Virginia education department crafting policies for sexually explicit content | Education
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The state Department of Education is finalizing model policies to ensure parents are notified if their children are being taught sexually explicit instructional materials in the classroom.
Wednesday marked the last day for Virginia residents to weigh in on the new policies that the department drafted. Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill in April — sponsored by Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico — requiring the education department to develop — and local school boards to adopt — such policies.
According to the VDOE policy, parents will be notified at least 30 days in advance if any instructional materials with sexually explicit content (as defined by the model policy) will be taught in their child’s classroom. At that time, parents will be able to review the materials. On school websites, principals will maintain a current list of sexually explicit instructional materials by grade and subject.
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Local school boards have until January to adopt either VDOE’s model policies concerning instructional materials with sexually explicit content, or “more comprehensive policies.”
Youngkin, who has advocated for more parental involvement in the classroom, ran a campaign ad in October that criticized his opponent, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, for vetoing a similar bill when McAuliffe was governor.
The so-called “Beloved bill”— named after Nobel laureate Toni Morrison’s book “Beloved” — that McAuliffe vetoed would have required school districts to notify parents of assignments containing sexually explicit content.
Dunnavant, who sponsored the bill in the most recent legislative session, was not immediately available for comment.
“Policies should be drafted which empower parents to exercise their right to decide whether the use of sexually explicit content in instructional materials is appropriate for their child,” the model policy states.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office announced Friday that the governor signed a bill to require the…
The online public comment period, which closes midnight Wednesday, garnered roughly 1,500 comments as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The online forum has a mix of comments in support of and against the model policies.
One supportive commenter said the policies “were a common-sense program,” while another supporter wrote, “these model policies are a wake-up call to school boards and teachers to attend to the voices of those who innately care most about the children: their parents.”
An opponent said, “classrooms should be a place where students are free to ask questions, explore new ideas, and learn about diverse viewpoints.”
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Virginia submitted a comment to the town hall and sent a letter to Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow in opposition to the proposed model policies.
“Educators and librarians cannot do their job if they are constantly being required to justify their curricula and instruction to parents who may hold diametrically opposing viewpoints,” the letter states.
“Nor was the public education system put in place to present a homogenized viewpoint. The education of young Virginians will be disrupted by efforts to use classrooms to support a political agenda — a space of control rather than a thriving ground for free speech and freedom of thought.”
The proposed model policies, according to the ACLU of Virginia, will “force” school divisions to adopt anti-free speech practices and deny “students the opportunity to be inspired by stories of people from all walks of life.”
The ACLU of Virginia argues that the proposed model policies “will lead to classroom censorship” and “will likely target curriculum by and/or that includes LGBTQ people and Black, Indigenous and other communities of color.”
The Pride Liberation Project, a student-led LGBTQ rights advocacy organization, published a letter with over 600 student signatures calling on the VDOE “to explicitly state that instruction about LGBTQIA+ people is not inherently sexual.”
Failing to do so would “have a chilling effect on our education,” the letter states, adding that every student, including LGBTQIA+ students, deserves to be accurately represented in school curriculum.
“Erasing Queer people from our classes would lead to fictionalized and over-simplified instruction, given the immense contributions that LGBTQIA+ people have made to our state and county,” the letter states.
While Susan Muskett, president of Pro-Family Women, a pro-life organization based in Arlington, wrote positively of the model policies in the online town hall, she cited some concerns with the document.
Muskett characterized the policies “as a much-needed tilt toward restoring parental rights and welcomes all efforts toward making parental notification of sexually explicit material a more standardized and open procedure.”
The Times-Dispatch sent public records requests to each of the state’s 132 public school systems seeking information on books that had been removed or placed under review in the last two school years.
The organization took pause with a sentence that says: “when determining whether instructional materials contain sexually explicit content, teachers, principals, and division staff should consider student age and maturity, and whether a parent might reasonably consider the instructional content harmful to their child.”
Pro-Family Women wrote in the public comment section that including the sentence “would undermine” the law because it would allow school staff “to make subjective assessments as to whether instructional material contains sexually explicit content … impact[ing] whether or not students’ parents are given notice.”
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Charles Pyle, a spokesperson for VDOE, said in an email Wednesday that the model policies became available at the beginning of July.
“After reviewing public comments, the department will communicate the final document to school divisions to inform the adoption of local policies by January 1, 2023, as required by the legislation,” Pyle wrote.
PHOTOS: 29 images from the Times-Dispatch archives
In October 1980, Ronald Reagan, at the time the Republican nominee for president, hoisted Brady Spindel, 8, of Portsmouth, during a rally at the Norfolk Scope coliseum. More than 4,000 Reagan supporters attended.
In February 1969, Medical College of Virginia nursing students Marsha Penney (left) and Martha Mooney checked equipment. They had joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in June 1968, and the Army was covering their tuition, room and board at MCV in Richmond. After graduation, they would begin transitioning from civilian to military life with five weeks of basic training in Texas.
In September 1959, stable hand Garfield Tillman walked award-winning racehorse First Landing through Meadow Stable, the Caroline County operation of horse owner Christopher T. Chenery. First Landing, the U.S. champion 2-year-old colt in 1958, had been convalescing after an illness.
In April 1948, James Phillips Schultz supervised a mumbletypeg game played by two youths at the Richmond Home for Boys. Schultz, 81, was the oldest alumnus of the home. To celebrate the institution’s 102nd birthday, alumni, families and children gathered for an afternoon program that included music , games and dancing for the youths.
In March 1969, St. Mary’s Hospital nurses used the Teachmobile, a cart that moved among floors and allowed workers to learn without relying on large group gatherings. Jeanne W. Orr (left), director of the hospital’s continuing education program, designed the cart with display boards and a tape-recorded lecture. With her is Mary Anne Cook. The Teachmobile was constructed from a flower cart by the hospital’s carpenter.
In August 1954, members of the Richmond Civic Ballet rehearsed for an upcoming performance. The open-membership volunteer group, which presented roughly a dozen performances annually at local events, was organized almost four years earlier by local former professional dancers Betty Carper Grigg and John Hurdle.
In January 1964, traffic on East Broad Street in Richmond moved slowly after the city received more than 4 inches of snow.
In April 1977, workmen removed the fountain from its foundation in Monroe Park in Richmond. A replacement, cast from a mold of the old one, was to be made by an iron company in Alabama and installed during the summer.
In May 1978, owner Jim Thayer stood outside Borkey’s store on Atlee Road in Hanover County. He planned to highlight the store’s more than 100-year history by ordering products that were sold there in the early days.
In April 1978, students from Huguenot High School in Richmond worked with director Dave Anderson on a public television series called “As We See It.” Financed by a federal grant, the series shed light on school desegregation across America, with students contributing scripts for scenes. The Huguenot segment was titled “The Riot that Never Was” and included a re-enactment of a tense moment in the cafeteria during the previous school year, which ultimately was resolved.
In January 1956, the Boys Club of Richmond expanded by purchasing the house next door to its North Robinson Street location. Options for the new space included more offices, a library, kitchen, meeting quarters and a basement rifle range. The price of the new building was $10,000.
In November 1978, African-American women gathered for a beauty clinic at the Thalhimers at Eastgate Mall in Richmond. The clinic, sponsored by Fashion Fair, brought in beauty professionals, including Pearl Hester (standing at right), to demonstrate makeup techniques.
This May 1965 image shows a section of East Broad Street in downtown Richmond after an evening storm.
In September 1941, amid a nationwide gas shortage, Harry J. Donati (left) and Joseph G. Robben drove their horse-drawn carriage down 25th Street in Church Hill in Richmond.
In November 1980, a 1922 firetruck with extension hose was on display at Engine Co. 20 on Forest Hill Avenue in South Richmond. The vehicle, which was in service until 1958, deteriorated for years until local residents and businesses volunteered to restore it.
In October 1987, Lee Lockwood, 5, rode on the back of a pony village cart driven by Laura Crews (right) and his aunt, Grace Battisto, at Maymont in Richmond. They were attending the park’s Victorian Day, a lawn party highlighting turn-of-the-century life.
In September 1961, the Bellevue Theater marquee on MacArthur Avenue in North Side still read “Closed for the Winter.” Neighborhood Theatre Inc. said there were no plans to reopen the theater, closed since 1960. It became home to the New Dominion Barn Dance, a country music radio show.
This June 1964 image shows Buchanan School in Richmond’s East End a day before its scheduled demolition. The school opened in 1912. In 1964, the property was purchased by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority as part of the 17th Street Redevelopment Project. The almost 600 students were transferred to the new Mosby School .
In December 1986, Irene Dameron stood behind the counter of her Westmoreland County shop with regulars (from left) Bob Prather, Ben Allen and Bob Sanford. Dameron had run the shop for 28 years — she had taken over the business from her father, who ran it for 33 years before that. Though the store’s inventory had been reduced, her loyal customers came in almost every day to pass time, action Dameron encouraged by having benches and chairs in the shop.
In June 1951, square dance caller Richard Chase taught playground directors some steps in preparation for a dance scheduled for the Byrd Park tennis courts in Richmond as part of Park and Recreation Week. The program was organized by the city and sponsored by Thalhimers.
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In December 1947, Charles C. Slayton (left), president of the Society of American Magicians, was the target of a card trick when Dan Friedman pulled an oversized deck of cards from Slayton’s vest pocket during an event at The Jefferson Hotel .
On Valentine’s Day 1989, a 50-foot-wide heart hung from the columns of the state Capitol’s south portico in Richmond. The oversized valentine was created to mark the 20th anniversary of the “Virginia is for Lovers” advertising campaign.
This May 1947 image shows a street scene on Main Street near Ninth Street in downtown Richmond. At the time, cars shared the road with electric streetcars. Two years later, with the increase in buses and automobiles, the streetcar system was replaced.
In July 1940, a Richmond Colts batter headed to first base while a teammate scored in a victory over the Norfolk Tars in a Piedmont League game at Tate Field, which was on Mayo Island in Richmond.
In September 1972, Rudy Peele (left) and Al Sanders shared a laugh at the Virginia Squires rookie tryout camp in Richmond. About 16 players were expected at the camp, including four who were invited after doing well at an open tryout in Norfolk the previous week. That tryout attracted 81 players who hoped to join the American Basketball Association team.
In March 1964, Native American children left the two-room state-funded school on the Mattaponi Reservation in King William County. An accompanying article reviewed population trends among Virginia’s Indian tribes; there were 22 Mattaponi and Pamunkey children attending the school at the time.
In August 1947, patrons of a Richmond laundromat played bridge while their clothing was in the machines. The new coin-operated laundry facilities saved time, as a half-day chore without machines at home was reduced to a 30-minute cycle. The laundromat also became a social gathering place.
In June 1943, a sign posted in the elevators of the Atlantic Life Insurance Co. in downtown Richmond challenged tradition by asking men to keep their hats on to speed elevator service and allow for more room.
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