VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Tuesday night, Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) school board members are meeting to choose whether to adopt a resolution aimed at recognizing parental rights in the school district.
Throughout the past year and a half, parents and school board members have brought up the issue of parental rights when discussing many topics that have left parents divided.
The resolution, brought up by VBCPS At-Large school board member Laura Hughes, addresses topics including reading materials and healthcare decisions.
“I was trying to find something that would work for everybody,” Hughes told News 3. “I think we need to codify where the boundaries are. In my opinion, parents and school personnel should be working together.”
The resolution states neither the school board nor VBCPS administrators will create or enforce policies, regulations, or practices to make healthcare decisions for students contrary to the will of their parents.
“Parents should have the final say on medical decisions,” Hughes said.
READ: VBCPS Students Policies and Regulations
When it comes to books, Hughes's resolution includes the district creating an opt-in policy requiring parents to be notified of classroom reading and a parent's signature before books are given to students.
“One of the big controversies we’ve had going on is the controversial materials in the schools,” Hughes said.
It also would make a system where parents get an email when students check out books from libraries with a link to websites for parents to vet the books.
“It allows you to be proactive,” Hughes said. “Every parent is choosing for his or her own child without choosing for someone else’s child, but they just need the information to be able to do it.”
Virginia Beach parent Tonya Rivers says there are already VBCPS policies in place related to providing options on library materials for parents and students.
“It really restricts the freedom of students to express themselves. Who they want to be, why they want to be addressed,” Rivers said of Hughes’s resolution. “Libraries are a space intended for students to feel safe.”
READ: VBCPS Instruction Policies and Regulations
Rivers believes the resolution brought up by Hughes isn't necessary.
“This policy, really, is biased against the LGBTQIA community,” she added. “By having these policies in place, if a student comes from a home that may not be as welcoming or inviting of students’ perspective, you’re creating an environment of fear.”
Hughes told News 3 she doesn’t know how her proposal would be biased toward any particular student.
“I feel that every parent, regardless of your color, your sexual orientation, how you identify... your parent is the most important teacher you will ever have, and that needs to be respected,” Hughes said.
Meanwhile, both Hughes and Rivers believe it's important to work together.
“We need to come together, whether you agree or disagree, to find some sort of common ground,” Rivers said.
Another VBCPS school board member, Kim Melnyk, told News 3 she plans to bring up a substitute resolution at Tuesday night’s meeting.
She believes Hughes’s resolution does not address the needs and wishes of all Virginia Beach families.
“It’s a resolution that’s impossible to enforce,” Melnyk said. “Parents have always had the power to decide what is best for their child. Parents can opt their children out of curriculum assignments, and we can find alternative assignments. I’ve seen this as a board member that parents can do that. Parents absolutely have the power to let librarians know and give them a list that they [the parents] don’t want them [their children] to read.
