Speaking up from the trenches, teachers share their five bullet points, in light of the federal battle against education.

More than ever we must recognize and protect the U.S Department of Education. Don't let them dismantle our students' future.

In a surprising reversal, the Virginia High School League (VHSL), announced on Monday, February 8th that it was capitulating to Trump’s...

Thursday Feb. 13, 2025 at 10 am Linda McMahon will testify at her Senate confirmation hearing When I googled Linda McMahon for her experience and quotes on education for this blog, no quotes came up. Nada. Nothing. I found lots of scrubbed and buffed articles from assorted anti-public schools outlets popped on the screen, but no policy statements, no sound bites, no “running for office” quotes from Linda herself. It seems at least for the broad public, Linda is letting the f

Executive Orders Harming Public Education If you’ve been hiding under a rock (or your bed), you may have missed the news of the myriad of Executive Orders (EOs) coming out of the White House in President Trump’s first couple of weeks in office. Trump has signed more EOs in his first 10 days than any President in their first 100 days. These EOs are Project 2025 incarnate, each worse than the one before it: pardoning violent criminals, removing critical environmental protectio

Discover how Fairfax County Public Schools are safeguarding students amid chaotic, national anti-refugee policies.

Join the FLE Committee on February 12th from 7-9pm at Gatehouse It is a year with a number in it, so you can be sure that Fairfax Public School (FCPS) volunteers on committees are hard at work. Few committees are as attacked as the Family Life Education (FLE) committee which provides suggestions to modify the sex education curriculum in FCPS to ensure that it is scientifically accurate, age-appropriate, accessible, and relevant for kids in the 21st Century. This year, the FLE

Contact Congress about Two Anti-Public School Executive Orders Two recent federal Executive Orders (EOs) on public education have been taken directly from Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership and are attempts by the Trump administration to usurp Congress’s authority and the state and local authority. It is time for public school advocates to tell their members of Congress to insist these orders be rescinded. 1. Public Education Funds SHOULD NOT be used for Scholarships for

Our Students, Staff, and Families need the Equity Office If you’ve been reading the news in the last two weeks, it is pretty clear that political rhetoric pertaining to “DEI hires” has become code for efforts to roll back qualified women, Black, Hispanic, disabled, and Veteran hires. On social media, anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) rhetoric is frequently unleashed against non-white, non-male, disabled, non-straight, non-cis, and/or non-Christian people in leadersh

DEmyst-I-fied from a K-12 Perspective Author's Forward: (January 31, 2025): Earlier this week, 4PE approached me about republishing my post on DEI written last year. Just in one week... one day, not only has DEI become a dirty word, but now it's executive ordered out of our lexicon, soon to be out of all levels of government. You can Google all of the anti-DEI EOs and corporate capitulation to know that we're in dangerous times where only dominant culture is valued and cent

When I first heard that President Trump was going to abolish the U.S. Department of Education (USDoE), I was horrified, but now, I may be on the bandwagon. Wait! Hear me out. I would NEVER want to abolish a fully functioning USDoE that supports our public schools, students, educators, and families. But that is not what we have anymore. We have a full blown propaganda machine that makes unprofessional posts, pushes school vouchers, and likely doesn’t know IDEA (Individuals wi

The question of what makes a good school has never been more complicated, and questions like “What are we educating students for?” have never been more relevant. Those are questions Virginia educators have long asked. Unfortunately, the most recently proposed answers from the Governor and Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) are not what kids, grads, or Virginia need. There are four important reasons the Governor’s VDOE School Performance and Support Framework (Framework)

Sex Education in Virginia's K-12 Public Schools The Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum in Virginia is an abstinence-based curriculum...

My daughter was physically ill on Tuesday after she witnessed Nazi salutes on the inaugural stage, and executive orders signed to create...

Part II of Governor Youngkin’s Magical Thinking series Once upon a time, in a land we all love, there was a Governor (or Thane if you are...

Yes, as are LGBTQIA Students and Fairfax Volunteers! Content Warning: The blog below includes some hateful terms, phrases, and imagery....

La cuestión Como si los estudiantes de primaria y secundaria no tuvieran suficientes preocupaciones, ahora algunos enfrentan la amenaza de la deportación forzada de ellos mismos, de sus padres y/o de sus amigos. La promesa del presidente electo de deportar a millones de inmigrantes indocumentados ha inquietado a los estudiantes inmigrantes, a sus padres y a sus comunidades. Su amenaza de poner fin a la ciudadanía por derecho de nacimiento añade una capa adicional de crueldad

As if K-12 students didn’t have enough to worry about, now, some face the threat of forced deportation.

A Tough Week for Transgender Students and Families After years of attacks on rights of transgender students, this past week has seen an onslaught of anti-transgender media, court cases, and federal and state activity. For parents of transgender students, transgender students, and the transgender community, it is just too much. They are exhausted, so all allies need to continue to step up to fight alongside them against such attacks. “Children's well-being now, ability to live

When the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) rolled out its proposed Accreditation and Accountability Framework in June of 2024, they...