Parenting Eliminated by "Community Schools"
Last month a Virginia legislator admitted in an interview what we’ve always warned about – that the ideological left is working to turn public schools into eventual hubs for every kind of social or medical service.
During an NPR interview, Delegate Sam Rasoul (D – Roanoke) had this to say:
"What we wanted to do was to ensure that there are services that are efficiently delivered to our students who are in need. And so, conceptually imagine campuses of the future where we actually have a doctor's office, a dental chair, mental health services that are offered on the same campus – not only being more efficient but more accessible to our students."
Delegate Rasoul’s comments pertained to his amended bill (HB 625) that became law which creates an Office of Community Schools within the Department of Education. This new office will provide support for the development and growth of the existing community schools program throughout the Commonwealth in accordance with the Virginia Community School Framework; a concept that was created in 2020.
This vision is the breeding ground for a dangerous future. Speaking to the general concerns of government-run community schools, Dr. Todd Gathje, VP of Government Relations at The Family Foundation, said this to the NPR reporter: "[it is] going to be used to broaden the mission and the scope of schools that could put in place services that may be given without parental consent or that may undermine parental consent."
Just imagine how someone’s parental rights could be threatened if Delegate Rasoul’s grandiose progressive vision of community schools is ever fully realized and the following bills had passed this year:
HB 813 (D – Mundon King) would have allowed a 16-year-old to be deemed an adult for the purpose of giving consent to consultation, diagnosis, and treatment of a mental or emotional disorder.
HB 1239 (D – Willett) would have allowed an unaccompanied homeless minor who is 14 years of age or older to be deemed an adult for the purpose of consenting to surgical or medical examination or treatment.
SB 395 (D – Pekarsky) would have required a student-athlete to receive a mental health assessment, in addition to the standard physical examination, to play on a school athletic team.
Government-run community schools alone pose a threat and take us deeper into an Orwellian scenario, but coupled with bills like these, it would create a community that seeks to supplant parents. The radical left’s vision of public schools is more than academic instruction – it provides every basic need that parents are there to provide, including meals, vaccines, physical checkups, dental checkups, mental health assessments, and so on. In a culture where parental rights are disrespected, discarded, and often usurped, this vision is a looming danger to families.
If the left is ever successful in fully implementing this community school model, as made clear by Delegate Sam Rasoul, parents of public-school students should understand that we have leaped further into an Orwellian society that seeks to eliminate all decision-making responsibilities from them, and disconnect them from their own children. On behalf of families, we are committed to opposing this trend in Virginia.
