The recent election of Governor Youngkin in Virginia sent shock waves through the Democrat party. It was an election where parents voted to regain control of their children’s education and their children’s health issues. We have elections coming up in November, and the Democrats do not want the Virginia story repeated (even in Virginia).
On Wednesday, The Conservative Review reported:
A bipartisan bill to make masks optional in all of Virginia’s K-12 schools passed Wednesday with three Democrats joining Republicans to codify GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order. The bill now heads to the state House of Delegates, where Republicans have the majority, and it is expected to pass.
The Senate voted 21 to 17 in favor of the bill which requires schools to be open for in-person learning and gives parents the right to decide if their children will wear masks in school. Youngkin celebrated the bill’s passing in a statement.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday The Daily Wire reported the following action by Democrats in the Virginia legislature:
When Democrats regained control of the Virginia House of Delegates in November 2019, one of the first things they did was pass a law that says school officials do not have to report misdemeanor crimes – specifically singling out “sexual assaults” – to law enforcement. Two years later, with Republicans back in control of that chamber, Democrats do not support its repeal.
Former Democratic Governor Ralph Northam signed off on the law in February 2020. Schools are currently not required to report to police misdemeanors related to instances of sexual battery, assault, violent threats, stalking, drug and alcohol violations, and more.
The article at The Daily Wire notes that some legislators feel that reporting these crimes to the police creates a “school-to-prison pipeline” for some children. While I agree that the penalty for an alcohol violation should be different from the penalty for a sexual assault, I don’t see a problem with reporting both to the local authorities. I sexual assaults are happening in our schools, the problem is not the “school-to-prison pipeline”, it is the bad behavior of the students.
The Daily Wire also notes:
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Republican Delegate John Avoli, a former Virginia public high school principal, said “sexual battery needs to be reported.”
“If you’re a 17-year-old and you assault someone, the cops pick you up and they charge you. But you do this in a school building, and we don’t charge you. It doesn’t make sense to me. Think about it as a parent. If your daughter is a freshman in high school and she’s assaulted by someone, do you mean I don’t report that? Are you kidding me?” he said.
The mid-term elections are going to be very interesting this year.