22.1-79.3 - Policies regarding certain activities.
§ 22.1-79.3. Policies regarding certain activities.
A. No later than January 1, 2001, local school boards shall develop andimplement policies to ensure that public school students are not required toconvey or deliver any materials that (i) advocate the election or defeat ofany candidate for elective office, (ii) advocate the passage or defeat of anyreferendum question, or (iii) advocate the passage or defeat of any matterpending before a local school board, local governing body or the GeneralAssembly of Virginia or the Congress of the United States.
This section shall not be construed to prohibit the discussion or use ofpolitical or issue-oriented materials as part of classroom discussions orprojects or to prohibit the delivery of informational materials.
B. Local school boards shall develop and implement policies to prohibit theadministration of questionnaires or surveys to public school students duringthe regular school day or at school-sponsored events without written,informed parental consent for the student's participation when participationin such questionnaire or survey may subsequently result in the sale forcommercial purposes of personal information regarding the individual student.In any case in which a questionnaire or survey requesting sexual informationof students is to be administered, the school board shall notify the parentconcerning the administration of such questionnaire or survey in writing notless than 30 days prior to its administration. The notice shall inform theparent regarding the nature and types of questions included in thequestionnaire or survey, the purposes and age-appropriateness of the survey,and whether and how any findings or results will be disclosed. Parents shallhave the right to review the questionnaire or survey and to exempt theirchild from participating in the survey. However, no questionnaire or surveyrequesting sexual information of a student shall be administered to anystudent in kindergarten through grade six and, unless required by federal orstate law or regulation, school personnel administering any suchquestionnaire or survey shall not disclose personally identifiableinformation.
C. Local school boards shall develop and implement policies to advise theparent of each student enrolled in the school division of the availability ofinformation in the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry and thelocation of the Internet website. Local school boards shall also developprotocols governing the release of children to persons who are not theirparent.
D. No local school board providing access and opportunity to use schoolfacilities or to distribute literature may deny equal access or fairopportunity to use such school facilities or to distribute literature, orotherwise discriminate against the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scoutsof the USA.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require any school or schooldivision to sponsor the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts of the USA,or to exempt any such groups from school board policies governing access toand use of school facilities and distribution of literature.
E. Local school boards shall develop and implement policies to allow a parentof twins or higher order multiples in the same grade level to request thatthe children be placed in the same classroom or in separate classrooms ifthey are at the same elementary school. Such policies shall also providethat: (i) schools may recommend classroom placement to the parent; (ii)schools must provide the placement requested by the children's parent, unlessthe division superintendent or his designee makes a classroom placementdetermination following the school principal's request in accordance withthis subsection; (iii) a parent must request the classroom placement no laterthan 3 days after the first day of each school year or 3 days after the firstday of attendance of the children during a school year; and (iv) at the endof the initial grading period, if the school principal, in consultation withthe children's classroom teacher, determines that the requested classroomplacement is disruptive to the school or is harmful to the children'seducational progress, the school principal may request that the divisionsuperintendent or his designee determine the children's classroom placement.
(2000, c. 1063; 2001, cc. 688, 820; 2002, c. 160; 2003, c. 693; 2006, cc.145, 857, 914; 2009, c. 195.)