Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Guidance Document Change: The guidance document "Model Policies Concerning Instructional Materials with Sexually Explicit Content" was developed in conjunction with stakeholders in order to comply with SB656 (2022).

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7/15/22 2:20 pm

Commenter: Elizabeth

Respect educators

I work with youth and live in Rockingham County, Virginia.

I have serious concerns about the VDOE’s model policies concerning instructional materials with “sexually explicit content."

Teachers are leaving the teaching profession in droves. They are underpaid, undervalued, overextended, and are put in the impossible situation of navigating the minefield of contentious parent/school relationships. We should be finding ways to support our educators, and not continually find ways to make their jobs harder.

This proposed policy is so vague that it continues to put educators into impossible situations of not being trusted to do their jobs for fear and confusion over what qualifies as "sexually explicit content". This broad term makes it possible to exclude materials that are important works of literature that can help our youth learn how to think critically about something, wrestle with a topic, and ultimately grow to be brave and courageous people.

We are in a time that children have access to a nearly limitless amount of information (whether we want to believe it or not), can't we trust that teachers and professionals who have had years of training and experience know what is appropriate to introduce to our children? They have our children's best interests at heart.

It is for these reasons that I oppose the proposed model policies.

CommentID: 122505