H.B. 270 (VanValkenburg) Requires
every public school to provide the parents of enrolled students with at least
24 hours' notice before the school conducts any lock-down drill. The bill
specifies that no such notice is required to include the exact date and time of
the lock-down drill. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 308 (Hope) Requires
the Department of Education to establish and distribute to each school board no
later than August 1, 2020, guidelines for the granting of excused absences to
students who are absent from school due to mental or behavioral health and
requires any student who is absent from school due to his mental or behavioral
health to be granted an excused absence, subject to such guidelines. The bill
was amended to change the date for the Department of Education to establish and
distribute to each school board no later than December 30, 2020. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 392 (Ward) Prohibits each school board from employing any individual who has been convicted of a violent felony set forth in the definition of barrier crime in subsection A of § 19.2-392.02 of the Code of Virginia or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child. The bill permits each school board to employ any individual who has been convicted of any felony or crime of moral turpitude that is not set forth in the definition of barrier crime in subsection A of § 19.2-392.02 of the Code of Virginia and does not involve the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child, provided that in the case of a felony conviction, such individual has had his civil rights restored by the Governor. The bill contains parallel provisions for contractors and their employees who have direct contact with students on school property during regular school hours or during school-sponsored activities. Current law provides that any felony conviction is a bar to employment and contract work in public schools. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 402 (Keam) Requires
every public school to hold at least one lock-down drill after the first
60 days of the school session, in addition to the two lock-down drills required
to be held during the first 20 days of the school session at each such school.
Current law requires each public school to hold at least two lock-down drills
after the first 20 days of the school session. The bill requires kindergarten
students to be exempt from mandatory participation in lock-down drills during
the first 60 days of the school session and requires the principal at each
relevant school to implement such exemption by either (i) conducting
teacher-only drills or otherwise providing suitable training for kindergarten
teachers or (ii) notifying each parent of a kindergarten student at least five
school days in advance of each planned lock-down drill and permitting each such
parent to opt his child out of participation in such lock-down drill. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 410 (Delaney) Requires
each local school board to enact a policy to require that timely written
notification is provided to the parents of any student who (i) undergoes
literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services or (ii) does not
meet the benchmark on any assessment used to determine at-risk learners in
preschool through grade 12, which notification shall include all such
assessment scores and subscores and any intervention plan that results from
such assessment scores or subscores. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 415 (Delaney) Requires
school boards to adopt policies and procedures to ensure suspended students are
able to access and complete graded work during and after the suspension. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 501 (Krizek) Permits
each school board to designate another entity or individual to participate on
its behalf in the annual review of its written school crisis, emergency
management, and medical emergency response plan. The bill was recommended fr reporting 5-0.
H.B. 753 (Rasoul) Requires
the Department of Education to (i) establish a uniform definition of
social-emotional learning and develop guidance standards for social-emotional
learning for all public students in grades kindergarten through 12 in the
Commonwealth; (ii) make such standards available to each local school division
no later than July 1, 2021; and (iii) issue a report no later than November 1,
2021, on the resources needed to successfully support local school divisions
with the implementation of a statewide social-emotional learning program. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 817 (Hope) Requires
the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health and
medical professional societies, to develop and implement health and safety best
practice guidelines for the use of digital devices in public schools no later
than the 2021-2022 school
year. The bill was recommended for reporting 4-1.
H.B. 836 (Carroll
Foy) Requires the Department of Education to develop a plan to adopt
and implement standards for microcredentials used toward add-on endorsements
and renewal of licenses earned by Virginia license holders in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The bill requires such
plan to include (i) a process for reviewing and administering educator
microcredentials; (ii) assurances that educator microcredentials rely upon
demonstrable evidence from the submission of artifacts, such as student
projects and teacher lesson plans, that are then objectively scored against
existing rubrics; and (iii) assurances that educator microcredentials focus on
interrelated competencies leading to logical teacher professional development
pathways and stacks of educator microcredentials and align with the Board of
Education's ongoing work on educator professional development. Such plan shall
also include the resources needed for statewide implementation. The bill
requires the Department of Education to complete and submit the plan
to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education, the House Committee on
Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Senate
Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than December 1, 2020. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 928 (Coyner) Permits
the Chesterfield County School Board to establish a recovery high school in the
school division as a year-round high school (i) for which enrollment is open to
any high school student who resides in Superintendent's Region 1 and is in the
early stages of recovery from substance use disorder or dependency and (ii) for
the purpose of providing such students with the academic, emotional, and social
support necessary to make progress toward earning a high school diploma and
reintegrating into a traditional high school setting. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 999 (Bell) Requires
each school board's policies on the possession and administration of
epinephrine in every school in the local school division to require that at
least one school nurse, employee of the school board, employee of a local
governing body, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a
prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine has the means to
access at all times during regular school hours any such epinephrine that is
stored in a locked or otherwise generally inaccessible container or area. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1073 (Kory) Requires
each school board to annually provide parents of pupils in grades kindergarten
through 12 information regarding the health dangers of tobacco and nicotine
vapor products. The bill requires that the information provided be consistent
with guidelines set forth by the Department of Education. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1208 (Tran) Each
school board that provides for the transportation of students and that has
established a rule, regulation, or policy to exclude certain students who
reside within a certain distance from the school at which they are enrolled
from accessing such transportation to establish a process for waiving, on
a case-by-case and space-available basis, such exclusion and providing
transportation to any such student whose parent is unable to provide adequate
transportation for his child to attend school because the parent is providing
necessary medical care to another family member who resides in the same
household, as evidenced by a written explanation submitted by a licensed health
care provider who provides care to such family member. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1336 (Keam) Requires
the Board of Education, in conducting its regular review and revision of the
Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for family life education, to consult
relevant stakeholders to ensure that revisions reflect contemporary community
standards. The bill requires the next such review and revision to be completed
no later than June 30, 2021. The bill requires each school board to conduct a
review of its family life education curricula at least once every seven years. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1344 (Askew) Provides
that when adopting regulations regarding the issuance of written reprimands of
teachers and other school personnel required to hold a license, the Board of
Education shall establish in such regulations the grounds for such written
reprimands and provides that for a teacher who breaches his contract, the local
board of education or division superintendent, in addition to a written
reprimand or revocation of the teacher's license as in current law, may issue a
suspension of the teacher's license. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1394 (Leftwich) Requires
each local school board that offers a family life education program to post for
public viewing (i) on the local school division's official website a summary of
such program and (ii) on the local school division's official website or a
parental portal a complete copy of all printed family life education
program materials not subject to copyright protection and a description of
all family life education program audio-visual materials. The bill requires
each local school board to implement the foregoing provisions no later than the
start of the 2021-2022 school
year. The bill was recommended for reporting 3-1-1.
H.B. 1469 (Gooditis) Requires
the Board of Education to extend for at least one additional year, but for
no more than two additional years, the three-year provisional license of a
teacher employed in an accredited private elementary or secondary school or a
school for students with disabilities that is licensed by the
Board upon receiving from the school administrator of such school (i) a
recommendation for such extension and (ii) satisfactory performance evaluations
for such teacher for each year of the original three-year provisional license.
This bill incorporates HB 725. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1491 (Guy) Requires
each public high school to provide to any enrolled student who is of voting age
or otherwise eligible to register to vote access to Virginia voter registration
information and applications and the opportunity to complete such application
during the normal course of the school day. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1557 (Fowler) Eliminates
the annual salary limits for appointed school board members and permits any
appointed school board to pay each of its members an annual salary that is
consistent with the salary procedures and no more than the salary limits
provided for local governments in Article 1.1 (§ 15.2-1414.1 et
seq.) of Chapter 14 of Title 15.2 (Counties, Cities and Towns) or as provided
by charter. This bill incorporates HB 1578. The bill failed to report 3-2.
H.B. 1613 (Brewer) Requires
the Board of Education, pursuant to regulation, to permit any individual who
seeks a technical professional license to substitute the successful completion
of an intensive, job-embedded, three-year program of professional development
for the nine semester hours of professional studies required for such license. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
H.B. 1630 (Kilgore) Permits
any school board and division superintendent to extend from three months to six
months the period within which the provisional license of an individual seeking
initial teacher licensure who has not completed professional assessments will
expire for the purpose of establishing such individual's eligibility for
initial licensure, provided that such individual has received a satisfactory
mid-year performance review in the current school year and meets all other
eligibility criteria. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
