Hi, my name is Daniel and I am from Baltimore, Maryland. So this education issue is especially concerning since it is occurring within the DMV area, but I also care about every concerning issue around the world.

Anyways, the issue I am addressing is Virginia’s House Bill 1461, which calls for all Virginia schools to expel students who violently disrupt class, implement a three-strike system to students disrupting class nonviolently, and prohibiting anyone from forcing accountability onto teachers taking action against the disruption.

Yes, this bill doesn’t apply to students with DIAGNOSED disabilities, but there are multiple disabilities out in our world that have a delayed diagnosis (e.g.: autism). Therefore, any student with such undiagnosed disability will be subject to this bill, should it become law.

This is a severe violation of human dignity, since these students will feel isolated and humiliated within their class due to symptoms they can’t control and thus punishments they don’t deserve. Furthermore, since this bill indirectly targets a vulnerable, marginalized group of students, I would classify this bill as systemic racism. Regardless on whether you would call this systemic racism or a violation of human dignity, this bill is unjust and immoral either way.

Therefore, I demand that this bill needs to be turned down by Virginia’s government. I would strongly urge you to either share this petition with your friends/people on social media/neighbors or mail/email a member of Virginia’s government and convince them to vote against the bill. If you choose to message a member of Virginia’s government, I would suggest using this prompt:

 

”Dear [member of Virginia’s government name here],

My name is [your name here] from [state name], and I am kindly encouraging that you vote against House Bill 1461 because students with undiagnosed disabilities will suffer under this bill. They will feel isolated and embarrassed in school, all because of symptoms of their disabilities that they have little to no control over, and their mental health will worsen. I do not wish to see these students undergo such suffering in their class. I kindly ask you to not approve this bill. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[your name here]”

 

If this petition fails, many students with undiagnosed disabilities will be outcast from their schools, emotionally and literally. Please sign and share this petition to help these disabled students. Thank you.

 

Further reading/Source:

https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/virginia/virginia-parent-speaks-out-after-lawmakers-introduce-three-strike-bill-for-student-disruptive-behavior/

 

Image:

https://publicintegrity.org/education/virginia-moves-forward-on-school-discipline-reforms/