Search Results

October 26, 2022 4 Public Education, Fairfax Federation of Teachers, Fairfax Education Association, Stand and Deliver and FCPS Pride have joined with other community groups to co-sponsor the Free and Antiracist Minds’ resolution at the October 20, 2022 FCPS School Board meeting. The resolution was to support administrators and teachers who daily are presented with the difficult questions surrounding race in Virginia and are charged with educating our children with accurate, balanced and meaningful information. It was also an effort to reassure those who work with Fairfax County children that some political perspectives and politically motivated attacks would not endanger their jobs and careers. Additionally, it was needed to assure parents of Brown and Black children in Fairfax that their children will see and hear themselves and their ancestors represented with dignity in the curriculum and instruction in their schools. At the 11th hour, the carefully drafted and fully vetted resolution was scuttled for a watered-down, and toothless version that was presented and approved as an amendment to the resolution. The language used in the new version reflects the current status quo of policy and offers little reassurance either to school based educators or parents. This version of the resolution merely reinforced the current policy. The amended version passed with a vote of seven to four. As concerned members of the FCPS community, we remain committed to supporting teachers, administrators and students. We seek a curriculum and culture that does not shy away from our collective history, but embraces it, for all its good or bad, and respects that without an honest reckoning with our past, we cannot move toward a just future. Respectfully, 4 Public Education, Stand and Deliver, Fairfax Education Association, Fairfax Federation of Teachers, and FCPS Pride request that the FCPS Board reconsider their decision to support a resolution that may seem politically safe, but is both damaging to its most vulnerable students and signals to its most creative and engaged teachers that they can not count on this Board to protect them from extremists.

Dark money's influence on public education is not new. For decades, groups funded by billionaires have worked to push policies and proposals that pull teachers, funding, and other resources from public schools, including efforts to promote school privatization, charter schools, vouchers, and other so-called “education reform” schemes intended to defund and dismantle public education. In 2022, dark money groups are continuing these efforts to undermine and defund public education. Their impacts to public education are far-ranging and damaging, including: Shaping the pandemic response School board recalls Chaotic school board meetings Curriculum challenges and restrictions Teacher shortage State-wide efforts to attack public schools The global COVID pandemic offered a unique opportunity to implement multi-pronged efforts by the political operatives that were hidden by the pandemic chaos. In fact, a network of dark money groups shaped the education pandemic response narrative to in-person schooling and no mask mandates, since March 2020. Additionally, it is clear that since mid-2020, experienced dark money operatives used new and established school privatization groups to take “ advantage of parents’ genuine concerns about their children’s well-being in a global pandemic to further attack public education.” The number of recalls of school board members have skyrocketed since the beginning of the pandemic. Per Ballotpedia , 47% of school board recalls in the last ten years were conducted in less than three years. Many of these were fueled by pandemic-related outrage over reopening schedules or masking mandates and others related to the teaching of alleged divisive topics such as Critical Race Theory (CRT). How many of these recalls were run by astroturfed groups supported by dark money? It is unknown; however, in Fairfax County, VA, the openFCPS school board recall effort received 73% of its funds from N2 America , a right-wing dark money organization. The recall effort in Loudoun county was run by Fight For Schools , another well-known astroturfed dark money organization. Seemingly, there may be a similar trend across the country: San Francisco saw recall efforts with significant funding from PACs and super PACs funded by billionaires . Recall efforts distract school boards from doing their best for students. School board meetings have become intense and confrontational and sometimes dangerous due to these attacks. Rallies organized by dark money groups sometimes bring people who are from out of district and/or may not have children in the school district; therefore, they are not limited by civil discourse , much less the truth. Parents, teachers, and elected officials have been targeted for harassment , which has created fear in the public school community and has silenced many leaders and parents. Obviously, these distractions would and do negatively impact the ability of school boards and public schools to support and educate students. How can one do their best job for students if their job or very life is threatened? Across the United States, laws are being passed to affect what and how students learn. Such bills are rooted in culture wars and manufactured panics; however, 25 states have passed 64 laws that limit student access to books, education on gender and sexuality, education on racism and civil rights. This doesn’t even include all 42 states that have introduced anti-CRT bills that would result in restricting the ability of teachers to teach about civil rights, social justice, and American history. Teacher resignations remain high after two years of pandemic teaching, harassment by parents and right-wing groups, and a lack of support by school administrations who are struggling under the same attacks. The National Education Association identified dark money networks that have used social media networks to radicalize adults over COVID protocols, curriculum, culture war issues, and book bans. The resulting teacher shortage is affecting schools across the nation, which means some classrooms may not have certified or experienced teachers. For years, Virginia public school students have typically outperformed the national average in most, if not all subjects and grade levels. Virginia is ranked in the top 5-10 school systems across the United States; however, this academic excellence in Virginia has been under attack since the Youngkin Administration is aggressively working undermine public education in Virginia by: Instituting a series of standard anti-public education initiatives designed to pull money from public education (e.g, lab schools and charter schools ); Installing pro-privatization anti-social justice appointees in the Virginia Department of Education at all levels , including on the Virginia Board of Education ; Interfering in the authority of the school boards to supervise their school district, as granted by the Virginia Constitution , which states “The supervision of schools in each school division shall be vested in a school board.” Creating a much-maligned tip line for Virginia residents to inform on teachers. A media coalition is suing Youngkin over a lack of transparency regarding information gleaned from the tip-line. Pushing a myriad of efforts via Executive Orders, curriculum challenges, and new policies to reduce support and protection for vulnerable students, including disabled, LGBTQIA, immigrant, African American, non-native english speaking, and other students. School boards were elected and administrators were hired to run our public schools; however, sometimes it seems that politically-motivated groups, funded by dark money from unknown donors outside the school district, are driving the public education conversation. This results in reduced money and resources for public education, which directly affects each child’s constitutional right to free and appropriate public education and interferes with school districts’ ability to educate children, much less train and support teachers. 4PublicEducation.org champions public schools as the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and the right for every child to an exceptional education. We reject the interference by dark money to undermine and defund our public schools.

As he did before the 2021 election, Governor Glenn Youngkin continues to inaccurately and unfairly disparage public schools in Virginia. That strategy helped him win the governorship in a close race by stoking culture wars and convincing voters that public schools were denying parents their rights. He now continues to wage culture wars and fuel the rage of some voters and parents. During the 2021 gubernatorial election, Glenn Youngkin focused on such school related issues as opening schools without adequate mitigation measures during the COVID epidemic, and opposing mask and vaccine mandates for teachers and students. Simultaneously, his campaign painted public schools across the Commonwealth as failing indoctrination institutions, thus he promised to expand charter schools as alternatives. However, it was his false claims that public schools denied “parental rights” that won him the 2021 election. Once elected, Governor Youngkin continued to disparage Virginia’s public school systems, even claiming at a recent Annandale, VA rally that “progressives” believe “schools should lock children out of their parents’ lives.” Early in his term, the governor’s administration released a report that was highly critical of Virginia’s public schools and attributed an alleged drastic decline in student achievement to policies, choices, and priorities of previous administrations. Repeatedly in this report, Youngkin claimed that previous administrations had reduced transparency, lowered standards, and caused achievement gaps that eroded public confidence in Virginia’s public schools. However, many professionals in education disagreed with these assertions, including members of the Virginia Board of Education, the Virginia Education Association, city superintendents, the Washington Post, Politifact, and Senate Democrats (including the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus). Published evidence also contradicts the report finding that: Virginia was ranked 4th best in the nation by Forbes, 5th best in the nation by Scholaroo, and unlike claims in the report, has relatively high NAEP math scores. Perhaps more importantly, most Virginia families approve of their public school systems. How can there be such a discrepancy between the high national rankings for Virginia and the claims in Governor Youngkin’s report? Experts point to the fact that the Youngkin administration erroneously compared scores that should not be compared, for example, the term “proficient” is scored differently among standardized tests. Despite this failure to compare standardized tests appropriately, the Youngkin administration claimed that was an “honesty gap” on behalf of prior administrations, not a “careless conflation of NAEP’s “proficient” benchmark with grade-level performance” by its own administration. Nevertheless, Governor Youngkin continues to claim that Virginia’s public schools are failing in order to spur voter interest in education alternatives that involve diverting public funds from public schools by way of school vouchers for students to attend private schools, and creating new charter and lab schools. It is even possible that the Governor would personally profit by diverting public school funds to private businesses, since he recently resigned from, but is still heavily invested in the Carlyle Group, a private firm that invests in private education. As a result, diversion of public school funds to private schools and education ventures in and around the United States seems likely to benefit Carlyle Group portfolios. Of course, there are schools in Virginia that are not performing adequately for students, like other public school systems across the nation. Those schools tend to be in low-income communities and tend to be inadequately funded. It is incumbent upon the Youngkin administration to better provide for those schools, not to destroy the largely successful public school system in the Commonwealth. Yet, parents are being lured toward the idea that publicly funding private schools and new charter schools offer quick solutions to perceived problems with their community schools while potential problems associated with diverting public school funds to private businesses are inadequately evaluated. In Part 2, Honest Conversations about Attacks on Public Education, of this two-part series of , members of the Virginia Senate and House continue the discussion on how Virginia’s Governor actions impact the success of public schools.

Part 1 of this 2-part series, introduced Governor Youngkin’s attack on public education during and after his campaign. This second part focuses on recent Honest Conversations among legislators hosted by the former Virginia Secretary of Education, Atif Qarni, that debunked the Governor’s lies. The legislators are on legislative committees that consider public education bills including: Senators Louise Lucas, Mamie Locke, and Ghazala Hashmi who serve on the Senate Education and Health Committee; and Delegate Elizabeth Guzman who serves on the House Education Committee. All agreed that Youngkin’s attack on public education helped him win the Governorship in 2021, and his administration continues the attacks using misinformation to mislead Virginia’s voters. The four legislators described how damaging those attacks are to Virginia’s students and the public school system in general. Thankfully, they promised to fight the Governor’s attempt to divert funding away from public schools by offering firm intentions to continue to fight for public education resources in the Commonwealth. Senator Lucas, Chair of the Senate Committee, charged the Governor with focusing his attacks on the previous administration’s successes and using misinformation to stir outrage in the voting public. The erroneous claims have reduced the public’s confidence in public schools and are employed to make the case for privatizing public schools. Senator Lucas promised “We are not going to let the Governor do that. We will expose his attempts to defund our public schools. We cannot divert money from public education on the backs of poor children… we must fully fund all [public] schools, and provide more funding to schools in low-income communities… We need to call [the Governor] out on this nonsense" We cannot divert money from public education on the backs of poor children… we must fully fund all [public] schools, and provide more funding to schools in low-income communities… We need to call [the Governor] out on this nonsense. Senator Locke shared that she is a product of an unequal public school system; however, she “found education to be the great equalizer.” Locke stated, “Our students deserve to know the diverse and complex world in which we live in order to build the communities we want to see…We should not have to fight this battle [for inclusive history but] we must fight, because we must not allow the whitewashing of Virginia history…We can’t [accomplish our education goals] if we have an administration that does not believe in diversity, equity and inclusion… It is my hope that we can weather this storm … until such time that we can ensure that we can go back to a sense of reasonableness…and provide the diversity and equity that we need for the education of our children.” We should not have to fight this battle [for inclusive history but] we must fight, because we must not allow the whitewashing of Virginia history. Senator Hashmi said “Public education is the cornerstone of public good. Children must be able to work and communicate across culture, racial and ethnic lines and we must provide that context in our public schools [with] a broad and inclusive history curriculum.” She reported “Currently teachers are demoralized… they are concerned about the [Governor’s] ‘tipline’ and feel constantly under attack.” Referring to the Governor calling his plan for education ‘innovative’, the senator reminded us “We already know how to provide a quality education [and we] must rely on that information instead of falling for buzzwords used by the Youngkin administration…We must focus on the students, ensure small class sizes, provide individual attention, repair the teacher retention issue by paying teachers well… We must step back from the culture wars.” Senator Hashmi reminded us that when public school funds are diverted to corporations, K-12 education suffers, as has happened in other states. “This is the direction that this administration wants to take public education in Virginia. And we have every responsibility to fight back against that.” We must focus on the students, ensure small class sizes, provide individual attention, repair the teacher retention issue by paying teachers well… We must step back from the culture wars. Delegate Guzman pointed out that “Governor Youngkin is not here for students, teachers, or most parents, and that his policies and agenda target only a small but vocal group of parents…Parents are not a homogeneous group and that the Governor does not listen to the many parents who are upset with his policies and the inaccurate information he shares.” One example of the Governor’s problematic policies: his attempt to delay the approval of the revised History and Social Studies Standards of Learning (SOL) that has already gone through a time-consuming revision and review by historians, educators, administrators, and parents. Guzman states that, “Any further delay in approving [the revised SOL] is not necessary or warranted. Most parents and teachers want the Governor to honor the constitution, adopt the standards and do what is best for the students.” Instead, the governor is trying to silence the voices of many Virginians by removing references to African American and other minority groups from the document. “[He is] trying to suppress the history that students need to know” while also stimulating outrage among the electorate by removing the parts of history he claims to be divisive. He’s tone deaf on the needs of Virginians and what we need in public education…We have one of the best public education systems in the world…and we will fight tooth and nail to protect what we’ve accomplished so far. Secretary Qarni offered a historical perspective explaining that “ historical backlash [sometimes occurs] after significant social justice progress has been made.” For example, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Virginia responded with Massive Resistance which closed public schools rather than allow integration of the public schools. 4PublicEducation.org agrees that we need to resist the backlash against the progress we made in Virginia. We need to continue to have honest conversations about Virginia's history and our public schools.

STATEMENT OF 4 PUBLIC EDUCATION REGARDING GOVERNOR YOUNGKIN’S ACTION AGAINST TRANSGENDER YOUTH AND FAMILIES We strongly condemn the recent policy directive of Governor Youngkin’s Department of Education to reverse guidelines to protect and respect transgender youth. The new mandatory policy is designed to interfere with family dynamics, further harass, intimidate and undermine teachers and staff, and to place some of our most vulnerable children at greater risk. It is anti-family, anti-children, and anti-public school. This policy has the potential to damage long-developed relationships between families and schools during times when families and students need support. This is done to further the false narrative that schools are trying to take away parents’ rights. The proposed policy follows a dangerous authoritarian pattern of this administration of seeking out potential conflicts in school communities, sensationalizing them, and then exploiting conflict to sow distrust and discord in our public school communities. This pattern is clearly aimed at popularizing Youngkin’s overarching mission to promote religious and secular charter and private schools at the expense of public education. The proposed policy will significantly damage the relationship between teachers and vulnerable transgender youth, some of whom have no other adult in whom they can confide. The new regulations not only crush sensitive relationships within the school setting, but they pit students against teachers and teachers against parents. These model policies trammel on the personal rights of students while nullifying the legally protected gender identity rights of students, even if they have parental consent, absent a decision by a court. Any teacher who objects to the decision of a transgender student to be addressed by their chosen name or gender identity, is allowed to ignore the wishes of that student and their parents. Further, parents have no power to control the name requested of the transgender student, absent a court order. This is not a “parents’ rights” issue as it is being advertised, but rather the extreme over-reach of an authoritarian governmental entity without the skills, training or empathy necessary to appropriately determine the best course of policies to protect and support children and their families. This is clear, since research consistently finds that affirming transgender student identity improves both their mental and academic outcomes. This model policy is designed to stigmatize transgender and non-binary students; rather than protecting parents rights; otherwise, it would not actively violate the rights of most parents of transgender students while endangering the smaller number of transgender students whose parents ignore or reject their gender identity. Research shows that rejection at home increases the rate of a transgender adolescent of suicidal ideation and homelessness. We urge the public’s participation in condemning this action through the public comment period that begins on September 26th. However, of significant note is that the policy requires all school divisions to comply with the directive one month later, regardless of any information received during the comment period. This effectively eviscerates the value of public participation in our democracy. This bald-faced attempt to override the legislation of a duly-elected General Assembly will not be tolerated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION HERE:

50 years ago, Title IX created a revolution in women's education and sports, transforming college campuses and K-12 school grounds. Today, it is impossible to count the opportunities available to women and girls who otherwise would not have seen a basketball court or attained a postgraduate degree. Nonetheless, our fight for equal rights and protections for girls and women is not finished. Inequality continues unabated in high school and college sports; however, more importantly, the protections provided by Title IX are under attack in the same culture wars over libraries, education, and elections. Before Title IX was passed, there were few opportunities for girls and women in sports, college, and the working world, but the passage of Title IX changed that by working to eliminate sex-based discrimination , ensuring that all students have equal access and opportunity in education–covering athletics, housing, and scholarships–while providing protections from sexual harassment and assault. An Association of American Universities report finds that nearly 26% of college women report nonconsensual sexual contact, so sexual assault protections were critical to ensuring safety and opportunity. In 2020, the Secretary of the US Department of Education Betsy Devos implemented changes to Title IX that reduced protections of Title IX based on significant input from “men's rights” groups . These changes had profound effects reducing the number of sexual assault claims , narrowing definitions of sexual harassment, and reducing the rights of sexual assault survivors. Critics of the Trump administration changes highlight their failure to adequately protect those who have suffered sexual assault , including outsized effects students of color . Northern Virginia was rocked by local repercussions of the Devos Title IX changes. In case of two 2021 Loudoun sexual assaults, Devos Title IX changes excluded the accused from any discipline in the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) until the the entire investigation and grievance process was completed. Thus, the accused remained in LCPS while the Loudoun Sheriff’s office conducted their investigation after a June 2021 sexual assault, thereby permitting a second sexual assault by the same accused perpetrator on LCPS grounds. As a result, LCPS is implementing Policy 805 to bridge the gap left by the weakening of sexual assault protections in Title IX under the Trump administration. Other discriminatory changes to the implementation of Title IX by the Trump administration included “dismantling long-standing protections and opening the door to sex-based discrimination against LGBTQ+ students.” This contradicted federal case precedent that found that protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is included in Title IX protections from discrimination on the basis of sex. The governing U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling in Bostock v Clayton determines that discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation and transgender status “ is by its very nature “discrimination based on sex” and thus violates both Title IX and the constitution. Therefore, current Title IX changes are the result of the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden Administration literally bringing Title IX in line with current SCOTUS rulings on the law and the constitution. If it is not clear, Title IX has far reaching consequences that reduce discrimination for ALL students, which is why the Biden Administration is acting to modify Title IX to amend the harmful changes made under the Trump Administration, while simultaneously codifying protections for all students, including LGBTQIA students, into law. This will enable the Biden administration to combat “Don’t Say Gay” laws and intentionally discriminatory bathroom bills passed in a number of states. The public supports nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people , so the Biden Administration is implementing the will of the American People, despite the loudest voices to the contrary. A number of groups, many of which are funded by dark money to push a right-wing agenda, are conducting widespread disinformation campaigns about the new Title IX legislation under the guise of “protecting women's sports.” Don’t be fooled , because most these groups have historically pushed anti-woman campaigns against the Equal Rights Amendment , paid maternity leave , Violence Against Women Act , and so much more. They are using both women and women’s sports as a pawn to push an anti-LGBTQIA agenda, but also to undermine all protections in a revised Title IX. By focusing on the extremely rare occurrence of trans women in elite sports, they are fomenting a fake crisis to pass dangerous bills enabling “genital inspections” on school-aged athletes to verify the gender of the athlete. Regarding multiple such Ohio bills, Ohio Representative Rich Brown says , “This is not a real problem. This is a made-up, ‘ let’s feed red meat to the base’ issue.” Similarly, Maria Bruno of Equality Ohio says that people in the LGBTQIA community are asking, “‘What did I do to them? because they keep coming after me…But the answer is nothing, just existing.” I am a woman and a mother whose entire lifetime of opportunities was vastly improved by the support and protections that Title IX gave me. I had an equal opportunity to education, which meant that no one could prohibit me from pursuing a masters degree at Duke University. Equal access to sports meant that I was team captain and ran track for all four years of high school which gave me strength, confidence, and friends who will last a lifetime. I want the same for my daughter and her friends, none of whom should be discriminated against based on their gender or gender identity. I want less discrimination and dehumanization in our community and more love, support, and safety for all of our students in our publicly supported schools. Please stand with me by providing comment by September 12, 2022 on Title IX to support changes that benefit all students .

Position of 4 Public Education and a Call To Action Governor Glenn Youngkin, and his Department of Education, are attempting to quietly white wash Virginia history and subvert the will of the people of Virginia to provide an honest and balanced curriculum for our public school students. His regressive agenda rejects already approved content in revised educational policies in which African American history is equitably represented in our school materials. In 2020, the Virginian Department of Education (DOE) approved content that was added to the revised Virginia History and Social Studies Standards of Learning (SOL) . That content was designed to give Virginia public school students a more equitable representation of the history of all Virginians. The public comment period for the revised SOL was held January 28 - March 1, 2021, and the revised SOL is scheduled to be finalized in Fall 2022. However, in contravention of the already approved content in the SOL, and the will of the people expressed during the public comment period in 2021, in 2022 Governor Youngkin issued Executive Order No. 1 , calling for the end of “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) education in Virginia’s K-12 Public Schools. His intent was to prohibit teaching the history of every Virginian, specifically evidence-based history related to the periods of Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights struggles and more recent history that influenced and continues to influence our laws. Then, in July 2022 his administration opened a second, unscheduled public comment period on the revised SOL when the official schedule called instead for “at least five” public hearings to be taking place in July and August 2022. These SOLs are to be finalized this November, and there is no logic behind these Youngkin administration decisions to request additional pubic comment other than he is attempting to whitewash Virginia’s history, as stated in his Executive Order No. 1 . We have analyzed the process and the already approved content to the Virginia History and Social Studies SOLs and find that: Many of the changes made in the 2020 revision were based on recommendations made by the Commission on African American History Education , intending to ensure that the history of ALL Virginians is covered in Virginia public schools including a “ comprehensive understanding of the African American history and voices that contribute to Virginia’s [true history and] story.” The public had ample opportunity to review and comment on the revised SOL during the public comment period from January 28 - March 1, 2021. Numerous community members and educators approved of the revisions made to the SOL , and many felt the revisions to the curriculum were “ a long time coming ” and long overdue. Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order No, 1 misuses the term ‘CRT’ by describing the study of African American history as racist and divisive and based on that falsehood forbids the teaching of that topic in Virginia’s Public Schools. The truth is that the revised version of the SOL includes evidence-based information on African American history to ensure that students learn that a fundamental part of American and Virginian history is the life and experiences of enslaved and formerly enslaved Virginians. This information is part of what is needed to help Virginia’s students to develop an understanding of our history and the cultural competency skills necessary for success in school and beyond. All teachers need to be equipped for culturally competent fact-based instruction, and we agree with the text based on the Commission’s recommendations in the revised document. Those interested in a fact check on the content should know that between August and November of 2022 the BOE is required to “Convene [a] Historian Committee meeting to verify the historical accuracy of all K-12 content suggestions.” By opening the SOL to another public comment period rather than continuing with the officially scheduled approval process, 4PE concludes that the Youngkin administration is attempting to remove references to the African American history curriculum as explained in Executive Order 1. Because this SOL will remain in effect for seven years, (the next revision is scheduled for 2029), it is important that we get this revision right. This is why 4 Public Education encourages commenters to tell the Youngkin administration’s Board of Education that: We want retained in the revised SOL the content that was approved in 2020 by the BOE and that was retained after the official public comment period in 2021. We stand for including a true and complete accounting of our Commonwealth’s history in our History and Social Studies curricula, and African American history is not divisive content , it is part of our history. Instructions on how to make public commenting easier : Review section by section the revised SOL and take notes on the points you want to make for each section. e.g. “Kindergarten”. On the website find the “Public Comment Google Form” link that corresponds to each section you are addressing and one by one fill out the form for that section. e.g. “Kindergarten”. Helpful hint: If you are interested in a specific topic you can search for a keyword in the revised SOL by using the ‘find’ feature in Word (the revised SOL document is a Word document). For example, if you search for the word “African” you will see 174 locations in the document where that word is highlighted. Remember - In the revised document, the underlined text is what was added to the 2015 SOL version to create the 2022 version. Much of what was added was based on recommendations by the Commission on African American History Education, and that content was approved by the Virginia Board of Education in 2020. 4 Public Education encourages commenters to advocate for the underlined text to be retained in the SOL document when it is implemented. While individual specific comments may carry more weight, you may also simply write: “I strongly support the SOL for history and social studies, with the revised content that was approved by the DOE in 2020 and reject any attempt to perpetuate the mythology that the history of enslaved and formerly enslaved Virginians is either divisive or lacking in historical significance.”

As if there isn’t enough to worry about with our children returning to school this fall, a new law in Virginia has many parents worried and upset. This law can give primary and secondary school students rap sheets for misconduct at school. Decades of research have shown such zero tolerance laws harm students. Despite this, Virginia passed a law in 2022 that requires that even small infractions be reported to law enforcement. The zero tolerance strategies in this law were used previously in Virginia but were legally abandoned in 2020 as ineffective at improving student safety and damaging to too many students and their families. Gone are the days when principals had discretion over whether to report a student’s conduct to the police. Now, school principals are required to report to the police acts that may qualify as misdemeanors, and penalties for not reporting those incidents are severe. School superintendents and principals who do not report potential misdemeanors are subject to demotion or dismissal. Previously principals had discretion to work with a child and their family as they felt best for the child, family and community, as the law required only felonies committed on school grounds to be reported to law enforcement. Zero tolerance laws similar to the one recently passed in Virginia gained popularity in the 1990’s when there was a perceived need to protect students from other violent students. In 1994, a federal law, the Improving America’s Schools Act , initiated the use of tough punishment for even low-level offenses. Since then, the impact of those laws have been studied and researchers have concluded that subjecting students to severe forms of discipline for misdemeanors is ineffective in stopping unwanted behavior and does little to enhance student safety. The strategy was denounced by psychologists, physicians, and teachers’ unions because severe discipline harms students socially and academically. Also, the policy was found to be disproportionately applied , with the greatest impact being on students who had disabilities, or were black or Latino. The damage to students does not stop with an arrest. Children who enter the legal system may graduate to more serious ‘crimes’ – in part from meeting other criminals as they navigate the legal system. The phenomenon associated with criminalizing children is referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline . In 2013 an alternative form of discipline was shown to be more effective. Schools initiated Restorative justice as an alternative to zero tolerance . It required students to repair the harm they caused with their action. Because this practice had such encouraging results, by 2014 states began to reexamine their discipline policies and many ended their damaging and ineffective discipline methods. However, Virginia continued to keep zero tolerance laws in effect. As a result, in 2015, Virginia had the dubious honor of being the top state in the nation for referring students to law enforcement at about three times the national rate. Black students and those with disabilities were referred at the highest rates. In 2016, Virginia Senator Jennifer McClellan introduced a bill that would give school administrators and resource officers more flexibility as to whether to involve police when school rules are violated. That bill didn’t pass, but in 2020, a similar bill by Senator McClellan was signed into law after passing with bipartisan support. That law prohibited schools from charging students with criminal disorderly conduct on public school property and restored the ability of school principals to practic e discretion regarding contacting police . Under that law only felonies were required to be reported to law enforcement. Senator McClellan’s law was in effect only two years before the Virginia General Assembly reversed it, enacting the law that again criminalizes our children, as of July 1, 2022. Parents who believe in a fair and equitable society understand that children are not capable of recognizing “criminal” behavior in the same way as an adult. Neuroscience supports that adolescent developing brains do not have the same ability as adults to judge repercussions, risks, and consequences of their actions due to developmental limits and impulse control. Children will make mistakes and they need an opportunity to learn from those mistakes. Zero tolerance involves immediate punishment, even for minor offenses, which may create a situation where a child may never learn and never recover from the consequences of an impulsive ill-thought-out mistake. Understandably, parents are looking for guidance on how to prepare their child for this new law. On August 17, 2022, 4 Public Education appealed to the Virginia Board of Education to ameliorate the potential harm this law can cause students. Meanwhile, parents may want to be sure their children understand that the law has changed and that now students may be referred to law enforcement for small infractions and at a very young age. In addition, parents should insist that schools (administrators and law enforcement) never question students about violations without a parent's presence or permission. At the same time, Virginia law enforcement has the discretion to make informed decisions on how and to what extent it chooses to enforce laws when it comes to minors. We ask that law enforcement and the Commonwealth Attorney offices throughout the Commonwealth listen to our trained school professionals when making decisions about whether to criminalize our children.

For those worried that American public education is in crisis, stop for a moment and consider this: the international survey firm Ipsos finds that teachers are the fourth most trusted group in the US and possibly our most trusted public servants. You would not know that from the public discussions in American news and on social media that suggest that Americans have lost trust in public education and, more distressing for me as a teacher, in public school teachers. The evidence for this loss of trust takes the form of accusations that we “indoctrinate” and that we lack the requisite training and professionalism to teach effectively. More threatening is the legislation in several states - passed, pending, and defeated - that seeks to limit the ideas and materials that teachers can teach and students can study on the grounds that: 1- the instruction might make students uncomfortable; and 2- teachers cannot be trusted to teach it in age and pedagogically appropriate ways. I believe that cutting through the noise of accusations amplified in the media, requires regular, local, in-person communication by communities of parents, students, and educators. What follows are three possible actions. 1. What if PTSAs schedule into each monthly meeting a 20 minute dialog with small groups of teachers or organize regular “talk with teachers” events that occur as special events hosted by the PTSA? The dialog would follow a prescribed ethos and procedure constructed to ensure parties listen to understand the other side and speak to respond, not defend. Several constructive dialog formats exist with guidelines and opportunities to train in their use. I think it must be a dialog that invites multiple teachers to talk, though different events could invite different teachers. These dialogues would be separate from the role of a teacher representative to the PTSA who observes and reports. Teachers should have a choice to participate or not, so that it is perceived as an opportunity, not a duty. 2. Ask teachers in the school or department to organize a professional development program (PD) to share best practices about how they build trust and address concerns of parents. While teachers already share informally, an intentional workshop to share best practices is a form of PD that teachers might value, both for what they learn and the credit they can earn. Follow up PD can evaluate practices and consider adoption of what works. Teacher-directed PD has the additional benefit of building peer and institutional trust. 3. My last idea is to ask teachers, PTSAs and other groups to develop what they believe might work within their community to rebuild trust and try it with a commitment to figure out what works. Like in a classroom, engaging the stakeholders in conceiving the solution wins buy-in to support the solution. For teachers, I would encourage awarding PD credit. Trust is the glue of healthy societies, healthy relationships, and healthy schools, while apathy and accusation are powerful solvents. Schools are a ready-made place to build the social capital of trust. Trust-building is one of the first activities teachers engage in with their students, because effective learning requires that students trust their teachers as experts and guides. Trust maintenance continues throughout the year, because complacence weakens bonds of trust. Show trust in teachers by helping them rebuild trust lost during COVID rather than use threats and restrictions that question their professionalism and scare them away from being their professional best for our children. About the Author: Monte F. Bourjaily, IV teaches AP US History, AP US Government, and Law & Society in public school in Northern Virginia. He has written this essay in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this essay are his personal views and do not reflect the views of his employer.

Speech on comprehensive sex education given by Marianne Burke to the Fairfax County Public School Board, May 26, 2022. Text slightly changed to be more widely applied. Original speech is available upon request. After reviewing decades of research on the subject, adolescent psychologists have concluded that co-ed (comprehensive) sex education is beneficial to students. Nevertheless, the decision to separate students by gender in Family Life Education is often made by school systems without considering the trade-offs of doing so. This instruction separated by gender conveys to students that bodies that are different from their own should remain mysterious. The effect is to make students uncomfortable with and to stigmatize bodies that are different. When Family Life Education classes are separated by gender, students don’t have the guided experience of discussing potentially sensitive topics with peers whose bodies and gender differ from their own. This is a key skill they will need to go through life as they enter into relationships, including friendships, romantic partnerships, and parenting. With instructions integrated by gender, students can hear firsthand about the diversity of experiences individuals have. Otherwise, they can miss out on opportunities to build knowledge and develop empathy across differences. By denying our students these opportunities they may be less prepared for important interactions, Carry stereotypes into adulthood. Be limited in honest communication with potential romantic partners, which is a critical component of health. may come to believe that some topics should not be discussed with people who are different can miss out on critical information as they get older and are faced with issues such as consent, pregnancy prevention, and sexually transmitted infections, and May be forced to feel excluded because they have been placed in a space that does not reflect who they are. It is important that school boards in Virginia support comprehensive Family Life Education because our students deserve to reap the many benefits provided by comprehensive education. View the School Board meeting below. Marianne's remarks start at 1:01.