Stella Pekarsky, a Virginia state senator and former Fairfax County school board member, has introduced a bill that would require students to undergo a mental health evaluation before they can participate in K-12 public school sports . It appears that one of Pekarsky’s first acts after her election to the chamber is to prevent some public school students from participating in athletics.
This is a terrible idea. Participation in school athletics is beneficial for physical and mental health and self-esteem. Teenagers who play sports are also less likely to vape and smoke marijuana. In Virginia, according to the latest National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics survey , 9.65% of children ages 12 to 17 report having used marijuana in the last year. Meanwhile, a national study in 2022 showed 19.9% of Virginia’s teenagers have vaped.
The benefits of school sports are abundantly clear. And with lower participation in K-12 sports, among other problems, drug use among teenagers is likely to increase.