JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After one of the biggest school districts in the country decided to allow students to have an excused absence to participate in protests, a school board member is exploring bringing the idea to Duval County.
Duval County School Board Vice Chairwoman Elizabeth Andersen broached the topic during a school board workshop last week.
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“In my district, there are students at Fletcher High School that are actively involved in their communities, philanthropy and activism. I feel that one excused absence with a form to be completed ahead of time in preparation for the absence, would support efforts across the state to encourage our students to be more civic-minded,” Andersen told News4Jax. “This would allow young people real-life opportunities to learn and engage in the issues that matter to them and their families.”
On Thursday, Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia started allowing students in seventh through 12th grades one excused absence each school year for loosely defined “civic engagement activities,” the Washington Post reported. A Fairfax school board member told NPR the plan for the district of about 188,000 students was inspired by the rise in student activism that followed the deadly 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school.
Andersen said she began to take interest in the idea after reading about what Fairfax County was doing.
When it was brought up at the workshop last week, some Duval County School Board members expressed interest in the idea but raised concerns about tracking the absences and the prospect of taking away valuable learning time from students.
But ultimately, any recommendation for a civic engagement day would have to first come from Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene. A DCPS spokesman told News4Jax the relatively new idea needs further study in order to adequately inform the School Board.
If the superintendent does decide to recommend a civic engagement day, she and the school board can expect backlash from conservative critics.
According to The Post, after a school district in Maryland introduced a similar policy last year, a school board member was flooded with “hundreds of emails, letters and calls from self-identified conservatives throughout the country who argued students should be in school, not in the streets protesting.”
“I am not concerned about backlash,” Andersen said. “I am open to dialogue that explores providing the most well-rounded educational experience for our students. If we want to produce citizens who are activated and civically responsible, then this is one way that we can help offer opportunities for students to learn how to do that.”
Andersen said she would continue to research the idea and how it was implemented in Virginia and report back to the school board.