Seminole County schools now require permission forms for all events

Parents of Seminole County Public Schools students now have one more form to watch for before field trips, extracurricular activities and other school-sponsored events. Students must have a signed permission form before they can take part, shifting the burden of tracking approvals to families and school staff alike.

The requirement comes from Florida’s Rule 6A-10.089, School-Sponsored Events and Activities, which the State Board of Education adopted on July 19, 2023, and which took effect Aug. 22, 2023. A Sept. 15, 2023 memo from Florida Department of Education Chancellor of Public Schools Paul O. Burns told superintendents the rule requires district policies to include parent or guardian notification and permission forms for school-sponsored events and activities.

The Florida Administrative Code defines school-sponsored events or activities broadly as events or activities created by the school of enrollment for students to study or participate in while in the custody of the school district. That includes field trips, extracurricular activities and other supplemental programs and activities, which means the form is not limited to a single type of outing or club meeting.

Seminole County Public Schools said it developed a plan to follow the rule and that teachers, sponsors and administrators would send notification and permission forms for any school-sponsored event, activity or supplemental program a child plans to attend. School pages in the district already reflect the change: Winter Springs High School has a page titled School Sponsored Activity Parent Authorization, and Millennium Middle School posted that SCPS was sending out school-sponsored events or activities parental authorization forms.

For families, the practical effect is straightforward. More activities now depend on paperwork arriving home, getting signed and making it back before the deadline. That can mean one more task to manage in email, backpacks or school apps, and one more point where a student can miss out if a form is not returned in time.

For schools, the new process creates a clearer record of parental consent before students leave the classroom for district-sponsored activities. It also adds another layer of documentation for teachers, sponsors and administrators, who must collect, verify and store the forms.

Seminole County schools have moved this direction before. A district policy change in 2022 required parents’ consent for first-aid services, showing a steady push toward more formal authorization in school operations. The new event form follows that same pattern, turning everyday school activities into paper-tracked decisions for families across the county.