Public Comments for 02/23/2022 Education - Early Childhood
SB78 - Driver education programs; parent/student driver education component.
No Comments Available
SB161 - Heat-related illness; DOE to develop guidelines on policies to inform & educate coaches & athletes.
Last Name: Moore Organization: The Virginia Association of School Nurses Locality: Chesterfield County

As President of VASN, I am coming forth to represent our entire membership, which consists of 500+ School Nurses throughout all of the State Superintendent’s eight regions in Virginia. We are in unanimous support of SB 704 and ask for your support by voting in favor of it on Tuesday. This bill will produce data which is urgently needed to determine continuous quality improvement in school health services across Virginia schools. It will allow for better implementation of professional development and can help determine where staff may be needed in. Currently, this data is already being collected in all schools. VASN knows this to be true, because it is done by the school clinic. In 2019, when it was only optional, 92 of 132 school districts were already choosing to send this very data to VDOE. With that, please note that there is no fiscal impact related to SB704 because it is already being done. If the only school nurse organization in the Commonwealth is asking you to push forth a bill that would bring us more work… then it must be very important to us, especially with Covid already on our hands. BUT… That is just not the case though. This is not more work. We are simply asking you to mandate the collection of data that already exists. Thank you, on behalf of the School Nurses in Virginia. Angela Moore, VASN President VASN would like to give their support in favor of HB1328 (Delaney) and SB737 (Boysko) because it aligns with previously passed laws which mandate epinephrine in schools. K-12 already has the stock epinephrine, and this will just include the EXS3, which has seen a huge expansion since the previous bill was passed. Thank you for expanding the availability of epinephrine to our ECSE students by voting yes. It is the equitable vote to make. Angela Moore, VASN President VASN also supports HB215 and SB62 with a very STRONG recommendation to add a School Nurse who is Nationally Certified to each of the two committees. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for any such committee to make recommendations and/or pass along reports without the insight and expertise of a School Nurse. School Nurses are the most appropriate healthcare providers to answer questions regarding school related procedures, trainings, healthcare plans, emergency action plans, levels of training for staff, classroom and other school environments, documentation, and the like, when it comes to the health and safety of school children. It would behoove you to include a nationally certified School Nurse on both of these committees if they should pass, to best represent the school environment and to speak on behalf of school children. Thank you for your consideration. Angela Moore, VASN President SB161 VASN would also like to offer its support of SB161 and its willingness to provide assistance in developing guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches and athletes. This will be beneficial to a magnitude of students throughout the Commonwealth and is geared toward optimizing the health and safety of our students, so VASN is in support. Please vote yes on SB161, for our students. Thank you. Angela Moore, VASN President

SB193 - Child day programs; licensure, accredited private schools.
Last Name: Szabuniewicz Organization: Virginia Catholic Conference Locality: Richmond

On behalf of the Diocese of Richmond and Diocese of Arlington Catholic Schools, we do support SB 193 and appreciate Senator Mason for bringing it forward.

SB384 - Statewide Learning Management System; established.
No Comments Available
SB481 - School boards and local governing bodies; unexpended local funds use for school maintenance, etc.
No Comments Available
SB490 - Standards of Quality; specialized student support.
Last Name: Flinn Locality: North Chesterfield

Good morning, I strongly support SB490 that would increase the number of staff available in schools to support students. There are 1000's of K-12 students with "invisible" disabilities such as learning disorders, ADHD, autism, and other cognitive/executive functioning disorders. Many require the extra support that aides and support staff provide in order to succeed in school. They often struggle to comprehend, to organize thoughts and papers, to take notes, and/or to effectively communicate frustration and anxiety when trying to manage assignments without assistance, or with too little assistance. Virginia's teachers are already overburdened with too-full classes . The added support that more teacher's aides and other support staff would provide would greatly benefit Virginia's students and teachers. Please vote YES to SB 490! Thank you, Kate Flinn

SB574 - Child care; background checks for applicants for employment, etc.
No Comments Available
SB774 - School buses; commercial use.
No Comments Available
End of Comments