Public Comments for 02/02/2022 Education - Early Childhood
HB197 - Through-year growth assessment system; BOE to seek & incorporate input & suggestions into system.
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB 1034. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. I have worked in two different public school systems in Virginia over 13 years, and I have seen first hand how beneficial counseling services can be to a wide variety of students. If parents are allowed to prohibit their students from accessing counseling services in the school, these students may be cut off from not only critical mental health support, but but also the academic, career, and community support that school counselors and mental health team members provide. All members of a school mental health team must undergo rigorous education before obtaining their licenses, and as such they should be trusted as the professionals they are to provide only services that they deem necessary for students well-being. I strongly urge you to let the trained mental health professionals do their jobs. Don't make students get tied in the mire of adult squibbles. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB HB1032. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. As VA Senator Peterson said on January 27 of this year, regarding a similar bill, "I don't think we should be involved in micromanaging school libraries...The problem is that you’re going to sweep up books that you don’t intend to sweep up" (Matthew Barakat, abcnews.go.com). I strongly urge you to leave the books in the libraries for the kids. They deserve to have the opportunity to decide with their own parents and personal support systems what books to read. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
Thank you for representation. I am writing as a citizen about a bill introduced to the education committee. HB197 allows divisions substitute MAP for the SOL Growth Assessment. Many school divisions in Virginia Region II support this bill. However, I am concerned the bill mentioning a specific product which could make it difficult to move through committee. I am sure it can be modified to provide flexibility if allowed. I feel the modification could survive committee if the language was modified directing the Department of Education to identify products that meets the needs of the original code requiring growth assessments. At the very least I would like for the committee to ask the VDOE why school divisions are not satisfied with the current implementation of the new growth assessment which was passed by legislators last year (HB2027).
I am writing in support of this amendment. The current requirement for giving the Standards of Learning three times each year is not giving us the information that would be most helpful. The NWEA growth assessment will provide data for growth of each student AND give educators the Standards of Learning that each student is “ready to learn”. Teachers can use this assessment to help them plan for learning gaps that have occurred due to the pandemic. The SOL tests are not grade adaptive. They only provide questions for that specific grade level. The MAP test provides information for standards K-8. It is imperative that ALL students show growth. Teachers have both ends of the spectrum. If a student misses every single question on the SOL through test (which did happen), they have to give another assessment to determine the instructional level. On the opposite end, we have students who get every single question correct. Those students should show growth as well, so another assessment also has to be given to them to help with their placement for learning. In closing, the NWEA MAP growth assessment will allow educators to get two pieces of information with one assessment. The data provided can monitor growth but also help teachers determine the level of instruction that a child is ready to learn. Thank you for your consideration of this amendment.
This bill is a commonsense way to ensure that local divisions have options in growth assessments. The NWEA Growth assessment is the gold standard and provides actionable data for instruction as well as clear information for families on student achievement and growth. In the school division where I work, we are currently trying to juggle both NWEA Growth assessment and VDOE growth assessments, and find this double testing to be redundant and time-consuming; if given a choice between the two we would definitely prefer NWEA Growth for its actionable, granular data and ease of administration and use.
HB251 - School boards and local governing bodies; unexpended local funds, etc.
During the 2017-18 School Year, Huntington Middle School, a historic former high school for African Americans during segregation, was closed to the cost needed to repair many aging systems in the facility. This once proud educational institution with years of alumni in our community, closed without ceremony due to infestation, mold, and roof leaks. I am speaking today in support of this legislation because it will enable school divisions like Newport News Public Schools, who are not receiving even half of the requested capital dollars needed to manage infrastructure needs, to adequately meet current needs and more importantly plan for future capital renovations and new construction. Newport News currently receives on average, in a good year, approximately $10-12 million for the capital maintenance of the existing 40+ schools and offices. These dollars are quickly depleted as the school divisions manages projects such as roof replacements, HVAC Replacements, Plumbing, Paving and other school infrastructure projects. I can say with clarity that providing school boards the authority to plan and raise revenue for future construction needs as well as the ability to use unspent EOY Operating Revenue for future construction will lower the burden on local governments and allow them to work in a more productive way to manage larger projects. In closing, I would like to say that even larger urban areas such as Newport News are dealing with this problem. This is not a rural issue. I thank you for your consideration and want to assure you that this would be impactful for schools divisions for many years to come.
I support HB-251. Often our localities (Chesterfield) allows far too much high-density growth than the school division can handle. Funding responsibly set aside for future growth in school maintenance and infrastructure is paramount to quality education, and frankly, ALL of Virginia needs this bill to balance growth and educational infrastructure.
HB389 - Early childhood care and education; regional entities, Child Care Subsidy Program Overpayment Fund.
HB452 - Public school buses; display of advertising, hiring of school bus drivers.
Dear Members of the Education - Early Child / Innovation Subcommittee, My name is Charles Ronco, and I speak in favor of HB452. As a public school teacher, I apologize that I cannot attend today's meeting either in person or via Zoom. Thank you for accepting my written comments. This bill was spawned from conversations with Prince William County Schools Administration and the Prince William Education Association. The ongoing school bus driver shortage has impacted every school system in the nation, and Virginia's public schools are no exception. Schools need to be able to compete with other commercial enterprises eager to fill their ranks with eligible drivers who have a CDL endorsement. Such drivers see advertisements on large rigs and other commercial vehicles for openings, and they know that there are jobs open for them to fill. Many people don't even know that school bus drivers are desperately needed. This bill would allow our schools to compete for vitally important human resources. Granted, this bill may not be a 'silver bullet' for this critical shortage, but it at least levels the playing field to allow school systems to inform and attract eligible employees into the workforce. Please help our public schools. Please vote in favor of HB452. Thank you, Charles Ronco Math Teacher Unity Reed High School Prince William County Public Schools
HB559 - School boards, local; composite index of local ability-to-pay, required local effort.
HB563 - School Construction Fund and Program; created and established.
Please pass HB217. Moe can be done to encourage and educate students about opportunities in STEM-C fields and to make sure that educational opportunities in our schools are adequately supporting students pursuing these goals. Identifying the full range of employment opportunities in these areas and the education needed to succeed in them can only be a benefit. Please pass HB221. Please oppose HB344. The establishment of charter schools should remain with local school boards who are accountable to their constituents. Members of the State Board of Education are appointed and consequently are accountable only to those who appointed them. Also, this bill provides that there is no longer the opportunity to revisit the decisions of this State or local boards in granting or continuing such charter. The public should not lose a mechanism of redress already in place. Please oppose HB346. The establishment of charter schools should remain with local school boards who are accountable to their constituents. Extending the establishment of charter and lab schools to private institutions of higher ed and private businesses further removes the oversight of such schools to boards that have no accountability to the public that they serve. Please oppose HB356. The establishment of charter schools should remain with local school boards who are accountable to their constituents. Please oppose HB486. Governor's School admissions should not be constricted by an arbitrary quota of students from one district. Please oppose HB563. While assisting local districts in funding construction where school buildings are in disrepair is a desirable goal, the diversion of funds allocated for instruction should not be institutionalized as a regular mechanism to accomplish this. Please pass HB585. Standardized testing has become the tail that wags the dog in education. Increasing amounts of time are dedicated to teaching towards the test and administering tests to the detriment of education tailored to the needs of students and localities. Reducing such testing the minimum required for federal accountability would free time and resources to more fully meet the needs of students. Please oppose 789. Family life education should remain an opt out program instead of an opt in program. The latter puts an onerous burden on schools for the delivery of this important curriculum. Please oppose HB988. Transgender students deserve equal protection in schools across the Commonwealth. All school districts should maintain certain expectations in this regard. Please pass HB994 Please pass HB1005. This bill stipulates that teachers under continuing contract can resign within the school year but must do so providing 2 weeks of notice. Such a provision provides more time for local school districts to make arrangements for staffing adjustments. Please pass HB1023. Human trafficking is increasingly a problem in the Commonwealth and beyond. Our students should be alert to its threats and educated as to how to protect themselves from it. Please pass HB1026. With technology and the internet playing an increasing role in every aspect of our lives, expanding our understanding of this role and improving education surrounding it can only be a good thing. Please pass HB1299. Our students need as much information as possible about their opportunities after graduating from our public school system.
As a member of the Waynesboro City Council and Chair of the Human Development and Education Committee, I am writing to express my enthusiastic support of HB 563. Fiscally stressed communities across Virginia are losing the battle in balancing the cost of providing competitive wages and benefits for quality educators, to the burdensome weight of debt required to maintain and provide high quality facilities to educate the children of Virginia. Communities just like Waynesboro are not looking for a hand out, but for a hand up. HB 563 would accomplish just that. High poverty and low income Virginia communities are desperate to find a partner in the Commonwealth to help modernize public school infrastructure. HB 563 uses existing Commonwealth resources, a matching requirement similar to other State matching grants, and strategically targets those communities that are struggling the most. Thank you for your time, and for all that you do.
HB608 - School boards; unexpended local funds for capital projects.
No on HB608. When schools have 'extra funds' a percentage of those funds should be allocated to the school/school divisions most vulnerable population, students with disabilities and their necessary supports. Title I schools/students already receive vast amounts of differentiated focus, support and funding, which is necessary, however, the students with disabilities population seems to often receive a low priority and they are the ones with truly the most diverse and most significant needs. Allocate 10% of any 'extra funds' for robust education, tutoring, supplies and supports and related services for this population of students to not only exist and sustain, but perhaps thrive. If VA is not going to give tax overages back to the taxpayers, concerning the education division, invest in those with the greatest needs, the vulnerable and fragile students who tend to miss the most school due to their medical needs and obligations. More than minimum....Support these students and their families adequately, please.
HB636 - Virginia student environmental literacy; grant fund and program.
Environmental literacy is absolutely necessary. The next generation faces an urgent environmental crisis. Without action we will fail as society, as humanity. Environmental literacy will help save our planet—and help new generation advance the urgently needed careers and awareness
We strongly support the legislation. Promoting environmental literacy and providing our youth with opportunities to learn about Virginia’s natural resources through outdoor field experiences is very important to our organization and members. These opportunities are key to creating future stewards of the Commonwealth’s environment. We are very grateful to Delegate Carr for carrying this bill and championing environmental education.
This bill would support workforce development for 21st century jobs and protection of our natural resources. It would allow for the people to gain a better understanding of their local environment and it's global impact.
I want to offer my support to this bill HB636. I think enhancing and promoting environmental literacy programs is an essential piece in reaching an overall goal of community growth and relationship building. These programs help the community at large build a respect and understanding of the natural resources in their backyards and often engender a commonality of purpose with their neighbors. These programs promote civic engagement and help people see the benefits of preserving and protecting the natural world around them to share with visitors and future generations alike. Please vote yes on this bill!
Friends of the Rappahannock supports HB636. There currently exists a leadership void in state government for environmental literacy after the Office of Environmental Education was disbanded due to budget cuts. This bill helps to begin the process of re-instilling that leadership with the creation of a state wide environmental literacy plan.
Deborah Mitchell, a senior editor for Environmental Protection magazine explains that the benefits of teaching environmental literacy helps develop and expand children’s critical thinking skills, prepares them for citizenship, nurtures their appreciation of the natural world, and enhances their physical well-being. HB636 will require the Department of Education, along with other stakeholders to establish a Virginia student environmental literacy plan that will prepare students the major environmental challenges facing the Commonwealth and the United States; provide field experiences; and create opportunities for the enhanced and ongoing professional development of teachers. This bill will help students to recognize the value of Virginia’s extraordinary natural resources as well. Legislators can support local school districts and advance Virginia’s STEM efforts, with the goal of creating a workforce ready to be successful in the high paying and in-demand jobs of the future. Therefore, CCAN Action Fund supports this bill HB636.
SUPPORT HB636 Reasons to support HB636: 1) Environmental education combines many disciplines and builds teamwork as well as high-level thinking and problem solving skills. 2) Legislators can support local school districts and advance Virginia’s STEM efforts, with the goal of creating a workforce ready to be successful in the high paying and in-demand jobs of the future. 3) Learning how humans impact the environment positively and negatively and recognizing the value of Virginia’s extraordinary natural resources is an essential part of our state education standards. 4) Many school districts are not connected to the curriculum resources, professional development, or local programs needed to offer these types of learning opportunities to all students. Additional statewide coordination will organize and distribute existing resources to all Virginia students and local districts as well as link new initiatives that would benefit from environmental education. Overview: HB636 requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Science Museum of Virginia, and other stakeholders, to establish and update at least once every five years a Virginia student environmental literacy plan. The environmental literacy plan will prepare students to understand the major environmental challenges facing the Commonwealth and the United States; provide field experiences; and create opportunities for the enhanced and ongoing professional development of teachers. The bill requires the plan to include a description of how the Board will measure the environmental literacy of students, programs for the professional development of teachers, and how the Board will implement the plan, including securing funding and other necessary support. The bill establishes the Virginia Student Environmental Literacy Plan Grant Fund and Program, to award competitive grants to any local school board that seeks assistance to initiate, expand, or improve teacher professional development opportunities or student environmental education programs that align with the content and objectives of the plan.
Please SUPPORT HB636
HB829 - School counselors; staffing ratios, flexibility.
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB 1034. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. I have worked in two different public school systems in Virginia over 13 years, and I have seen first hand how beneficial counseling services can be to a wide variety of students. If parents are allowed to prohibit their students from accessing counseling services in the school, these students may be cut off from not only critical mental health support, but but also the academic, career, and community support that school counselors and mental health team members provide. All members of a school mental health team must undergo rigorous education before obtaining their licenses, and as such they should be trusted as the professionals they are to provide only services that they deem necessary for students well-being. I strongly urge you to let the trained mental health professionals do their jobs. Don't make students get tied in the mire of adult squibbles. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB HB1032. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. As VA Senator Peterson said on January 27 of this year, regarding a similar bill, "I don't think we should be involved in micromanaging school libraries...The problem is that you’re going to sweep up books that you don’t intend to sweep up" (Matthew Barakat, abcnews.go.com). I strongly urge you to leave the books in the libraries for the kids. They deserve to have the opportunity to decide with their own parents and personal support systems what books to read. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
The Virginia School Counselor Association opposes HB 829. VSCA believes that all individuals serving in the role of a school counselor should be fully or provisionally licensed by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to ensure appropriate oversight and guidance for school counseling in Virginia. This is what is best for Virginia’s students. We have additional concerns about the undefined licensed counseling professional language that is included in this bill. VSCA attempted to meet with the patron and interested parties to discuss alternative options and address concerns but were not afforded the opportunity and were not given time to provide written input. The Department of Education already allows for individuals with appropriate credentials to apply for provisional licensure to fill the role of School Counseling. We believe that this provides the flexibility requested by the school divisions and HB 829 is not needed. This provision is in line with all other areas deemed as critical shortage areas by the State Board of Education. The VDOE study completed in July 2021, that looked at vacancies statewide in School Counseling indicated that school counselor vacancies were filled within 12 months for all but 1 division and within 6 months for all but 4. These vacancies were also regionalized, not a statewide issue. This bill allows for school systems to hire licensed counseling professionals employed by the school board or provided through contracted services without any provision for licensure or training needed for school counseling. School Counselors are specifically trained to provide academic, career, AND social emotional support to all students. This is achieved through whole school programming, classroom lessons, tiered interventions, small group and individual support, collaboration, and consultation. Licensed Professional Counselors and other licensed mental health professionals do not receive the same specific training or licensure requirements. In addition to providing social/emotional and mental health services, school counselors are uniquely trained to provide K-12 students with academic career planning services and college & career readiness initiatives required by VA state law 8VAC20-131-140; 8VAC20-131-51, 8VAC20-131-60, etc., whereas this is not an area of training or education required for any other licensed counseling professionals in the state of Virginia. Counselors, like doctors, have different education, clinical training, and specialties, and I trust that you would not want to send your child to a family physician for a heart valve replacement. I personally completed the educational requirements for LPC and School Counseling and in order to provide community counseling had to register as a resident with the state and complete the specific requirements for LPC. The two degrees are not interchangeable. In order to practice as a Licensed Professional Counselor, I had to register as a resident with the Board of Counseling, be supervised by a registered LPC supervisor and required to complete licensure requirements to be fully licensed as an LPC. The licensure process is even handled by two different boards, due to the different nature of the focus and skills needed for each position. Please join VSCA in providing the best support for Virginia's students and oppose HB 829.
Dear Members of the House of Delegates. I hope this communication finds you well. I am a School Counselor who has worked with students as a teacher and counselor on the elementary, middle, and high school levels. My 32 years honorably serving as a School Counselor in the state of Virginia, encompasses five school divisions and includes 13 years of School Counseling Leadership. I am asking (begging) that you OPPOSE HB 829 and apologize for contacting you at this hour regarding this matter. I understand the need to increase efforts needed to protect and empower our youth who are experiencing alarming mental health challenges, during one of the most unpredictable times in our society. The addition to school staff of licensed mental health professionals would be great, however, not in lieu of Licensed School Counselors. One’s training to become a School Counselor prepares he or she to contribute to the life of children in many facets. Specific training for School Counselors is captured in the areas of mental health support, social and emotional maturity, academics, and career planning to include practical experiences. The titles of these categories represent a multitude of tasks that must be put into action, by the School Counselor to help ALL STUDENTS experience levels of success. Our School Counseling Programs are comprehensive in scope and guided by the American Association of School Counselors and the Virginia School Counselors Association. It is the Best Practices for our students through these affiliations and strong commitments of our School Counselors and their prospective school divisions have had the ability to afford students outstanding opportunities and personal support in all the areas we address. In addition, I am not sure if you are aware of the additional responsibilities that School Counselors have in their schools, which are non-counseling related. During the most recent exodus of teachers, counselors have also had to hold or teach classes to ensure Virginia’s students are taught and protected. Would this and or other tasks mentioned previously be a responsibility for a licensed mental health professional? The mentioning of these tasks are not complaints, however, the sharing of information that should also be considered when addressing this bill. Again, I ask you to PLEASE OPPOSE HB 829 that would support licensed mental health professionals to be hired to fill school counseling positions (unless they have completed a master’s degree in Counseling Education). Sincerely, Rebertha Pope-Matthews. Ed. D. School Counselor: Dinwiddie County High School, DCPS Petersburg High School, PCPS Highland Springs High School – School Counseling Director, HCPS Meadowbrook High School - School Counseling Director, CCPS Swift Creek Middle School - School Counseling Director, CCPS Hermitage Elementary School, VBCPS Kingsman Academy Public Charter School, DCPS
Dear members of the Education - Early Childhood / Innovation Subcommittee, My name is Oskar Scheikl, and I have served as the superintendent in Rockingham County for the last five years. Two years ago, the General Assembly passed legislation proposed by Delegate Wilt to require the Department of Education to conduct a survey about division preferences in regard to filling school counselor positions. In rural divisions like Rockingham, the preference was clearly for additional flexibility. At that time, the idea of the potential additional flexibility was supported by members of both parties as well as the Governor's Office. I fully support this flexibility and hope you will support HB829. I understand the concerns from some corners that properly endorsed school counselors could potentially be bypassed in favor of a licensed mental health counselor without all of the classes required to be endorsed as a school counselor. However, I would ask what you, as legislators, think about when you continue to discuss lowering the ratio of students to school counselors. Are you picturing the need for additional career and academic counseling, or is the movement in that direction mostly driven by the clear understanding that students have increased significant mental health needs? I would argue that is clearly the latter. As a superintendent, I want to be able to hire the best person for an opening. All things being equal, an endorsed school counselor will be my preference. I am, however, aware of school divisions where counselor positions went unfilled for months because no endorsed school counselor even applied. One of the best counselors in my school division came as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and then acquired the additional career and academic counseling portions while already serving students. I am not asking you to devalue the status of endorsed school counselors. Rather, I am asking for flexibility in a critical area of need. The Department of Education has taken the step to allow for provisional licenses specifically for LPC's, but HB829 extends this flexibility. Our school counselors are incredibly important, and this bill provides for avenues to get some of the best people in the field into our schools with the full expectation that they serve schools in all areas designated for school counselors. I fully support HB829 and ask that you do as well. Sincerely, Oskar Scheikl, Ph.D. Division Superintendent Rockingham County Public Schools
Dear members of the early childhood / innovation subcommittee, I am very pleased with the work that has occurred to support school counselors and do what is best for students by lowering the school counselor to student ratios. This also means that more school counselors will need to be staff in school districts throughout Virginia. Today, I wanted to address the wording in House Bill 829 (Section L). The term “other licensed counseling professionals” appears to be utilized synonymously with the term “school counselors”. Staffing other licensed counseling professionals in the place of school counselors is inappropriate. School counselors are specifically trained to provide academic, career, and social emotional support to all students. This is achieved through whole school programming, classroom lesson, tired interventions, small group and individual support collaboration and consultation. Other licensed professional counselors and mental health professions do not receive the same training or academic requirements. As a current elementary school counselor for 17 years, I know this to be accurate. School counselors should be staffed for school counselor positions! The VDOE study completed in 2021 indicated that school counselor vacancies were filled within 12 months for all but 1 division and within 6 months for all but 4 divisions. Please consider revising the bill to consider only school counselors for school counseling positions in the state of Virginia. Your time and consideration are greatly appreciated! Thank you, Paige Abasolo, M.Ed. VSCA Board of Directors
As a school counselor for 10 years, I recognize the importance of the work that is done each day. School Counselors provide education on social, emotional, learning, responsive services, support to parents and staff and so much more. Having received a dual degree in clinical counseling and school counseling, I recognize that the training needed for a school counselor is different and unique. Hiring mental health counselors who do not have the training to be school counselors is a recipe to hurt children and schools. Mental health professionals have not been trained in classroom management, in providing classroom lessons, in working in the classroom and in doing in the moment crisis response. School counselors are available to fill these positions. Not only do we need to increase the number of school counselors in the schools, we need to ensure they have the proper training. Please vote no.
Dear Delegates Rasoul and Wilt, I am asking that, as a member of the House Education Subcommittee on Early Childhood/Innovation, you OPPOSE HB 829. School Counselors (holding VDOE licensure in School Counseling PreK-12) are specifically trained to provide all students with academic, career, social, emotional, and mental health support within the educational setting (which is significantly different from a clinical setting). All services provided in schools should be appropriate to the learning environment; those that are not risk being ineffective or even counterproductive. Just as children are not simply small adults, schools are not merely private clinics with white boards. Being trained to work within the school setting and learning context is essential to being effective (and cost effective). In addition to providing social/emotional and mental health services, school counselors are uniquely trained to provide K-12 students with academic career planning services and college & career readiness initiatives required by VA state law 8VAC20-131-140; 8VAC20-131-51, 8VAC20-131-60, etc., whereas this is not an area of training or education required for any other licensed counseling professionals in the state of Virginia. Counselors, like doctors, have different education, clinical training, and specialties, and I trust that you would not want to send your child to a family physician for a heart valve replacement. I also appreciate your ongoing support to increase student access to critical school counseling services. While I understand that the rationale for this bill is to combat "staffing shortages" in the area of school counseling, a VDOE study completed in 2021 indicated that school counselor vacancies were filled within 6 months for all but 4 school divisions (I believe there are 133 school divisions in VA). For those few divisions that are experiencing difficulties, there is already a VA Board of Education provision in licensure allowing for any school board to apply for a provisional license with an endorsement in school counseling for individuals who hold an active Licensed Professional Counseling (LPC) license, making this bill confusing and completely unnecessary. In sum, I urge you to continue providing VA's students with access to targeted, data-driven, comprehensive school counseling services provided by school counselors who have the specific education and training to provide these services within the educational setting. Thank you, Dr. Amy Gleason Carroll Director of School Counseling, William Obediah Robey High School Adjunct Professor, George Mason University
Please vote YES on HB-829. Children need accessibility to school counselors more than ever since Covid came about, and parents need to know HOW to obtain counseling for their children in need due to school related struggles and challenges. Transparency. Accessibility. Simply providing as a 'resource' mental health hospitals and facilities is not counseling at all. Waiting for outside mental health resources takes many, many months often, and by then much more damage is done to the child. This is paramount for the health and welfare of students.
Dear subcommittee members, my name is Haden Parrish and I am writing to express my strong opposition to HB829: School counselors; staffing ratios, flexibility. I am currently in my final semester of graduate school, earning my Master's degree in Human Development Counseling in the school counseling track. I take general classes in clinical mental health counseling but the majority of my classes are specialized for the school counseling track. Clinical counselors do incredible work and serve a noble and needed purpose, and yet their work and purpose are not the same as a school counselor's. I can speak first hand as to the life-saving training mental health counselors are receiving, but I can also speak to how what they are learning as mental health counselors will not prepare them to be adequate school counselors. While other mental health professionals work to support the socio-emotional needs of people, school counselors are specifically trained in three domains to support k-12 students: socio-emotional, academic, and college/career. School Counselors are the school's pillar of support to students and work to aid them from all educational angles. K-12 students can, and do, face challenges that overlap with many aspects of their life; a majority of student challenges are not just simply related to mental health, academics, or post-secondary opportunities, but likely interrelated to two or all three domains that school counselors specialize in. As an example, imagine the scenario of a student losing their parent during their junior year of high school. Immediately after the student returns to the school they will need socio-emotional support from the school community and specifically their counselor. But they will need more than that. They will need an advocate to reach out to their teachers, someone to have prepared recommendations for grief resources or tutors if needed, a facilitator to offer a grief support group for students with similar experiences, and, down the road, a reference to explain to job recruiters or college admissions offices why there should be leniency given to any discrepancies on the student's transcript that semester, not to mention to brag about the student's resilience and commitment to growth. "Other licensed counseling professionals" might be trained to support this hypothetical student in one aspect of their experience, but school counselors are trained and experienced in aiding that student in each of those ways and more because they will know the student's story and will be able to support holistically as opposed to just socio-emotionally. It doesn't have to be said that our students are struggling, or that despite the extreme level of resilience and strength they've demonstrated throughout the past few years they have more challenges now than ever before in their lives. As adults, we can support students by keeping (and increasing) school counselors in the schools; students rely on the people and positions they've grown up trusting, the people who have the training to work in the school and serve in the student-focused role, the people who are trained and experienced in supporting them mentally, academically, and with their post-secondary life in mind. However, providing alternative positions to the school counselor is not helping them, it's neglecting them. The number of school counselors needs to be increased, not swapped out. Thank you for your dedication to our students, Haden
Dear Subcommittee Members, my name is Haden Parrish and I am writing to express my strong opposition to HB829: School counselors; staffing ratios, flexibility. I am currently in my final semester of graduate school, earning my Master's degree in Human Development Counseling in the school counseling track. I take general classes in clinical mental health counseling but the majority of my classes are specialized for the school counseling track. Clinical counselors do incredible work and serve a noble and needed purpose, and yet their work and purpose are not the same as a school counselor's. I can speak first hand as to the life-saving training mental health counselors are receiving, but I can also speak to how what they are learning as mental health counselors will not prepare them to be adequate school counselors. While other mental health professionals work to support the socio-emotional needs of people, school counselors are specifically trained in three domains to support k-12 students: socio-emotional, academic, and college/career. School Counselors are the school's pillar of support to students and work to aid them from all educational angles. K-12 students can, and do, face challenges that overlap with many aspects of their life; a majority of student challenges are not just simply related to mental health, academics, or post-secondary opportunities, but likely interrelated to two or all three domains that school counselors specialize in. As an example, imagine the scenario of a student losing their parent during their junior year of high school. Immediately after the student returns to the school they will need socio-emotional support from the school community and specifically their counselor. But they will need more than that. They will need an advocate to reach out to their teachers, someone to have prepared recommendations for grief resources or tutors if needed, a facilitator to offer a grief support group for students with similar experiences, and, down the road, a reference to explain to job recruiters or college admissions offices why there should be leniency given to any discrepancies on the student's transcript that semester, not to mention to brag about the student's resilience and commitment to growth. "Other licensed counseling professionals" might be trained to support this hypothetical student in one aspect of their experience, but school counselors are trained and experienced in aiding that student in each of those ways and more because they will know the student's story and will be able to support holistically as opposed to just socio-emotionally. It doesn't have to be said that our students are struggling, or that despite the extreme level of resilience and strength they've demonstrated throughout the past few years they have more challenges now than ever before in their lives. As adults, we can support students by keeping (and increasing) school counselors in the schools; students rely on the people and positions they've grown up trusting, the people who have the training to work in the school and serve in the student-focused role, the people who are trained and experienced in supporting them mentally, academically, and with their post-secondary life in mind. However, providing alternative positions to the school counselor is not helping them, it's neglecting them. The number of school counselors needs to be increased, not swapped out. Thank you for your dedication to our students, Haden.
I am asking that you OPPOSE HB 829. School Counselors (holding VDOE licensure in School Counseling PreK-12) are specifically trained to provide all students with academic, career, social, emotional, and mental health support within the educational setting (which is significantly different from a clinical setting). All services provided in schools should be appropriate to the learning environment; those that are not risk being ineffective or even counterproductive. Just as children are not simply small adults, schools are not merely private clinics with white boards. Being trained to work within the school setting and learning context is essential to being effective (and cost effective). In addition to providing social/emotional and mental health services, school counselors are uniquely trained to provide K-12 students with academic career planning services and college & career readiness initiatives required by VA state law 8VAC20-131-140; 8VAC20-131-51, 8VAC20-131-60, etc., whereas this is not an area of training or education required for any other licensed counseling professionals in the state of Virginia. Counselors, like doctors, have different education, clinical training, and specialties, and I trust that you would not want to send your child to a family physician for a heart valve replacement. I also appreciate the House's ongoing support to increase student access to critical school counseling services, as was demonstrated when members voted in favor for HB1508 in the 2020 session to set the very same staffing ratios that we are now discussing. While I understand that the rationale for this bill is to combat "staffing shortages" in the area of school counseling, a VDOE study completed in 2021 indicated that school counselor vacancies were filled within 6 months for all but 4 school divisions (I believe there are 133 school divisions in VA). For those few divisions that are experiencing difficulties, there is already a VA Board of Education provision in licensure allowing for any school board to apply for a provisional license with an endorsement in school counseling for individuals who hold an active Licensed Professional Counseling (LPC) license, making this bill confusing and completely unnecessary. In sum, I urge you to continue providing VA's students with access to targeted, data-driven, comprehensive school counseling services provided by school counselors who have the specific education and training to provide these services within the educational setting.
HB860 - Teacher Training Corps; established, report.
HB938 - Public schools; evaluation & recommendations for certain current and proposed policies, revisions.
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB 1034. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. I have worked in two different public school systems in Virginia over 13 years, and I have seen first hand how beneficial counseling services can be to a wide variety of students. If parents are allowed to prohibit their students from accessing counseling services in the school, these students may be cut off from not only critical mental health support, but but also the academic, career, and community support that school counselors and mental health team members provide. All members of a school mental health team must undergo rigorous education before obtaining their licenses, and as such they should be trusted as the professionals they are to provide only services that they deem necessary for students well-being. I strongly urge you to let the trained mental health professionals do their jobs. Don't make students get tied in the mire of adult squibbles. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB HB1032. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. As VA Senator Peterson said on January 27 of this year, regarding a similar bill, "I don't think we should be involved in micromanaging school libraries...The problem is that you’re going to sweep up books that you don’t intend to sweep up" (Matthew Barakat, abcnews.go.com). I strongly urge you to leave the books in the libraries for the kids. They deserve to have the opportunity to decide with their own parents and personal support systems what books to read. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
I am a public school teacher in Fairfax County and I am writing to share my concerns about HB 938. This bill would remove the Virginia Mathematics Pathways initiative that was recently introduced by the Virginia Department of Education. Math Pathways was designed to bring more equity to the way students are placed in math classes and so I am concerned about this being eliminated.
HB994 - Child Care Subsidy Program; permitting Armed Forces active members to apply for Program.
Please pass HB217. Moe can be done to encourage and educate students about opportunities in STEM-C fields and to make sure that educational opportunities in our schools are adequately supporting students pursuing these goals. Identifying the full range of employment opportunities in these areas and the education needed to succeed in them can only be a benefit. Please pass HB221. Please oppose HB344. The establishment of charter schools should remain with local school boards who are accountable to their constituents. Members of the State Board of Education are appointed and consequently are accountable only to those who appointed them. Also, this bill provides that there is no longer the opportunity to revisit the decisions of this State or local boards in granting or continuing such charter. The public should not lose a mechanism of redress already in place. Please oppose HB346. The establishment of charter schools should remain with local school boards who are accountable to their constituents. Extending the establishment of charter and lab schools to private institutions of higher ed and private businesses further removes the oversight of such schools to boards that have no accountability to the public that they serve. Please oppose HB356. The establishment of charter schools should remain with local school boards who are accountable to their constituents. Please oppose HB486. Governor's School admissions should not be constricted by an arbitrary quota of students from one district. Please oppose HB563. While assisting local districts in funding construction where school buildings are in disrepair is a desirable goal, the diversion of funds allocated for instruction should not be institutionalized as a regular mechanism to accomplish this. Please pass HB585. Standardized testing has become the tail that wags the dog in education. Increasing amounts of time are dedicated to teaching towards the test and administering tests to the detriment of education tailored to the needs of students and localities. Reducing such testing the minimum required for federal accountability would free time and resources to more fully meet the needs of students. Please oppose 789. Family life education should remain an opt out program instead of an opt in program. The latter puts an onerous burden on schools for the delivery of this important curriculum. Please oppose HB988. Transgender students deserve equal protection in schools across the Commonwealth. All school districts should maintain certain expectations in this regard. Please pass HB994 Please pass HB1005. This bill stipulates that teachers under continuing contract can resign within the school year but must do so providing 2 weeks of notice. Such a provision provides more time for local school districts to make arrangements for staffing adjustments. Please pass HB1023. Human trafficking is increasingly a problem in the Commonwealth and beyond. Our students should be alert to its threats and educated as to how to protect themselves from it. Please pass HB1026. With technology and the internet playing an increasing role in every aspect of our lives, expanding our understanding of this role and improving education surrounding it can only be a good thing. Please pass HB1299. Our students need as much information as possible about their opportunities after graduating from our public school system.
HB1047 - Students who need or use augmentative and alternative communication; instruction, eligibility.
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB 1034. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. I have worked in two different public school systems in Virginia over 13 years, and I have seen first hand how beneficial counseling services can be to a wide variety of students. If parents are allowed to prohibit their students from accessing counseling services in the school, these students may be cut off from not only critical mental health support, but but also the academic, career, and community support that school counselors and mental health team members provide. All members of a school mental health team must undergo rigorous education before obtaining their licenses, and as such they should be trusted as the professionals they are to provide only services that they deem necessary for students well-being. I strongly urge you to let the trained mental health professionals do their jobs. Don't make students get tied in the mire of adult squibbles. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB HB1032. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. As VA Senator Peterson said on January 27 of this year, regarding a similar bill, "I don't think we should be involved in micromanaging school libraries...The problem is that you’re going to sweep up books that you don’t intend to sweep up" (Matthew Barakat, abcnews.go.com). I strongly urge you to leave the books in the libraries for the kids. They deserve to have the opportunity to decide with their own parents and personal support systems what books to read. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
HB1047 VCASE thanks Del. Tran for continuing a dialogue about this bill to assist students who use augmentative and assistive communication devices. VCASE has opposed HB1047 as originally drafted and opposed the substitute was shared this morning. VCASE would support a substitute that would have VDOE review, update, and disseminate AAC procedures that would emphasize compliance with the IEP that addresses assessment, access, supports, training, and least restrictive environment matters. In the original proposed legislation, the requirements that restrict the use of any evaluation tool in considering eligibility or services is contrary to IDEA and Virginia evaluation and eligibility guidance that the team review multiple sources of information about the student. VCASE supports practices that provide students access to general education classes to the maximum extent appropriate and is concerned about any particular claim that a student with an AAC may have a unique right in this consideration. Lastly, the IEP has the force of law. If an IEP includes the specifics of training, support, and least restrictive setting, then that IEP must be followed. If the service is delayed, the the student is qualified for compensatory services and the parents can lodge a state complaint or request a due process hearing if they claim an IEP violation has occurred. We hope to support a version of this bill that has a VDOE study of these services with reemphasis on IEP compliance with AAC procedures.
I am reaching out in support of H.B. 1047, albeit with some concerns that I hope to see addressed through an amendment. As a speech-language pathologist, I am grateful to see legislative support for users of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Communication is a human right, and AAC facilitates communication for people who might otherwise be unable to request their basic wants and needs, make a comment, or tell their loved ones how they feel. School-based support for AAC will open the doors for hundreds, if not thousands of AAC users across the Commonwealth. My only concern regarding this bill is that it opens the door for pseudoscientific forms of communication. In particular, Facilitated Communication and the Rapid Prompting Method are forms of AAC that have been discouraged by numerous organizations over the years, including that American Speech-Language-Hearing Association that issues my credentials as a speech-language pathologist. Whereas "good" AAC allows the users to create spontaneous, novel, unique, and generative messages, Facilitated Communication and the Rapid Prompting Method have no evidence to support their efficacy; based on the lack of evidence, it is generally understood that the facilitators are creating the messages themselves, essentially "speaking for" the individual with a disability. This doesn't empower the communicator, it removes their autonomy. While I 100% support a bill that improves the availability and training of AAC in Virginia's schools, I hope to see this loophole closed before the passage of H.B. 1047. Perhaps wording might be added to stipulate that this bill supports "evidence-based AAC," or "AAC that has been generally deemed best practice," or perhaps wording that specifically excludes Facilitated Communication or the Rapid Prompting Method. For more information, please see the following link, which includes cautions against Facilitated Communication and Rapid Prompting Method from dozens of organizations, including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, Association for Behavior Analysis, the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and more. https://www.asha.org/slp/cautions-against-use-of-fc-and-rpm-widely-shared/
The National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA) enthusiastically supports efforts to increase accessibility to Alternative and Assistive Communication (AAC) for those with minimal or no language. But we have grave concerns that House Bill 1047, as it is written, will be used to support the use of pseudoscientific interventions that fall under what speech pathologists refer to as "facilitated communication," which includes but is not limited to Spelling to Communicate (S2C) and the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM). More than three decades of research has confirmed that the products of FC are controlled (usually unconsciously) by the nondisabled assistant or facilitator -- like a ouija board. That is why virtually every relevant professional organization -- such as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Science in Autism Treatment and over a dozen other national and international organizations oppose all forms of FC. It is critical that the language of the IDEA, which requires that services and supports be evidence-based (meaning supported by peer-reviewed studies), be included in this bill. FC poses significant harm to students, most notably in terms of both financial and opportunity cost. A very recent study (January 2022) published in the journal Exceptional Children calculated that the Rapid Prompting Method costs school districts $32,159 per student the first year alone, and almost $28,000/year in ongoing support "with little evidence of positive outcomes." We thank you for your concern for our population, and urge you to amend this important bill to ensure that our kids receive only evidence-based interventions in Virginia schools. Thank you for the opportunity to submit comment -- Amy Lutz Vice-President, National Council on Severe Autism
We applaud the effort to ensure students who utilize AAC are included in general education. AAC is an evolving form of communication and there are problematic interventions that claim to be AAC that are not. That’s why it is critical that the language in IDEA, the requires services and supports to be based on peer-reviewed research as much as is practicable, be included in the bill. If controversial methods are implemented in general education classrooms, speech-language pathologists and behavior analysts could be in violation of their codes of ethics. Amendments: As used in this section, "augmentative and alternative communication" or "AAC" means any device, tool, support, or service, or any combination thereof, that facilitates any form of communication, other than oral speech, that can be used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas.. In accordance with with U.S.C. Section 1414(d)(1)(A), page 99, Services and supports related to AAC included in an individualized education plan shall be based on research-based methods as much as is practicable. No individualized education program team, member of such team, or school division employee shall solely utilize the results of any intelligence quotient test or any other test to measure intelligence or cognitive ability to determine a student with a disability's eligibility to be provided with and use AAC at school.
I am attaching a narrative in support of HB 1047. Thank you for your time- Crystal Ton
I love the intent of this bill, but I am concerned that the ASHA definition that is used at the top is too broad and does not reflect best practice. I think this bill would better serve children if it used the definition that added the necessity of evidence-base for the communication types. Otherwise, well-meaning school systems could train people on limiting forms of communication, such as facilitated communication because that is the easier and cheaper thing to do rather than what is best for the student. Speech therapists would then need to go against their ethics code to train people on the chosen system. Thank you for your attention.
I am writing in support of HB 1047 which would require timely training needed to use AAC devices. Communication is a basic human need. My friend's child uses an AAC device and her teachers in Fairfax County do not receive adequate timely training in order to allow the device to be used effectively. All students need and deserve basic communication between teachers and peers. Acknowledging that a child needs a device to communicate but failing to provide the training to use the device properly or in a timely manner prevents that child from accessing a free and appropriate public education. Please vote in support of HB 1047. Thank you.
I urge you to support HB 1047 for my daughter and students like her. I sent an email to the subcommittee earlier this week describing the difficulties we had getting our daughter identified for speech services in the first place, as well as the difficulties in implementing the methods needed to support her AAC device with fidelity once she was assigned one. We have continuously worked collaboratively with our daughter's IEP team, and we have had a very supportive administration of which we are very appreciative - but that collaboration has not been enough to overcome the barriers to effective implementation of AAC that result from a lack of timely access to necessary training. We have had years where our child's teachers weren't able to access training on our daughter's device until mid-October or mid-November. Months of learning opportunities are missed because teachers cannot effectively communicate in the students' AAC language. This bill will address that, within the bounds of IDEA's existing regulations, to ensure that appropriate training happens before a child enters the classroom. This is critical so that, from the first day of school, AAC users have access to the same social and academic opportunities as their non-disabled peers. I have worked to remedy this at a local level for some time, in coordination with other local families, and it has become clear that the state must require these changes in order for systemic change to occur for all preK-12 AAC users. This bill also brings to the forefront what IDEA already requires - that students not be denied access to a general education classroom due to their AAC status, and that IQ tests not be used to deny a child AAC supports. Communication is the key to accessing education and unveiling a student's capabilities. Please support Virginia's AAC user population and pass HB 1047 today. Thank you.
I strongly urge you to vote in favor of HB 1047. This bill is the right thing to do to support our most marginalized students. Some nonspeaking students in Virginia, like my 10 year old son, Nico, who has Angelman Syndrome, are fortunate to be born into families with the resources to seek out and provide them with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) privately, and to fight for their right to be supported in regular classrooms. Unfortunately, the vast majority of students in Virginia who are unable to be understood using speech are never given the right supports to learn to communicate effectively using language. When a nonspeaking student isn’t given the supports and training necessary for them to “prove” they can understand and communicate with language, educators all too often give up and assume they simply are too disabled to use language. They are given IQ tests that are not designed for people who cannot either speak or do not have reliable fine motor control to point or use a pencil. When they get a low IQ score, that is used against them. Those low IQ scores are used to essentially “blame” the student for their failure to learn to use AAC, when all that is needed is better training and supports. Even students with significant disabilities, like those with Angelman Syndrome, are capable of understanding and using language. This bill is also important because, currently, if a student needs AAC but hasn’t been given access to it, they are nearly always placed in a fully segregated setting. I am aware of fewer than a dozen nonspeaking students in the entire state of Virginia who are fully included, and my son is one of them, thanks to the significant advocacy my wife and I have had to devote to fighting for him to be included with his non-disabled peers. Even with all of our advocacy, knowledge and resources, we have never had staff who are properly trained to support our son's communication needs on the first day they work with him. This is the equivalent of hiring someone to teach French who does not themselves speak the language, and simply expecting them to pick it up as they go along. Why is it acceptable to assign untrained staff to support students like my son, when this would never be acceptable in any other part of our education system? In my current role as the chair of my local Special Education Advisory Committee, I see how students of color and those from families with far less privilege than my own are more frequently segregated and never given the opportunities to live up to their potential. This bill would begin to address those inequities by ensuring that educators are provided the training they need to support ALL AAC users, not just the most privileged. Finally, because I understand that some are arguing that this bill would create an “unfunded mandate,” I want to conclude by pointing out that this bill does not, in fact, create any additional obligations on school districts other than to ensure that training is provided to staff when they need it, rather than after the fact. No additional spending requirements will be imposed on school districts as they are already supposed to be training staff to support students’ use of AAC, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. HB 1047 is the right thing to do to support our most marginalized students, most of whom continue to lack access to the AAC they need to communicate, learn, and be members of their school community.
HB 1047 is supported by nearly three dozen state, local and national organizations, including major autism organizations (e.g., the Virginia Autism Project, Autism Society of Central Virginia, Autism Society of Northern Virginia, Autism Society Tidewater Virginia, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and NeuroClastic), Down syndrome and cerebral palsy organizations, and AAC-focused and disability-led organizations that are experts on AAC (e.g., the United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, the Association for Assistive Technology Act Programs, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, CommunicationFIRST, and TASH). Virginia’s teachers unions support it, including the Virginia Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers Virginia. It’s supported by speech-language pathologists, teachers of students who need and use AAC, the Virginia PTA, and families of the most disadvantaged and marginalized students in Virginia. The Arc of Virginia and the Virginia Board of People with Disabilities support it. It’s supported by AAC users and other people with disabilities, who really should be the main stakeholders you listen to on this topic. And it is supported by allies of AAC users who believe that communication is a basic human right. This is an incredibly modest bill. To oppose it would send the message that the General Assembly and the people of Virginia believe the most marginalized and vulnerable students don’t have the same right to communicate as other students. It would send the message that the Subcommittee believes that people who can’t speak don’t have the potential to learn and succeed in life. It would convey that you don’t care whether people who can’t speak are ever given the tools and supports they need to communicate, to be educated, to be employed, and to live productive, meaningful lives. It would convey that you believe that people who cannot speak aren’t worthy of being seen or educated alongside nondisabled students. And if you oppose it because you buy into the lobbyist talking point that this would create an unfunded mandate, you’d be conveying that you aren’t aware that nearly all of the bill’s requirements – including the requirement to provide training to support educators who teach AAC users – are already embedded in existing federal law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s assistive technology provisions. This bill would simply ensure that the AAC and training are provided when teachers and the student actually need it, to avoid situations like Calvin’s, where school staff and students are set up to fail. As the House budget office has already determined, this bill would in fact have zero budgetary impact. Calling HB 1047 an unfunded mandate, as some lobbyists are doing, is both disingenuous and patently false. Read the bill. And support our most marginalized students in Virginia, the vast majority of whom are never provided access to robust, language-based AAC, are never given the opportunity to learn alongside and make friends with their nondisabled peers, are given IQ tests that simply are not evidence-based for them, and have low IQ scores weaponized against them to try to justify the denial of AAC and forced segregation. Students who need AAC in Virginia need this bill, and I encourage you to do the right thing for these most marginalized students and vote in favor of HB 1047. – Tauna Szymanski, JD, MPA
HB 1047 must pass. Access to appropriate communication modalities is both a human right and a safety issue. Access isn't just handing a device to a child just as inclusion isn't just placing a disabled child in a GenEd setting with no supports. Inclusion is a verb, not a noun. Inclusion is action that makes learning accessible to an array of diverse learners. Inclusion is not where a child is sitting, but how a child is able to access learning. It is not possible for a nonspeaker with a device to learn in a classroom with a teacher who does not understand the child's language. One of the objections we hear relentlessly at NDLC is that when neurodivergent children are included in general ed classrooms, they distract abled students, as though classrooms are the providence of abled people that disabled children are invading. The reason disabled children sometimes distract abled children is the segregation paradigm pervasive in education. Neurodivergent children aren't inherently distracting, unless neurotypical children have no exposure to them. Anything one has not seen or experienced can be distracting. The answer to that is more exposure to nonspeakers in classrooms, not less. One of the arguments oft repeated by those who opposed racial integration in schools was concern White students would be distracted by Black students. We've hear this trope resurrected with every group society seeks to exclude. Nonspeakers are a group with some of the highest rates of restraint and seclusion. When a child isn't able to communicate, often they will the only way they are able, through behavior. Then, rather than seeing the adult failure to appropriately accommodate the child, the child is punished. Far too often, inability to use words to communicate is the impetus for excluding nonspeaking children from general ed. The choice to remove a child from the rest of us isn't determined on the child's needs, but adult decisions. My 15 year old son is autistic and was nonspeaking. He wasn't offered an AAC until 4th grade, and then when we sent him in with a device, nobody in his classroom understood his language. So he was hurt, then angry, then segregated, then locked alone in a seclusion cell hundreds of times. No problems were solved through that locked door. He wasn't seen or heard because the people around him couldn't understand his language. Then he was locked alone, without his device, in a void, punished for his teachers' inability to interact with him. These weren't bad people; they simply weren't trained. So he moved from one restrictive environment to more restrictive environments. He was alone, inside and outside of his seclusion cell. He was invisible. This is a common experience for this population. Communication is a fundamental human right, so is inclusion. We can't continue excluding nonspeaking children from education and life. They need us to see them, to hear them, to know them. Thurgood Marshall opined in the Brown v Board decision, "separate is inherently unequal." Nonspeaking children have a right to a fully supported inclusion education. That's not just handing them an AAC and sliding a desk into a room. Inclusion is helping them be wherever they are capable of being with whatever supports are needed. They shouldn't have to leave us to be supported. We need to keep nonspeakers with us, because they belong with us. They have a right to be seen and understood. Pass HB 1047. We stand with nonspeakers.
Please vote YES to HB 1047! I'm a former elementary school teacher and a mother of a child who uses AAC. I know all too well that students who cannot access communication are more likely to be segregated from their non-disabled peers. The inability to speak is often falsely equated to low intelligence. This bill will help guard against placing AAC users in more restricted environments. It will also ensure that our educators have the training they need (and often request), so they are able to appropriately include and support their students who use AAC to communicate. Thank you for making this happen!
Please support HB 1047 and students like Calvin. Earlier this week, Lindsay and I sent the subcommittee personal emails describing our son’s experience in classrooms where his team was untimely and inadequately trained in how to support his use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). We have been advocating for change in AAC training at the local level for more than three years, and we come to this body for a resolution that we couldn’t obtain through repeated attempts at collaboration with Virginia’s largest school district. Through our advocacy with and for our son, we have learned that students in other districts often go without teachers and staff who are trained in a timely manner. In addition, we have learned that AAC users are often deprived meaningful educational opportunities because of unnecessary segregation and the use of intelligence-based testing to determine who needs and gets to use AAC. Passing HB 1047 would ensure that students who need and use AAC don’t experience these unnecessary barriers, and enjoy the benefits of a well-trained classroom team. As parents of a child who—based on his specific brain malformation—shouldn’t be able to communicate with language, we know that there is value in testing limits and changing expectations. Despite his diagnosis, Lindsay and I spent months learning and using American Sign Language to communicate with Calvin, with hopes that he would someday pick it up. And we remember the first time he used ASL spontaneously to comment that he saw a dog. From that point forward, we continued to push limits and change our own expectations, and Calvin accelerated in his expressive language skills at home via an AAC device and meaningful AAC experiences. But when he entered the public school system full time, he plateaued, and in some respects regressed, because he lacked access to well-trained teachers and staff who could provide meaningful language modeling. Lindsay and I enjoy collaborating with Calvin’s IEP team. But we don’t have access to staff training records. We don’t have access to a list of the training modules the school district provides its employees. And even if we had access to that information, we usually learn who is assigned to Calvin’s classroom only about a week before school begins. To expect us and other parents to be able to advocate for timely training for our children by using the IEP process—as some opponents to this bill have suggested—isn’t a fix and shows that some people don’t know how long the IEP process takes. By contrast, based on their knowledge of the school district’s training opportunities and the skill level of their teachers and staff, school administrators can ensure that appropriate AAC training is identified and scheduled when they make classroom assignments. There is no law or regulation that prevents school administrators from doing this and setting up their teachers, staff, and students for success. Finally, nothing in this bill requires school districts to spend additional funds to comply with its requirements—that is, unless a school division currently is shirking its existing obligations to train its teachers and staff to teach and support AAC users. HB 1047 simply requires school divisions to shift when they provide such training to a time that will ensure that teachers, staff, and students who use AAC benefit from our public school system, just like other students. We look forward to you voting in support of this bill.
My name is Elizabeth Altieri and I am a professor of special education at Radford University in southwest Virginia. I have decades of experience training teachers how to teach ALL students, regardless of their support needs. I also co-direct the VDOE-funded Virginia Inclusive Practices Center, which provides training to teachers around the Commonwealth. In 2018, I was elected to and continue to serve on my local School Board. I strongly urge you to pass HB 1047. In my work with schools locally and around the Commonwealth, I have found that teachers are desperate to know how to better support students who need AAC, both with their communication and with their academic and social inclusion. I have also found time and time again that many educators automatically and incorrectly assume that people who cannot speak with their mouths can’t understand and learn to use language to communicate. IQ tests aren’t evidence-based for this population, and yet they are routinely given to nonspeakers, and the resulting low scores are used to deny both AAC and inclusion. Even though HB 1047 is a modest bill (I believe more is truly necessary to begin to level the playing field for the most vulnerable students in Virginia), I do believe it’s an important first step to supporting teachers. The bill is not onerous, is easily achievable, is NOT in fact an unfunded mandate (AAC training is currently required under the IDEA but often does not happen in a timely fashion, or at all), and is supported by families and teachers alike. This is the first bill in Virginia that will begin to address the significant unmet needs of students who need and use AAC. Please keep in mind that these students aren’t represented by expensive lobbyists. I strongly encourage you to support this very modest piece of legislation.
I am an elementary school special education teacher who supports HB 1047, because school divisions need to know that they can’t send teachers and staff into a classroom with an AAC user and expect everyone to just figure it out (like they did me). In addition, as someone who currently teaches an AAC user in the general education setting, I support this bill’s goal to ensure that AAC users are not unnecessarily segregated from their peers, and I support clarifying that intelligence-based exam results cannot be used in assessing whether students need or use AAC, as such results lack any evidentiary basis for use in students. In 2019, I was excited to teach an AAC user for the first time. What a fun and exciting challenge and a new way for me to learn to interact with people. I knew to request training in AAC because his parents told me I should request it. I got a few hours of training 4 days before school began on what core vocabulary was and a little bit of the philosophy behind AAC devices in general. I did not receive training on the specific device my student was using until November, nearly 3 full months into the school year. Further, the training I received was not at the level needed to provide a quality education to my AAC user from day one in the classroom. I had to figure a lot out as I went along. I was supposed to be educating this child, but instead I was experimenting on him to figure out what worked and what did not work in my attempts to understand and communicate with him. As an educator one of my top priorities is ensuring that my students feel welcome and have fun and meaningful experiences at school. How am I supposed to make a student feel welcome when I am not effectively communicating with them? It was hard and frustrating, and I felt like I wasted a good portion of the kid’s kindergarten year trying to learn what I needed to do to provide the high-quality education that other students were getting. I have gotten the opportunity to support this child again this year in 2nd grade. I think I have gotten a little better at it, after a year and a half of working with this AAC user, but, admittedly, it is his parents that provide me much of my useful training, not the school district. I cannot image what parents who do not have the means to advocate for their children with the school district or have the ability to provide on the job training to the teachers supporting their child must be going through. For them we need to make sure effective AAC training happens before school begins. What I want, more than anything else (including a raise) is to get the support I need to effectively do my job. It is hard and demoralizing to constantly tread water and to feel like you are wasting a child’s primary education. Educators want your help and support to teach all their students. That support must include effective training for AAC users. I ask that you support HB 1047 and its commonsense approach to ensuring that teachers and staff are ready to teach and support AAC users in our schools.
Please support HB 1047 by voting YES! It is critically important that ALL students have access to communication and education. Those who require augmentative and alternative communication devices should not be prevented from education and access merely because they use a device to communicate. All students deserve an equitable education and all humans deserve to speak and be heard. Thank you, Diane Cooper-Gould
Dear Members of the House Education- Early Childhood/Innovation Subcommittee, Please VOTE YES on HB1047. My three children are able to communicate without supports, and they struggle to get their needs met in school. I can only imagine how much harder the children who communicate in alternative ways have to fight to access their education and communicate meaningfully with their teachers and classmates. Every child, no matter how they communicate, has the right to access the school curriculum and communicate using their augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This issue is important to me because our obligation is to provide FAPE to every child, and every teacher deserves the training and supports they need to best meet the needs of their students. Students who need AAC are often denied the supports they need based on unwarranted assumptions about their potential. This bill is a modest but important first step to ensuring that teachers get the resources and training they need to support all their students, including those who need AAC. It would help ensure that students who cannot speak have the same opportunities to reach their potential as all other students. I want all my children's classmates to receive true access to education, and having the ability to communicate back and forth with their teachers is crucial. Please Vote YES on HB1047. Sincerely, Lauren McCaughey, parent
Minimally or non-verbal students must be given access to communication from DAY 1. My son suffered a brain tumor surgery and chemotherapy, limiting his communication. AAC was an equitable way to demonstrate skills he could not through typing or writing. Of 54 teachers and staff members, 7 had experience or training on any AAC option. Even though included in the IEP, my son did not receive a device for 4 months after identification and purchasing individually is incredibly cost prohibitive. Despite many forms of therapy and accommodation, AAC was the essential to progressing. Virtual school was not possible without adaptive technology. Please vote in favor.
My name is Janna Dressel and I live in Arlington. As a former special education teacher and a parent of a 6th grader who relies on multiple forms of AAC and has extensive support needs, I am writing to encourage you to vote in support of HB 1047. In both my professional and personal experience, including as past-president of the district-wide Arlington Special Education PTA, teachers receive insufficient training and resources to support and teach students who need and use AAC. I have had to learn a great deal about AAC as a parent, and my family is fortunate enough to have the resources to allow me to take time off from teaching so I can support my son's own education and inclusion in school. I spend a lot of unpaid time training and supporting the teachers and other educators who have my son in their classes. Students who need AAC who come from families who don't have the resources like mine to be able to learn about and provide their child with AAC and to train and support their child's school teams are often left behind. My son is currently enrolled in general education classes for all subject areas, but that unfortunately is still the exception rather than the norm for AAC users, even in Arlington. Most AAC users in Virginia that are fully included in regular classes are those from privileged families who have the resources to advocate and support the school teams teaching their children. AAC and inclusion opportunities for students who cannot speak should not be reserved only for the most privileged. This bill would begin to level the playing field for nonspeakers, and would begin to address teachers’ calls for the need for more training to support AAC users. I urge you to pass HB 1047. Thank you.
Good morning. My name is Dr. Yoosun Chung. I apologize that I cannot present this testimony live this morning. I am an associate professor of assistive technology program in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. I am also the past president of the United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. I live in Fairfax with my husband and two children. I came to America to study abroad after I graduated high school in South Korea. I was the first person in Korea at that time, who earned a doctoral degree, as a person with cerebral palsy. Without my AAC, I would not have been able to earn my doctoral degree, and, nor, teach students at a university. As both an AAC user, and, as a professional who focuses on researching and supporting the use of AAC for students who need it, I strongly urge, you to pass HB 1047. This bill is a very modest and achievable first step, for thousands of students in Virginia, who don’t yet have meaningful access to robust, language-based AAC, due to misguided assumptions about their capacity to learn and use language, and, due to lack of teacher training. This bill will ensure that, both educators and students receive the supports they need to communicate effectively, and, have the same opportunities at school as students without speech difficulties. HB 1047 is the right thing to do, and it’s achievable. Thank you very much for listening to my earnest testimony.
Dear Members of the House Education- Early Childhood/Innovation Subcommittee Please VOTE YES on HB1047. Every child, no matter how they communicate, has the right to access the school curriculum and communicate using their augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This issue is important to me because 1) Says that a student who needs or uses AAC cannot be denied access to regular classrooms or age-appropriate academic instruction on the basis that the student needs support with AAC; 2) Says IQ scores cannot be used to decide whether the student can be provided with AAC at school; and 3) Says that school staff will be provided timely training in how to support a student’s use of AAC, and in how to design instruction to accommodate their unique communication access needs. 4) As defined in the bill, "augmentative and alternative communication" or "AAC" means any device, tool, support, or service, or any combination thereof, that facilitates any form of communication, other than oral speech, that can be used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. 5) We believe any way that a student communicates should be supported. Students who need AAC are often denied the supports they need based on unwarranted assumptions about their potential. This bill is a modest but important first step to ensuring that teachers get the resources and training they need to support students who need AAC. It would help ensure that students who cannot speak have the same opportunities to reach their potential as all other students. Please Vote YES on HB1047. signed g-rod and arc of nrv advocates! \
Dear Members of the House Education- Early Childhood/Innovation Subcommittee Please VOTE YES on HB1047. Every child, no matter how they communicate, has the right to access the school curriculum and communicate using their augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This issue is important to me because,_____________(insert anything you want to add)_ Students who need AAC are often denied the supports they need based on unwarranted assumptions about their potential. This bill is a modest but important first step to ensuring that teachers get the resources and training they need to support students who need AAC. It would help ensure that students who cannot speak have the same opportunities to reach their potential as all other students. Please Vote YES on HB1047. signed, g-rod and arc of nrv aodvcates!
Washington Speech-Language Pathology Group supports both HB1047 and HB1246 because we believe both bills would provide benefits necessary to the health, safety and welfare of the Virginia disabilities community. HB 1246 would greatly benefit students by providing them with essential tools to further their learning. Our speech-language pathology practice treats many children and adults who would benefit from the passage of HB1047. AAC devices are an essential communication tool for those who are non-verbal and those whose ability to verbalize is significantly impaired. It is our experience that the use of AAC devices can motivate speech acquisition. This is well documented in the literature, On behalf of our patients, their parents or caregivers, we lend our support to both bills and encourage swift passage. Thank you for the opportunity to be heard.
We support HB1047 ! HB1047 Provides that no student who needs or uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), shall be denied the opportunity for inclusion in regular classrooms or the provision of age-appropriate instruction on the basis that such student may require support with AAC. 1) Says that a student who needs or uses AAC cannot be denied access to regular classrooms or age-appropriate academic instruction on the basis that the student needs support with AAC; 2) Says IQ scores cannot be used to decide whether the student can be provided with AAC at school; and 3) Says that school staff will be provided timely training in how to support a student’s use of AAC, and in how to design instruction to accommodate their unique communication access needs. 4) As defined in the bill, "augmentative and alternative communication" or "AAC" means any device, tool, support, or service, or any combination thereof, that facilitates any form of communication, other than oral speech, that can be used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. 5) We believe any way that a student communicates should be supported.
Despite the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), kids without spoken language are often not given access to alternative means of communication. HB 1047 will help assure that students, in accordance with IDEA, will be provided access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC); that teachers/staff will receive the necessary training; that students will not be denied access to AAC based on IQ tests; and that these students will not be denied the opportunity for inclusion in regular classrooms or the provision of age-appropriate instruction because they may need support with AAC. Please vote yes on this bill. It is good for students and families and it is good for our communities! We need to hear the "voices" of all students, including those who communicate in ways other than the spoken word. You can "hear" some of these voices in this 5 minute video made by and with non-speaking autistic people. https://youtu.be/H7dca7U7GI8
Dear Members of the House Education- Early Childhood/Innovation Subcommittee Please VOTE YES on HB1047. Every child, no matter how they communicate, has the right to access the school curriculum and communicate using their augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Students who need AAC are often denied the supports they need based on unwarranted assumptions about their potential. This bill is a modest but important first step to ensuring that teachers get the resources and training they need to support students who need AAC. It would help ensure that students who cannot speak have the same opportunities to reach their potential as all other students. Please Vote YES on HB1047. Sincerely, Erin Whitt
I feel it is long past time to consider the needs of students who need assistive devices in order to access a Free Appropriate Public Education. It is my understanding the Delegate's Tran's legislation would be instrumental in making sure that these students are fully considered throughout the Commonwealth's public schools. For too long, solutions for students with these needs have been determined by relying on voluntary efforts by educators and families alike. While the percentage of such students may seem small, the individual impact is what truly matters. I urge you all to move for passage of this bill and make sure it gets passed by both branches of the General Assembly and is then signed into law by the Governor.
I support HB1047, HB319, HB418, and HB419.
Please pass this bill! Many students need augmentative and alternative communication if they are to learn. A little investment will have a big impact!
HB1064 - Public School Trades Incentive Fund and Program; created and established, rules and procedures.
HB1135 - Standards of Quality; DOE to oversee work-based learning, teacher leaders and mentors.
Why now is the time to reach our Standards of Quality State aid for public education is still down from 2009 levels. This means local divisions are left paying more than what is required by localities in the state’s primary funding formula. High poverty divisions and divisions with the most students of color struggle to make up these funds, resulting in vast inequities in educational opportunity across the state. Schools are struggling to provide adequate staffing, resulting in insufficient counselors, social workers, instructional aides, and administrative and custodial staff. The pandemic has only widened these gaps, and students need full and fair school funding more than ever before. Solution In the fall of 2021, the Virginia Board of Education issued a set of Standards of Quality (SOQs) recommendations which, if funded, would go far to increase educational opportunity for Virginia’s children. This is just the minimum the state Board says is necessary to meet the state’s constitutional duty to ensure a high quality education for Virginia’s students. It is now up to the General Assembly to adopt these SOQs, and fully fund it. The act would: Increase funding for school counselors to ensure there is one counselor for every 250 students. Increase funding for English learner students based on proficiency. Increase a host of other critical support positions in schools and programing. Why Funding the SOQs Matters The Education Law Center finds that K-12 funding per student is basically flat in Virginia between the highest and lowest poverty school divisions. Experts note it can cost as much as 40% more to educate a student in poverty than a student not in poverty. For students to receive the full benefits of a comprehensive school counseling program, school counselors’ caseloads should not exceed 250 students. Students have the right to a high-quality education. Our underinvestment of our students today will have damaging implications for their future.I’m
My name is Emily VanDerhoff. I am a 1st grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools and am a proud member of my union, the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, AFT 2401. On behalf of my union, I am asking you to support Delegate Bourne's bill, HB 1135. It is time for the General Assembly to fully-fund the Virginia Board of Education's Standards of Quality so that we can fully-staff our schools with the recommended rations for critical positions such has school counselors and teachers of English Learners. We strongly encourage you to pass this bill. We also want to thank Delegate Bourne for sponsoring this important legislation. Thank you.
Please vote in SUPPORT of HB1135. With the strain on public schools from covid related issues and loss of teachers and staff, we need to step up the establishment of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs and improving the ratios of students to teachers especially where schools have high numbers of low-income students. Also, we should have a way to provide extra compensation to teachers in those schools that are particularly challenging as an incentive to help recruit and retain teachers in those schools. We need to ensure there are experienced teachers in those particularly challenging schools and have more appropriate teacher leaders and mentors to help less experienced teachers grow into valuable and experienced teachers. We also need to have funds to support low income, at-risk and English language learner students, employing reading specialists and other full-time staff in each school. These could include specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, depending on the need at each school.
Virginia schools desperately need adequate funding to meet the needs of all students. This bill would take us much closer to achieving that goal. We need our youth to be competitive with their peers in other states and that requires fully funding the support needed to get there. I wholeheartedly support this bill.
I believe that education is a fundamental human right, and that all students should have the same high-quality education regardless of their income level or their zip code. Virginia needs to fully fund the Standards of Quality to close the gaps between schools in rich and poor districts and ensure that all students have equal access to teachers, counselors, and other support staff. I urge members of the committee to support HB 1135 and fully invest in the future of Virginia’s students.
The Standards of Quality have never been fully funded by the General Assembly, that means the state is failing to meet its constitutional obligation to provide all students in Virginia with a quality public education. With schools continuing to struggle due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now is a crucial time for Virginia to take this important step towards supporting our students and school personnel. Students in our state deserve better. Support HB1135 to take a step in the right direction!
HB1215 - Public middle schools; physical education to include personal safety training.
Please move to report HB344, HB346, HB356, HB789, HB1188, HB221, HB340, HB1125, HB1215, HB988, HB1023, HB1093. Please gently PBI HB486 so that academic merits ONLY decide who gets in.
HB1246 - School divisions, local; work group to recommend ways to procure accessible digital tools.
Very import
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB 1034. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. I have worked in two different public school systems in Virginia over 13 years, and I have seen first hand how beneficial counseling services can be to a wide variety of students. If parents are allowed to prohibit their students from accessing counseling services in the school, these students may be cut off from not only critical mental health support, but but also the academic, career, and community support that school counselors and mental health team members provide. All members of a school mental health team must undergo rigorous education before obtaining their licenses, and as such they should be trusted as the professionals they are to provide only services that they deem necessary for students well-being. I strongly urge you to let the trained mental health professionals do their jobs. Don't make students get tied in the mire of adult squibbles. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on HB HB1032. As a public high school school teacher and parent of two young children (ages 5 and 2) in Virginia, I have serious concerns that this bill will wind up doing more harm than good for the children of our state. As VA Senator Peterson said on January 27 of this year, regarding a similar bill, "I don't think we should be involved in micromanaging school libraries...The problem is that you’re going to sweep up books that you don’t intend to sweep up" (Matthew Barakat, abcnews.go.com). I strongly urge you to leave the books in the libraries for the kids. They deserve to have the opportunity to decide with their own parents and personal support systems what books to read. Thank you, Sara Watkins Mother Teacher Concerned Virginia Citizen
Students with disabilities use the same education technology as their peers. While there is a robust market for education technology, accessibility for students with disabilities is not a factor in the product selection process by Virginia school boards, despite the existence of widespread accessibility standards for over twenty years. As a result, school boards are purchasing technology that cannot be used by students with disabilities. Since much of a student’s academic experience is tied to technology deployed by schools (including classroom materials, testing, portals for grades, and homework), it is critical for these products to be accessible to students with disabilities. With the recent shift to virtual learning during the pandemic, this access challenge for students with disabilities has increased. Currently, teachers are forced to develop one-off solutions to address systemic challenges with technology acquisitions made at the district level. HB 1247 proposes that the Department of Education convene a work group that would provide input and recommendations on the provision of accessible digital tools in the classroom. The study group will examine the problem and propose solutions to the procurement of accessible technology. Many organizations support this bill, including the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia, the Parents of Blind Children, the Disability Law Center and many others. We would appreciate favorable consideration.
VCASE appreciates Del. Tran connecting with us on this HB1246. VCASE supports the substitute for HB1246 that has a stakeholder workgroup study and recommend policy changes ensuring the accessibility of learning and management educational platforms obtained by local divisions through the procurement process. All platforms used by school divisions for instruction should be accessible in compliance with the Rehabilitation Act, section 508. This has been required federal law with required compliance effective for several years. Amendments to the Virginia Procurement Act could also strengthen statewide accessibility requirements. Thank you!
I’m Ally Kelso, a high school student from Burke. I’m a blind student who uses a screen reader to access online class work during school. Often times, the website or Digital materials I need to access in class are very difficult to navigate or incompatible with my screen reader. One example of this issue is when I had to take the online economics and personal finance class that all Virginia high school students are required to take. The website was quite inaccessible and I ended up needing my mom to read and fill in my dictated answers for quizzes and tests so that I could complete the course. This situation would’ve been avoidable if my county had ensured that the virtual Virginia website, which I used for the class, met all of the website accessibility guidelines. Last year, when my county was doing virtual school, I faced difficulties navigating blackboard collaborate ultra, the county’s virtual meeting platform of choice, because of the platform’s inaccessibility. I couldn’t hear what my classmates were typing in the chat box when I was typing things in the chat box simultaneously and I was not able to navigate to the links that teachers placed inside the chat box either which made it difficult for me to participate in class discussions and obtain class work at the same time as my peers. Once again, these situations would not have occurred in my county if The current website accessibility guidelines and standards we’re implemented. When I am not able to access materials and school just like my classmates, I lose my independence and my drive to work extremely hard. The passage of HB 1246 would fix these challenges for me and other visually impaired Virginia students. All disabled students in Virginia would benefit from this legislation and would be able to thrive in school and beyond. Thank you for your time.
I am writing in strong support of HB1246 and why it's passage is so very important to me and to Virginia students. This legislation is vital to the education of children who are blind or have other disabilities. These students use the same education technology as their peers to access their classes, materials, information and grades. While there is a vast market for educational portals, platforms, websites and digital apps, accessibility for students with disabilities is often overlooked or not a factor in the product selection process by Virginia school boards. As a result school boards are purchasing technology that cannot be used by students with disabilities. Since the majority of a student's assignments are done online using digital methods for testing, classwork and homework, portals for accessing those materials, grades and school information, it is critical for these products to be accessible to all students, including those with disabilities. The pandemic has simply exacerbated the accessibility challenges and will compound as education and society continues to advance in technology uses in all areas of school, work and life. Sharing a story about my own daughter, who is blind and identifies as a person with Autism who will graduate this year with a 4.0 GPA. Prior to taking legal action seven years ago, she would sit in classes confused and lost due to inaccessible digital platforms & materials (even experienced computer users and trainers for the blind could not access them). We had to retain legal assist., eventually settling with the school district (different district than we currently live) who ended up employing extra staff specifically to make all digital materials accessible to her. We still have staff in place to insure accessibility. Once she had accessible materials she is able to complete work independently in classes with a 4.0 GPA and going to college in the fall. Currently, the responsibility of adapting materials are often being pushed onto classroom teachers and teachers for the visually impaired are spending a considerable amount of time adapting digital materials, coming at a hefty price tag to divisions, let alone the stress and burnout. Other times parents and divisions are spending immeasurable hours through the dispute res. processes, at a hefty price tag and enormous stress to parents, school divisions and staff. Going through dispute resolution and due process is not only financially and emotionally devastating to everyone involved but is costing valuable time and undue and extreme distress to the student. Why HB 1246? It shifts accountability to education technology vendors! First, the bill will require local school boards to include accessibility requirements in the procurement process. Second, the bill will require that vendors indemnify the purchaser for costs arising from any lack of product accessibility. Third, the bill will require school boards to prioritize the purchase of education technology that best meets accessibility standards while taking into consideration costs and lack of alternatives. Fourth, the bill will require vendors to remediate inaccessibility issues within 180 days’ notice. Finally, the bill will require that school boards and the Dept. of Ed. track accessibility and remediation efforts and make such information publicly available to all school boards. Your support is vital to the education of blind and disabled children. Thank you.
As a parent and volunteer advocate for other parents, I am writing in SUPPORT OF HB 1246, a bill which promotes accessible design of educational technology. This bill is much needed to provide access for students and adults with disabilities; however, in reality, accessible design benefits everyone. A concrete ramp benefits people in wheelchairs, but parents with strollers rely on the same ramps. Likewise, accessible design of educational technology not only provides access to people with disabilities, but it also provides greater ease of access for nondisabled people who suffer from eye fatigue after reading screen after screen or need a little magnification to see clearly or audio to multitask. Unlike the ADA, IDEA, and 504 which were all passed long before the computer age, this HB 1246 incorporates specific Web Content Accessibility Guidelines that provide much needed direction which helps districts meet the broad goals of established disability rights legislation; while other legislation provides the What, HB 1246 provides the much needed How. Unlike other legislation which requires costly lawsuits, this legislation proactively utilizes the crucial relationship between buyer and vendor, and relies on the natural implications of economics to motivate edtech vendors to create products according to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This bill will also help reduce staffing shortages (a need identified by the JLARC Study) by enabling direct, independent access rather than wasting precious staffing hours on teacher-created/facilitated retrofits which are neither efficient nor effective. While pre-digital era legislation proposes that separate can be equal, this legislation acknowledges the field-leveling potential of technology and establishes the need for accessible design as the default state of educational technology. Please support this important bill. Thank you.
I support HB 1246 Kimberly Drudge I believe that accessible technology is important as a blind high school student. I need access to all materials, whether on the internet or on my computer. When I was in middle school, particularly sixth and seventh grade, materials were almost always given to me in an inaccessible format, particularly on the computer. I have a teacher for the blind and visually impaired, or a TVI for short, who adapts things for me in Braille or accessible documents if the assignments are not on an accessible website, which is a lot of things. When I was in middle school, I had no idea how to access my work. I would sit in class, confused and not able to understand what was going on. The teachers would go at a very fast pace and I would get so frustrated and I always felt behind. Currently I use a website called Schoology to get to my digital assignments once they have been adapted by my TVI or teacher and posted on there. Schoology is somewhat accessible but not completely. When it's time to take a test, however, if the test is on Schoology it is inaccessible. When using the testing on Schoology when I click on the answer I want according to what, a different answer would actually get selected and I would not know until after the test was submitted. This is just one of many examples of why accessible technology is important. There are so many programs that are used in school that are not accessible and it makes it so hard to try and keep up and stay positive in school. Luckily, I have a science teacher and a Spanish teacher who understand my needs and take the time to make tests and assignments accessible for me but I know that my teachers are overwhelmed and so busy. All technology that is used in schools should already be accessible so we all can learn and so the teachers don't have to do so much extra work. Your support to HB 1246 is extremely important to me and the disability community. I believe accessible technology needs to improve not just for blind or visually-impaired people, but for people of all types of disabilities.
Dear Delegates, I am writing in support of HB 1246, which promotes accessibility of educational technology. I am a parent, a volunteer parent advocate, and constituent of Delegate Tran who has graciously allowed me to help write this bill. I have directly witnessed ways in which district-procured digital content, when not designed to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, prevents access for students who could otherwise independently access apps, websites, and other digital content if that content was designed according to standards set forth in Section 508. I have also been contacted directly by fellow parents and educators who have witnessed and experienced similar barriers for students and parents. These barriers existed pre-pandemic, were only exacerbated by distance learning, and continue today in both virtual and in-person settings. Forced to choose between pouring time, money, and energy into a lawsuit or investing those resources directly into my own children, I chose my children, and as a result, my children are fabulous readers and avid learners who have advanced academic and technology skills. Many others are not so lucky. Fortunately, my family, unlike most others, is able to privately provide an appropriate education without the help of the public schools. However, though I thank God for the unexpected route our lives have taken, I know that my child and all students with disabilities have the civil right to a free and appropriate public education alongside friends and neighbors. So I am here. To ask you to pass the first disability rights legislation which is founded on principles of capitalism: simple direction which acknowledges that our economy depends on private owners, including educational technology vendors, who create products for profit according to the specifications of the buyer. Until that buyer specifies the need for accessibility in the procurement process, vendors have little natural motivation to create accessible products. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the stance of the School Board Association, even well-intentioned educators need direction and accountability to do what is right for students with disabilities. Please support this important bill which will communicate and promote our country’s values, not only of capitalism, education, and a system of checks and balances, but of bipartisan collaboration in support of people with disabilities, a population which makes up roughly 25% of our great nation. Thank you. Donna Genelin
Please pass HB 1246. Virtual learning was a mixed bag in our house. In some ways, the lack of distractions and one-on-one support to model our daughter's AAC device really improved her ability to access the curriculum, and she made significant progress. In other ways, virtual learning showcased how utterly inaccessible educational technology is to a student with complex communication and motor needs. Our daughter has a global motor planning disorder, which means her body often does not move the way she wants it to, and it can take years of practice to learn new motor plans. She did not walk until she was 3.5 years old, after years of physical therapy. Her fine motor skills are also impacted significantly, along with her oral speech. Our district has relied heavily on educational programs like ST Math and Imagine Learning - both of which are inaccessible to someone with fine motor deficits. We spent much of virtual learning having to figure out supports on our own, as school staff didn't know how to make these programs accessible either. That onus shouldn't be on school staff or families. It must be on the companies who create the programs. Please support HB 1246 to ensure this responsibility lies with the creators, and not the consumers. Thank you
The Commonwealth of Virginia and the US Federal government have for 15+ years had a commitment to procure accessible information and communication technology to ensure a diverse and inclusive environment. However, this has not been the case of school systems in Virginia. School systems still treat access to technology by students with disabilities as a one-off accommodation. In practical terms this means that students don’t have timely access to the same digital materials as their peers and adaption is costly and time intensive for teachers of the blind and visually impaired. Digital accessibility is readily achievable and there are many applications that are born accessible to people with disabilities. However, there is no process in place to require accessibility be considered during the procurement process and there is no incentive for education tech companies to make their products and services accessible because no one has held them accountable. This bill would increase access and inclusion to children with disabilities and parents with disabilities. I support the bill which does not cost the commonwealth money but will hold vendors accountable for inaccessible and exclusionary software – yet allowing flexibility for purchase of not fully accessible technology based on lack of market availability.
The National Federation of the Blind of Virginia is Virginia’s largest and most active membership organization for people who are blind or low vision. Students (and their parents) from across Virginia are struggling because the technology used for their academic experience does not work with the assistive technology deployed by their schools. These students use the same education technology as their peers. While there is a robust market for education technology, accessibility for students with disabilities is not a factor in the product selection process by Virginia school boards, despite the existence of widespread accessibility standards for over twenty years. As a result, school boards are purchasing technology that cannot be used by students with disabilities. Since much of a student’s academic experience is tied to technology deployed by schools (including classroom materials, testing, portals for grades, and homework), it is critical for these products to be accessible to students with disabilities. With the recent shift to virtual learning during the pandemic, this access challenge for students with disabilities has increased. Currently, teachers are forced to develop one-off solutions to address systemic challenges with technology acquisitions made at the district level. HB 1246 shifts accountability to education technology vendors. First, the bill will require local school boards to include accessibility requirements in the procurement process. Second, the bill will require that vendors indemnify the purchaser for costs arising from any lack of product accessibility. Third, the bill will require school boards to prioritize the purchase of education technology that best meets accessibility standards while taking into consideration costs and lack of alternatives. Fourth, the bill will require vendors to remediate inaccessibility issues within 180 days’ notice. Finally, the bill will require that school boards and the Department of Education track accessibility and remediation efforts and make such information publicly available to all school boards. The National Federation of the Blind of Virginia fully supports HB1246 and urge its passage.
The Arc of Northern Virginia strongly supports Delegate Tran's bill, HB1246. This bill is critical to ensuring technologies used in public school settings are accessible to students with disabilities. The IDEA passed more than 40 years ago but the need for this bill is further proof of how we continue to struggle to adequately include and support students with disabilities. We heard from families during the pandemic where their blind children were only provided written (non-Braille material) and from people whose children had fine motor deficits who couldn't manipulate the apps needed for virtual classrooms. As a result, those students began losing hard won skills and couldn't move forward. We must pass this bill to ensure the eye of equity and inclusion is provided as schools develop and roll out new student technologies.
I am in support of bill HB1246. It must be passed. Thank you.
Washington Speech-Language Pathology Group supports both HB1047 and HB1246 because we believe both bills would provide benefits necessary to the health, safety and welfare of the Virginia disabilities community. HB 1246 would greatly benefit students by providing them with essential tools to further their learning. Our speech-language pathology practice treats many children and adults who would benefit from the passage of HB1047. AAC devices are an essential communication tool for those who are non-verbal and those whose ability to verbalize is significantly impaired. It is our experience that the use of AAC devices can motivate speech acquisition. This is well documented in the literature, On behalf of our patients, their parents or caregivers, we lend our support to both bills and encourage swift passage. Thank you for the opportunity to be heard.
Hello. I want to offer my support for HB 1246. Part of my job is to make sure our resources, publications, and course content is accessible for all users. Due to my job, I have learned that accessibility is and SHOULD be part of all aspects of design and course implementation. Accessibility is not an afterthought or - it can be universally beneficial for all users and should be at the forefront of anyone being a steward of the funds they receive. It is possible to create rich and inclusive content and when bills like BH1246 pass, they show vendors and content designers that accessibility matters. That all users matter. I 100% support for this bill because it extends beyond blind individuals to the greater community of individuals with disabilities. -Jan Shea, North Chesterfield, VA Proud parent of a special needs daughter, accessibility content creator, and advocate.
Thank you for your consideration of this bill. I am the parent of two blind children and a sighted child. My oldest daughter is 14 years old and blind with an orthopedic impairment. She is working in the general education curriculum with nondisabled peers and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. She accesses her curriculum with a variety of assistive technology. She uses a 32 cell braille display with a screen reader called JAWS to access the same work as her nondisabled peers. Because of her orthopedic impairment, which affects her wrists and hands, it is very difficult for her to read braille on paper. Electronic braille on a braille display is much more accessible for her. But she is unable to take the state standardized tests using the same technology that she uses to complete her school work every day. These tests are not accessible using a screen reader and must be read to her by a human reader. Research shows that students do best taking tests in the same format that they learn, but this is not an option for my daughter because the tests are not available in a format accessible to her. Because of this, my child who has been on the A/B honor roll for her entire middle school career, has not yet passed an SOL test. From time to time in class, her teachers will assign online activities, games, and programs that are also not accessible. This forces her to be singled out and given alternate assignments, which must be created by her TVI. She is often embarrassed and feels left out when this happens, and is looking forward to the day when all educational activities will be accessible for students who are blind or who have any type of disability. HB 1246 addresses my daughter's concerns and will help many students with disabilities in schools across the commonwealth. I appreciate your consideration.
HB18 - School boards; appointed members, salaries.
We oppose the above listed bills
Please oppose HB18. Any legislation that pushes for increased compensation for a public service position is highly questionable, but when that legislation is ONLY directed towards appointed boards it should definitely be a cause for concern.
My name is Dr. Rachel Levy and I live in Ashland, Virginia, in the 55th House of Delegates District and the 9th State Senate District. I am a mother of three--I have one child in Hanover County Public Schools as well as two who are just graduated in 2021. I am also a teacher who has a PhD in Educational Leadership & Policy from VCU. I was a candidate for the 55th District seat in 2021. I am asking you to oppose HB18. This bill would change the state code to lift the caps on salaries for appointed school board members. Our school district in Hanover County is one of a handful still governed by an elected school board. In fact, Hanover Schools is the largest school district in the state to still have an appointed school board. Our school board members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors member representing their district. Unfortunately, this means that they are not responsive to constituents as they don't feel accountable to them. In addition, this legislation is being submitted, not because the people of Hanover County want it (not even the citizens who want to keep an appointed school board support this legislation) but as a favor to a few of the Hanover School Board members. This same legislation was proposed two years ago, and it was defeated after advocacy from the people of Hanover County. If members of the Hanover School Board want to receive higher salaries, they should become an elected body, and then enact their raises, and then face the voters of Hanover County in the next election, and leave the General Assembly out of it. Please vote AGAINST HB18. Thank you for your time, consideration, and service.
• I write in opposition to HB18. • HB18 references appointed school boards in Virginia— NOT elected school boards. • In addition to discouraging appointing school boards in Virginia, the General Assembly enforces salary limits to serve as a check to ensure appointed boards aren’t being used to discriminate against populations or enrich themselves inappropriately. • There are only 15 appointed school boards in Virginia out of over 200 localities. • The patron of HB18 is a delegate from Hanover County. He introduced HB18 in response to the Hanover County School Board voting to give themselves a 50% raise. https://vpm.org/news/articles/10421/hanover-school-board-wants-a-raise-state-lawmakers-have-to-sign-off • A raise of that magnitude would mean Hanover’s appointed school board members would make $2000 more a year than neighboring Richmond City’s elected members who are dealing with a school population 50% larger than Hanover County Schools and with socioeconomic issues Hanover County doesn’t have. • Appointed school boards lead to a lack of diversity on school boards. Currently, 6 white men and 1 black woman compose the Hanover County School Board. Only one member has previous experience in education. • Parents and community groups wish to elect their school board members in Hanover County and across the state. https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/hanover-county/hanover-parents-pushing-for-elected-not-appointed-school-board/ • Appointed school boards were utilized throughout Virginia’s history to keep minorities off school boards. https://acluva.org/en/press-releases/why-we-have-and-should-have-elected-school-boards-virginia