization forms is considered necessary by Florida officials.)

The memo also explains that teachers and administrators retain discretion regarding the personal pronouns with which transgender students are addressed regardless of the parent’s authorization. (The choice of the word deviation in the title of the authorization form—Parental Authorization for Deviation from Student’s Legal Name—could also be perceived as a veiled insult to transgender students.)

The memo from Orange County Public Schools is available at https://cdnsm5-ss15.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_54619/File/Current%20Families/Guidance%20parental%20authorization%20for%20deviation%20from%20student's%20legal%20name%20(8.7.2023).pdf

The authorization form from Orange County Public Schools is available at https://cdnsm5-ss15.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_54619/File/Current%20Families/2023-08-10%20Form%20-%20Parental%20Authorization%20for%20Deviation%20from%20Students%20Legal%20Name%20(OCPS0711Leg).pdf

Information missing from the memo and authorization form:

  *   How often must the authorization form be completed? Annually?
  *   What if students change their nicknames? How often could a new form be submitted? Annually? Monthy? Weekly? Daily?
  *   What if students are still deciding about their nicknames and operating with several? Could multiple authorization forms be submitted for the same student?
  *   Could more than one student have the same nickname? If so, is there a limit to the number of students who have the same nickname in a single class/grade/school?
  *   Do nicknames authorized by parents also have to be approved by teachers/administrators? Could nicknames be rejected? What are the criteria for accepted/rejected nicknames? Is vulgarity allowed? Is a multi-word nickname allowed (e.g., “Mickey Mouse”)? Is a numerical nickname allowed (e.g., “13”)?

As a class project, your students might compose a letter to Florida officials to solicit clarifications or raise objections to this extraordinary effort to monitor the lives and identities of public school students.

Sam
Sam Dragga
Professor Emeritus
Texas Tech University
sam.dragga at ttu.edu
1-806-543-6099

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://attw.org/pipermail/attw-l_attw.org/attachments/20230809/8ff26c2a/attachment-0001.htm>