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The below was published in the Richmond Times Dispatch on February 4th, 2023 . When Jillian Balow arrived in January 2022 as state superintendent of instruction, there were three major issues facing Virginia schools: the pandemic recovery, teacher shortages and revisions to the history and social sciences standards. Pandemic recovery is being addressed by local districts with federal funds and grants. The teacher shortage has been worsened by Balow’s implementation of Executive Order 1, throwing teachers into a double-bind between the standards and being fired over the “anti-divisive” mandate. The history and social sciences standards are another glaring failure. For seven months Balow gave little attention to the revised standards, which came nearly complete from two years of staff and historical experts' work. In August 2022, Balow asked the Virginia Board of Education not to approve because she wanted time to proof for typos and grammar. In September she asked for another delay. When she presented a new draft in November 2022, it appeared to be a 68-page cut-and-paste from conservative internet sources. The draft was so chaotic and developmentally inappropriate even the consultant hired to edit it sent a letter acknowledging "the hastily and irresponsibly prepared" nature of the project. On Jan. 5, a third 60-ish page version was released, with a community standard calling for 5-year-olds to “recognize cause and effect relationships” and “use decision making models such as T-charts and Venn diagrams to make informed economic decisions.” Those are a set of planning tasks most children’s prefrontal cortexes are not able to do until age 6 or later. The Board of Education voted to advance the draft version of the history standards on Feb. 2. Balow’s biggest problems are lack of knowledge about children and educational standards, and her managerial incompetence. It is time for her to resign or be dismissed.

UPDATE: The bill will move to the Senate over the Feb 4th weekend. Please call your Virgnia senator's office now to ask them to "Just say NO to HB 1461." It doesn't matter on what side of the aisle they sit, they should want to keep your kids in school. House Bill 1461 would require the Virginia Department of Education to establish a uniform system for disciplining disruptive behavior in class and removing a student from the classroom. For non-violent “disruptive” behavior, the bill would implement a three strikes and you’re out policy. “Disruptive” in this bill is so broadly defined that it is unclear as to what exactly qualifies a child for removal. Each and every parent should ask themselves: “Could my K-12 child’s common behaviors be considered disruptive?” For parents of neuro-diverse children, this bill is our worst nightmare. Underlying neurodivergence, like autism or ADHD, is impulse control, or more specifically, lack-thereof. These children have trouble “self-regulating” and struggle to control their initial responses to certain situations. Any parent of a neurodiverse child can tell you, if a situation isn’t just right or if there is a change to a regular schedule or if for some reason his shirt just “doesn’t feel right,” the odds of an impulsive (read, “disruptive”) response increases. Crying, yelling, ripping paper. He acts first…thinks about consequences later. This isn’t because he doesn’t want to, it is because he isn’t able to. It takes years of practice, therapy, and patience to turn this around. But under HB 1461, he no longer has years. Before he has had a chance to calm down, a task that can take an excruciatingly long time for a kid who has to work twice as hard to overcome his own brain to do so, he’s out. And let’s be clear, “out” in this context will most likely mean “seclusion,” a practice that is traumatizing and creates worse behavior. Before he has reached the end of first grade, he’s been effectively criminalized for something he cannot control yet. Criminalized for being different. Criminalized for being a kindergartner. Parents of neurodiverse children know our kids are different. We know that we are different when we are taking our kids to expensive occupational therapy (usually not covered by insurance) to learn impulse control skills. We know they are different when we are spending hours of our day calling different pharmacies to track down medications that are in short supply. We know they are different when we are trying to navigate the byzantine 504 plan/ IEP process, sometimes begging school administrators to give our kids what they need to thrive in school. We spent nights awake worrying that despite all we do to help, if we even have the time and money to get that help, the world may still be cruel to them. With HB 1461, Delegates Wiley and Fowler are guaranteeing that our kids WILL be singled-out, punished, and excluded based on behaviors that they cannot control.. Not only does this violate the terms of their individualized education plans, but this also violates their right to Free and Appropriate Public Education. Please share your opposition to HB 1461 by clicking on the button below. State clearly to “Vote NO on HB 1461” and provide your reasoning or story, knowing that your comments will be public. UPDATE: Please call your senator Our guest blogger, Melissa Alfano, is a mother of an extraordinary kindergartener in Fairfax County. When she is not fighting for her kids (and yours) she is an energy policy expert focusing on climate change issues.

Things continue to be hectic in the General Assembly with the House and Senate both trying to finish hearing bills before crossover (to the other chamber) next week. Education bills are progressing, thus we are continuing to update Calls to Action as the bills change status. Another update will be sent out via email on the weekend Take Action Alerts. If you haven’t subscribed to get email updates, please do now here. These bills are current as of 1/31, and are broken out based on when they will be heard in the General Assembly. Click on the links to advocate for change in the General Assembly. Please answer the call. TAKE ACTION. These bills will be heard on Wednesday, click to take action: To attract and retain teachers we must increase Compensation–The House Teacher Compensation bill has been approved by the House Education committee and is now in the House Appropriations committee. The Teacher Compensation bill has been approved by the Senate Appropriations committee and is now being heard in the full senate. These bills will be heard on Thursday, click to take action: Protect vulnerable students by protecting gender identity expression Public schools need more mental health resources Students need better access to mental health counseling Support English Language Learning Improve education with work-based Learning for School Staff (Senate) Improve Academic achievement with Individual Education Plans These bills will be heard on Friday, click to take action: Improve education with work-based Learning for School Staff (House) Photo Credit: Skip Plitt - C'ville Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

If it is the end of January in Richmond, Virginia, then the General Assembly is in session. The General Assembly consists of state Senators and Delegates who make new or change existing laws. Bills can be introduced by either Senators or Delegates, be debated in committees, and if successful, can advance to the chamber floor. If the bills pass the chamber where they are introduced, they will be passed to the other chamber during ‘crossover’ where the bill must go through the same process in that chamber. Thus a bill that originates and passes in the Senate will be debated and possibly approved by the House of Delegates, and vice versa. Bills that pass both houses then go to the Governor for signatures, or the Governor can sink the bill by vetoing it instead of signing it. This year, crossover is planned for February 7, 2023 and the General Assembly will be in session until the end of February. Twenty-nine education bills were identified as priority bills by 4 Public Education in a collaboration with other advocacy groups. These bills are listed at this link, where the status of each is updated daily. To help ensure that the bills we support pass and those we oppose fail, 4 Public Education and the Virginia Grassroots Coalition have developed one-click calls-to-action that send emails to committee members to petition them about the bills. These tools are shared with 4 Public Education members with the hope that those interested in public education will complete and share each tool. Closely related bills are grouped below as “Calls to action” to offer a tool that enables you to directly contact the legislators involved. Calls to action in support of bills: School Mental Health Programs Increase Counseling Resources Increase compensation for School Employees Work-Based Training and Mentoring of School Staff Support English Language Learners Improve Academic Achievement Calls to action in opposition to bills: Diverting funds from Public Schools Banning Resources from Public School Libraries Limiting Expression of Gender Identity in Public Schools Photo Credit: Skip Plitt - C'ville Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

In Virginia, we have a limited, but frenzied, time in which to influence legislation at the Statehouse. This year the legislature runs through the end of February. Just like a freight train, legislation builds momentum, or stalls, during the early weeks, and in subcommittees of both houses. That's why your voice (and your finger) are so important this week. With one click on your computer you can weigh in, and make a difference, on a vote for or against publc education. Please use your superpower to help students, and defend democracy, today. Just click on the links and follow the instructions. This will take less than 60 seconds. 4 Calls to Action for Education Bills: Click for bill details and one click action tool Pay teachers higher salaries Greater mental health resources Greater access to mental health counseling Vote NO to diverting funds from public schools Thank you! We'll be back next weekend with an update and actions for the next week. Your team at 4 Public Education To help us spread the word, please consider a small donation to assist our all volunteer team. No amount is too small. Photo Credit: Skip Plitt - C'ville Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

We are fortunate in Virginia to now have a surplus in our budget. We are pleased to have legislators who advocate to apply that surplus toward public education to solve critical problems such as overcrowding, deferred maintenance, and inadequate staffing. These needs have gone unfilled in past years because the budget could not stretch far enough to meet those needs. However, other officials in our executive and legislative branches intend to use that surplus to cut taxes, despite these critical needs. Hopefully, everyone with a vote realizes that now is the time we can do what is needed for our public schools that are deprived of what they need when budgets are tight. Thus, we are following priority bills closely for this 2023 Virginia General Assembly. Calls to action for support or opposition to these bills will be posted in the Take Action part of our website as advocacy is needed, or with other pro-public education partners. 4 Public Education supports the following proposed bills: Fully funding Virginia’s public schools with bills HB1497, HB1566, HB2111, SB1215, SB1325; Providing mental health support to students with bills HB1938, SB818, SB856, SB1043, SB1257, SB1268, SJ228, and; Ameliorating Covid’s impact on academics with bills . HB2145, SB819, SB1118, SB1334. 4 Public Education opposes the following proposed bills: Censorship of school library material by bills HB1379, HB1448, SB787; Attacking students based on gender or gender identity by HB1387, HB1399, HB1434, SB911, SB962, and; Diverting funding from public schools in the name of school choice HB1371, HB1396, HB1508, SB823. Legislators continue to recognize the need to increase compensation for our teachers and support staff; therefore, Delegate Convers-Fowler, Delegate Rasoul, and Senator Lucas have introduced bills that should help compensate and retain our valuable teachers. This year we have bills that intend to increase learning and mentorship opportunities for principals, teachers and sta ff, and also reduce the ratios of principals, teachers and staff to the number of students in each school. Those bills were introduced by Delegate Bourne and Senator McClellan. The pandemic impacted K-12 students and teachers in many ways. Thankfully, our legislators stepped up and introduced bills this year to mitigate those impacts. One of the most publicized impacts was what some call “Learning Loss” due to online school during the pandemic, where much of the greatest impact has been on rural, low income, and immigrant communities. We ask legislators to support those bills including ones that: 1) increase in English Language Learner resources (introduced by Senator Hashmi), 2) improve communication with parents of English Language Learners (introduced by Delegate Guzman), and 3) provide early intervention services for reading and math (introduced by Senator Favola). The pandemic has highlighted the increased need for mental health services for K-12 students so our legislators have introduced bills to increase the availability of mental health support in our schools, including bills by Senator Spruill, Senator Favola, and Delegate Plum. Photo Credit: Skip Plitt - C'ville Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

I’m dismayed by recent news about FCPS…that delayed paper certificates are taking priority over critical needs of all of our students and that the loudest voices are using this as yet another opportunity to pit “equity” against “merit” as if they are mutually exclusive. If merit is “the quality of being good and deserving to be praised or rewarded,” then each student should have merit in the eyes of our schools, no matter their PSAT scores. Unfortunately, some only focus on test scores to determine merit, which leaves disabled, dyslexic, English language learners, and so many others behind. My dyslexic child does not test well as reflected by her low SOLs, but she has great grades, works hard, is happy, and is kind to others. When she applies to college, I want schools to look at the whole child (extracurriculars, challenges, effort, and grades), not just some arbitrary test score. Even my son whose scores are off the charts should not be judged just by his PSAT scores. My kids are more than their test scores. All of our kids are more than their test scores. I want you to pursue "Equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions," because we, as a community, should work toward the best possible outcomes for each and every student. To achieve that goal, equity comes into play, giving each student the support and resources they need, whether it is reading support for dyslexics, team taught classes, or extra testing time. Equity recognizes that we do not all start from the same place and that additional resources can bring students up. Equity means meeting each student by name and by need to ensure that they are able to succeed in school and life. This is hard, but necessary work. Nevertheless, I feel blessed to be in a school system that treats both my AAP and IEP kids with respect, by ensuring that they each receive the level of support they need so that they can both succeed. Vanessa Hall's input to the School Board on January 12, 2023 can be viewed on her personal page, Vanessa cares about Public Education. All public input from the meeting can be found here.

As printed in the Washington Post Opinion Section on Sunday, January 8th, 2023. Regarding the Jan. 5 Metro article “Va. AG will start probe of top school”: The recent witch hunt by paid operatives and allies calling for the firing of administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is part of a long line of attacks by the same parents who have led challenges against admissions reform that was mandated by then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Sadly, The Post continues to provide a platform for these far-right activists to foment outrage for political purposes regardless of the significance of their complaints. This was a brief delay of notification of “commended” status for top-ranked students. Why does it carry such weight with the media, when it carries such little weight with colleges or scholarship opportunities? There is no evidence that the late notifications had catastrophic effects on students. These operatives are taking advantage of a minor slipup by administrators in a long-standing feud. One complainant has, for years, called for the termination of TJ administrators. She is fighting the Fairfax County Public Schools system in court. The drastic call for the termination of administrators at TJ is absurd. The late information can and apparently has been relayed to the registrar at each school of higher learning to whom each student has applied. A minor error has been rectified and apologies made, yet the histrionics continue. Holly Hazard, Falls Church The writer is co-founder and chair of 4 Public Education, a nonprofit advocating for excellence in public education in Virginia.

To be honest, I’m not a resolutions kind of gal. I feel they are overly aspirational or restrictive, and sometimes a bit selfish. Sure most of us need to lose a little weight, but how many people fail at that particular resolution every year, thereby setting off a year of “failure.” Nevertheless, I do set goals each year, all of which are less sexy than a bikini bod by Memorial Day, but way more achievable. Goals keep me honest, but also ensure that I don’t fail before I even try. In the last two years, it has been hard to prevent the noise of politics or paid operators from derailing my community goals to support students and teachers in my community. Thus, 2023 seems like a good time to set a resolution for a great year in education in my community. My New Year’s resolution for education is already posted on the Fairfax County Public Schools facebook page: I hope that my kids are treated with dignity and respect by their teachers and schools, as they have been. That no governor's political agendas will interfere with their education or safety, and that truthful history will be taught in the classrooms. As a parent, I think these are the most basic of goals for each and every student in each and every school. I pledge to work with my schools, teachers, students, and like-minded community members to accomplish these goals. Truth be told, these should be the goals of parent’s rights movements across the country: dignity and respect for every student with an education free from political agendas. I’m not sure why #ParentalRights has been derailed by political operatives, but we need to take it back by resolving to protect and support our teachers, students, and schools. This may look different in your community or you may have more specific goals, so please share your resolution or public education goals for the year. 4 Public Education would love to hear from you. Maybe we can even help you achieve those goals or find like-minded community members who can support you. Wishing you a healthy, happy, and safe 2023.

As we close out 2002 we also reach the milestone of our 1st anniversary! 4 Public Education was launched this time last year, after a busy fall full of meetings with concerned community members. Looking back over our first year, we are proud of the the work to create a new nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public education in Virginia and nationally. We created this a review of our year- full of photos, friends, and above all- action! Take a look at all we've done together this year and renew your commitment to fight for public education in 2023. Click on the PDF here to view: