S.B. 129 (Norment) Requires
local school boards to provide firearm safety education programs for students
in all grades. The bill requires (i) the Board of Education to establish
curriculum guidelines for the program, in consultation with the Department of
Criminal Justice Services; (ii) school boards to offer a minimum of two hours
of instruction consistent with such guidelines; and (iii) that the program be
taught by a school resource officer, other law-enforcement officer, or a United
States Armed Forces instructor. The bill prohibits the use of firearms in the
program. Current law allows local school boards to provide a firearm safety
education program for students in the elementary grades and does not specify
who may instruct such program. The bill was stricken at the request of the patron by a vote 0f
13-0.
S.B. 151 (Stuart) Excludes
school nurse positions from requirements for student support positions and
instead requires each local school board to employ at least one full-time
equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school, middle school, and
high school in the local school division or at least one full-time equivalent
school nurse position per 550 students in grades kindergarten through 12. The
bill was passed by indefinitely by a 14-0 vote.
S.B. 170 (Locke) Requires
the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in coordination with the
Department of Education and the Department of Juvenile Justice, to annually
collect, report, and publish data related to incidents involving students and
school resource officers or school security officers. The bill also requires
the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to analyze and disseminate
submitted data. The bill was amended to remove School Security
Officers from the reporting requirement. The bill was reported as amended with
a 13-0 vote.
S.B. 171 (Locke) Requires
school resource officers and school security officers to receive training
specific to the role and responsibility of a law-enforcement officer working
with students in a school environment that includes training on (i) relevant
state and federal laws; (ii) school and personal liability issues; (iii)
security awareness in the school environment; (iv) mediation and conflict
resolution, including de-escalation techniques; (v) disaster and emergency
response; (vi) awareness of cultural diversity and implicit bias; (vii) working
with students with disabilities, mental health needs, substance abuse
disorders, or past traumatic experiences; and (viii) student behavioral
dynamics, including current child and adolescent development and brain
research. The bill was reported as amended on a 12-1 vote.
S.B. 237 (Barker) Provides
that an attendance officer, or a division superintendent or his designee when
acting as an attendance officer, may complete, sign, and file a petition for a
violation of a school attendance order in response to the filing of a petition
alleging the pupil is a child in need of supervision with the intake officer of
the juvenile and domestic relations district court on a form approved by the
Virginia Supreme Court. The bill was reported as amended on a 13-0
vote.
S.B. 327 (Lewis) Declares
the Accomack County School Board and the Northampton County School Board
eligible to receive the cost of competing adjustment to salaries for
instructional and support positions as part of the state share of basic aid
pursuant to the general appropriation act. The bill was reported and
referred to Finance and Appropriations on a 12-1 vote.
S.B. 366 (Dunnavant) Directs
the Department of Education to obtain a statewide learning management system
for use in public schools by the start of the 2022-2023 school
year. The bill was reported on a 14-0 vote.
S.B. 367 (Dunnavant) Directs the
Department of Education to obtain an individualized student growth measurement
system that tracks and analyzes student growth indicators. The bill requires
that the student growth measurement system be implemented during the 2022-2023 school
year. The bill was reported to Finance and Appropriations on a 15-0
vote.
S.B. 392 (McPike) Requires
each local school board to submit its plan to test and remediate certain
potable water sources and report the results of any such test to the Department
of Health. The bill was reported with a substitute by a 15-0 vote.
S.B. 410 (Hashmi) Requires
each school board to test each public school building in the local school
division for the presence of Legionella bacteria at such regular intervals as
the school board deems necessary to maintain the health and decency of such
buildings. The bill requires the Department of Education to make
recommendations for the frequency of testing for the presence of Legionella bacteria
in public school buildings and to notify each local school board of its
recommendations no later than September 1, 2020. The bill also requires each
public elementary and secondary school to maintain files of its Legionella
bacteria test results and make such files available for review and the division
superintendent to report such results to the Department of
Health. The bill was reported and referred to Finance and Appropriations
by a 15-0 vote.
S.B. 420 (DeSteph) Provides
for the submission and utilization of seizure management plans for students
with a seizure disorder. The bill requires that school nurses and certain
school division employees complete an online course of instruction regarding
treating students with seizure disorders. The bill also provides immunity from
civil liability for acts or omissions related to providing for the care of a
student under a seizure management plan. The bill was reported with a
substitute on 12-1-2 vote.
S.B. 461 (Reeves) In
its original form, the bill would have required each local school board to give
any veteran or active duty member of any of the Armed Forces of the United
States or the Commonwealth who it employs as a teacher in the local school
division credit for any time served in any such forces in determining such
teacher's step on the local school division's teacher salary
scale. The bill was amended in subcommittee to make it
permissive. The bill was reported and referred to Finance and Appropriations
by a 14-1 vote.
S.B. 463 (Reeves) Directs
the Board of Education to develop, biennially update, and distribute to each
local school division guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches,
student-athletes, and student-athletes' parents or guardians about the nature
and risk of sudden cardiac arrest, procedures for removal from and return to
play, and the risks of not reporting symptoms. The bill also requires local
school divisions to develop and biennially update policies and procedures
regarding the identification and handling of symptoms that may lead to sudden
cardiac arrest in student-athletes. The bill was amended in
subcommittee to remove the mandatory training and penalty
provisions. The amended bill was reported on a 15-0 vote.
S.B. 552 (Ruff) Requires
the funding transferred from the Department of Education to the relevant school
divisions in support of a regional alternative education program to be based on
each such school division's need for the current school year. Under current
law, such funding is transferred based on data accumulated during the prior
school year. The bill was reported and referred to Finance and Appropriations
on a 15-0 vote.
S.B. 845 (Ebbin) Requires
each local school board to develop and implement a plan to test and, if
necessary, remediate mold from sources identified by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency as high priority for testing. The bill requires local school
boards to give priority in the testing plan to schools whose school building
was constructed, in whole or in part, before 1986 and to submit their testing
plan and any testing results to the Department of Health. The bill also
requires local school boards to take all steps necessary to notify the parents
of all enrolled students if testing results indicate the presence of mold in a
school building. The bill was reported with a substitute on a 11-4
vote.
S.B. 880 (Locke) Requires
local school boards to employ school counselors in accordance with the
following ratios, effective with the 2020-2021 school year: in elementary
schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time equivalent at 375 students,
one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in
middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time equivalent at 325
students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; and
in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time equivalent at 300
students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof. The
bill also requires local school boards to employ one full-time equivalent
school counselor position per 250 students in grades kindergarten through 12,
effective with the 2021-2022 school year. The bill was reported and
referred to Finance and Appropriations on a 11-2 vote.
S.B. 934 (Favola)
Requires the Board of Education to permit any English language learner
student who enters high school with an English language proficiency level of 1
or 2, has been enrolled in public schools in the Commonwealth for fewer than
four semesters, and has a final four-year cohort status of dropout or
unconfirmed to be removed from the calculation of the dropout rate and
graduation and completion index non-academic school performance indicators for
English language learner students under the Standards of Accreditation. The
bill was stricken at the request of the patron by a 15-0 vote.
