ADVOCACY UPDATES
SURVEY RESULTS & PHASED REOPENING OF VIRGINIA SCHOOLS
During the week of May 27 th to June 3 rd Virginia PTA conducted a parent survey for our members in English and Spanish to better understand the impact the pandemic had on learning and the concerns families have about reopening schools in the fall.

We received 50,400 responses including 3,475 comments over the course of the week from every corner of the Commonwealth. We acknowledge that as the severity of the outbreak changes and scientific discovery advances, parent opinions may change.

The state guidance on school reopening is directly tied to CDC guidance and the Forward Virginia reopening plan. It requires local districts to submit reopening plans to the Virginia Department of Education and identify any areas where they may fall below CDC guidance. How your school reopens in the Fall will be largely dependent on decisions made by your local school board. We urge you to stay engaged and follow your local School Board meetings.

Linked below are the results of our Return to School Survey as well as a position statement on Virginia's Phased School Reopening to assist you in advocating for the needs of your students and starting a helpful dialog within your school community.

As a reminder , as a member of Virginia PTA and/or National PTA you can cite a position statement or a resolution (even word for word) in your speeches and letters to your School Board or elected officials. However, IF you want to speak as an officer of your school PTA, then you must take a general membership vote to ratify the position statement or resolution. Position statements and resolutions carry the same weight and value but differ in that position statements are adopted by the Virginia PTA Board of Directors to address current events and/or restate existing resolutions while resolutions are adopted at an Annual Meeting by general membership.

You will also find additional related resources and helpful documents on our COVID-19 webpage . I f you have questions/concerns about school reopening advocacy please email advocacy@vapta.org.
Position on Confederate School Names, Mascots and Monuments
Yesterday, the Virginia PTA Board of Directors voted to amend our existing Position Statement on Advancing Equity & Diversity to include the following position on confederate school names, mascots and monuments.

School Facilities, Mascots, Monuments.  Virginia PTA supports re-naming school facilities and mascots that are based on Confederate leaders, culturally insensitive depictions of indigenous people as well as other themes, images and iconography that fails to respect, honor and celebrate the diversity of our school communities. Virginia PTA supports the re-location of Confederate monuments from central locations in our communities to locations that allow the full historical context to be represented.

We urge you to review our full statement on Advancing Equity & Diversity to support community wide discussions on this topic.

We invite you to join us for a special Advocacy Afternoon webinar on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 from 12:00-1:00pm with Leah Dozier Walker, Director for Equity and Community Engagement at the Virginia Department of Education.

Ms Dozier Walker will share an update on work by Virginia's African American History Education Commission, the equity planning audits recommended for school re-opening and other work the Virginia Department of Education is undertaking to create improved learning opportunities for underserved groups including students of color, early learners, English Learners, students experiencing poverty and homelessness, and students with disabilities.
Early Childcare Summer Survey
In early May, Virginia PTA partnered with  Voices for Virginia's Children  and  Families Forward Virginia   to survey parents and caregivers with children aged 0-13 about their summer plans for childcare.

In the survey results linked below you can hear the voices and concerns of 880 survey respondents and policy proposals to support safe, affordable and accessible childcare options.
Advocacy Afternoon Webinars
We invite you to join us for an upcoming Advocacy Afternoon, a series of webinars designed to connect parents and school staff members with specialists and policy makers to learn more about the topics that impact our children and school communities.