Virginia school system to allow students day off for protest

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — One of the largest school districts in the United States has announced that it will allow students one excused absence per school year to participate in civic activities such as protests.

Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia plans to start allowing the absences Jan. 27, 2020. The district is the largest school system in the state.

Students in seventh through 12th grades can use the day for “civic engagement activities” such as attending marches or meeting with lawmakers, according to district spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.

The new policy was introduced by Fairfax School Board member Ryan McElveen, according to the Washington Post. He says the rule may be the first of its kind in the U.S.

“I think we’re setting the stage for the rest of the nation with this,” McElveen said. “It’s a dawning of a new day in student activism, and school systems everywhere are going to have to be responsive to it.”

But some experts told the Post that skipping school to attend protests tends to favor liberal causes.

“Kids on the right who are active, they tend to be doing it by preparing to run for school board, or being aides in legislature,” said Meira Levinson, a Harvard University professor who studies education.

“People who call themselves conservatives probably do still count respecting authority — staying in school — as a crucial and central tenet of the social order,” said Thai Jones, a lecturer at Columbia University who studies radical social movements.

Students must give at least two days notice before the absence, school officials said. A parent or guardian has to give permission and students must fill out a form to explain the reason they’re missing school, McElveen said.

To address worries about accreditation, the student...