Virginia School Violated Parents’ Trust?
Once again, my Northern Virginia neighbors are in the national news for taking inappropriate liberties with somebody else’s kids.
It wasn’t that long ago that Loudoun County Schools were under fire for covering up cases of sexual assault by a student against multiple female students, then having an angry father of one of those girls removed from a public school board meeting for daring to speak out.
This time, officials from neighboring Fairfax County Public Schools’ Centerville High School are alleged to have arranged and paid for abortions for two minors without any effort to gain parental knowledge or consent, a direct violation of school policy and Virginia’s parental notification law.
According to multiple news sources, the two minors were taken to Fairfax Healthcare Center by school officials, without even a phone call to their parents, back in 2021. One girl underwent the abortion. The other, five months pregnant, pleaded to keep her baby and fled from the appointment.
The school’s written policy states, “Every effort shall be made to encourage and support students suspecting pregnancy to discuss their concern with their parents or guardians…. In no case shall personnel commit themselves to maintain such information confidentially, keeping it from parents, guardians, or appropriate school authorities.”
Yet, according to the allegations, school social worker Carolina Diaz coordinated with the clinic and arranged payment for the procedures on the taxpayers’ dime, even telling one girl, “You have no choice.” Further, Principal Chad Lehman knew all about it.
This week, the board of Fairfax County Public Schools initiated an investigation into the matter. In a letter sent home to parents, Superintendent Michelle Reid declares, “I want to stress that at no time, (sic) would the situation as described in these allegations be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools.”
Whatever your views on the issue of abortion, I trust we all agree that the crucial role of parents should not be lightly pushed aside when a minor is faced with an unplanned pregnancy. And no one should be violating school policy and breaking state law to cut parents out of these critical moments in a child’s life.
Good Laws Drive Good Policy
Unfortunately, no law is going to stop those who willingly break it. But good laws will guide policy and practice for the vast majority, who are law-abiding citizens, and provide due punishment for criminals. If these allegations prove true, there will be a reckoning for the school officials responsible.
That’s why the Parental Rights Foundation works so hard every year to bring new and better parental rights laws to the states.
A basic parental rights law can clarify that parents have a fundamental liberty interest in directing the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children, so that public officials know better than to strip them of that role too lightly.
A more defined parental rights law might lay out specific details, including the right of parents to be notified of changes in their child’s mental or physical health while in the care of school or other public officials.
And the best parental rights laws include all of this, plus a private right of action that allows parents to file suit and take public agents or agencies to court who violate these precious rights. (Unfortunately for these Fairfax families, Virginia’s parental rights law still lacks this provision.)
Wherever your state is on the political spectrum and in terms of parental rights protection, the Parental Rights Foundation can point you to model bills or existing state laws that lawmakers in your state can take up in the coming legislative session to take the next step in protecting families where you live.
Because, at the end of the day, it isn’t really our rights we are worried about—it’s our children.
Parents are not interested in a spitting contest with the government to see who has more power over our children’s lives. We’re in an all-out war with the world to see our children safely to adulthood, and the government can join us in the fight or get out of the way.
In Fairfax, someone allegedly got in the way. Now the board has an opportunity to get on the parents’ side and do right.
Here’s hoping we see justice done, a lesson learned, and the rights of many families better protected as a result.
Thank you for standing with us to protect children by empowering parents through good laws and policies in every state.