As our article about the October Board of Education (BOE) meeting reported, an existing policy about "Non-emergency Invasive Physical Examinations and Screenings" has raised concerns for some Stafford parents. Essentially, the policy says that the district would have to notify parents at the beginning of the school year of their intent to do an exam that fits into the non-emergency invasive physical examinations and screenings category. They would have to provide the dates and approximate times of the screenings, and parents could opt out of the procedure.
Superintendent Steven A. Moccio addressed the policy in a follow-up newsletter (detailed in the October article), but it has not entirely quelled parental concerns.
During the public comment section of the November meeting, two parents spoke to address these concerns.
Larisa Dunay said she was there to represent a group of parents who could not attend the meeting. She told the board they were concerned about this policy and asked that a discussion of this policy be added to the next BOE meeting as an agenda item and that suggested scenarios would help parents better understand why this policy is necessary. Dunay also pointed out that dental clinics are opt-in and that parents would prefer that this policy be changed to make it opt-in.
Alissa Criniti-Woods expressed many of the same concerns. Criniti-Woods also said that telling parents they misunderstand the policy was "parent-shaming." She said the problem is that the policy exists in the first place and that "It never occurred to me that this was an option." She also acknowledged that the federal government requires the policy but that her research suggests "the policies are the bare minimum requirement" and that the district can develop them further in consultation with parents. Criniti-Woods also advocated for an opt-in policy.
The board did not respond to indicate whether or not this policy would be added to the next agenda for discussion.
[This article was written with help from the official BOE meeting minutes.]
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