I believe it is critical for our students to learn about water safety in schools, so I support this bill. As there are no Virginia Essentialized Standards of Learning (VESOLs) for Health, for students accessing an adapted curriculum, it is essential that the SOLs and curriculum framework developed for this water safety instruction explicitly include and be able to be modified for students with disabilities. Research from Columbia University shows that autistic children are 160 times more likely to drown than the general pediatric population. While specific research on non-speaking children (who may or may not be autistic) has not been done, it is reasonable to assume their risk is also higher, as their ability to call for help is significantly less. Too often, general education standards and instruction are not designed with universal design for learning in mind. I urge the Assembly and VDOE to pass this bill, and to make sure that ALL of our students can equally access this critical health & safety instruction. Link to research re: heightened drowning risk for autistic children: (https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/individuals-autism-substantially-heightened-risk-injury-death_)

The American public education system has been disrupted for decades. The inconsistent system of lower standards and expectations for students is not working. Same with the constant lack of accountability for students’ behavior in classrooms. Now Harvard is teaching remedial classes. Family must be responsible for their children’s education.