Identifying students at risk of self-harm through Technology

This bill is about the Virginia Department of Education finding the best ways to use technology to spot students who might be hurt themselves or others.

• Virginia Department of Education: The government office in Virginia in charge of schools.

• If this bill passes:

  • The Department of Education will put together a group to work on figuring out the best ways to buy, use, and put technology in public schools to help spot at-risk students.  

    • The group will include folks like: 

      • Professionals trained to help students with their mental health.

      • Someone who is part of the group that makes decisions about all the schools in the area.

      • Professionals who work with technology

      • Someone who has a leadership job in a school.

      • Someone who works to keep things organized in all the schools in an area.

      • Other people who have helpful info as they are needed

    • The Department should work with education groups that serve the whole state, and tech companies, to pick the right people for the work group.  

  • The work group will: 

    • Look at each technology and think through:

      • What it does.

      • How quickly it works. 

      • What it does with private information, and how to respond to concerns about this.

      • How to read the information the technology collects

      • How much it will cost schools to buy, set up, and take care of the technology.  

    • Pick some schools to try out the technology, starting by July 1, 2027. 

    • Give advice on the best ways to:  

      • Respond quickly to students found to be at risk of hurting themselves or others.

      • Ways to prevent students from harming themselves or others  

      • Follow-up things to offer once the concerns that came up right away are taken care of.

    • Turn in a write up with what they found and suggestions to the state leaders of health and education by November 15, 2026.

Position Statement:

New Disabled South supports the changes in this bill to look into how to best use technology in schools, while making sure that private information is protected and safely secured. Technology can support disabled students in ways that can improve their learning environments.