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State Campaigns Focus on Local Policies in the 2025 Election An important part of voting is determining who is the best candidate. This has become even more difficult in recent years as news reports have become increasingly one-sided and often distorted for political advantage. This year’s election in Virginia seems particularly focused on cultural issues, most notably the rights and protections of transgender students. With just weeks until the election, Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears, who is the GOP candidate for Governor, John Reid who is candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General Miyares, who is running for reelection, speak passionately about their objection to policies that protect and provide rights to transgender students. They use two recent alleged incidents between students as justification for rolling back the rights and protections currently provided to trans students in some Virginia school districts. It is disturbing that those candidates don’t provide a balanced accounting of the incidents but instead present only the parts of the stories that support their political agenda and vilify the transgender students allegedly involved. For example, in a recent Fairfax case, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl-Sears claimed a “boy” was watching girls undress in the girls locker room; however, she implied that this student was transgender without evidence. In the Loudoun case, Attorney General Jason Miyares claimed that a “girl” recorded boys in the boys’ locker room but Miyares did not reveal that it was a transgender boy who recorded the students sexually harassing him to provide to school administrators as evidence of the harassment. Nor did he reveal that all three boys were suspended, because the recording documented sexual harassment by the two boys and the transgender boy had violated the rules by recording in the locker room. Instead, Miyares focused on the trans student who was violating school policy, and ignored the sexual harassment by the other two boys. Alarmingly, he referred to the harassers as the “victims.” In both the recent Fairfax and Loudoun incidents, the cisgender students accused of sexual harassment and favored by Sears and Miyares, already have free lawyers from extremist groups: Founding Freedoms Law Center is representing the Loudoun County boys, who are trying to overturn their suspension, in the Loudoun incident. Founding Freedoms is the legal arm of the Richmond-based Family Foundation of Virginia, a known anti-LGBTQIA extremist group. Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI) is the far right group representing the Fairfax girls, and is trying to use the incident to overturn the civil rights of transgender students, as supported by FCPS. DFI, a tax-exempt organization, was founded by two former Trump US Department of Education (US ED) officials in 2021. Incidentally, DFI contributed to Project 2025 on education issues. Over the last decade there have been many debates over the rights and protections that should be provided to transgender students. Some politicians are so desperate to be elected that they provide biased information to gain a political edge. In addition, changes in administrations can result in changes in transgender youth rights and protections as with Miyares' and Youngkin's focus on transgender youth and public education access. Below is a description of how transgender rights and protections have evolved in Virginia over the last decade. Ebb and flow of transgender student rights in Virginia Gavin Grimm came out as a transgender boy in 2016 during his sophomore year at Gloucester High School in Virginia. Because that school’s policies restricted him from using the facilities used by other boys, he sued his school board. Grimm’s case was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia even though the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had backed Grimm in his lawsuit. Subsequently the DOJ stated that the district judge's reasoning was “faulty and should not be followed.” Grimm appealed his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which ruled that the Gloucester County School Board violated both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.” In 2017, after President Donald Trump took office and his administration rolled back protections for transgender students under Title IX, the school board appealed the case to the Supreme Court. That court sent the case back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to be reconsidered in light of the Trump revised Title IX guidance that “clarified” protections for transgender students under the first Trump administration. In 2020 Grimm won that appeal and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals again determined that the school board violated the law. That same year then Governor Northam developed Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students which enabled transgender students in Virginia to use names, pronouns, and facilities that aligned with their gender identity. Also, the model policy provided new guidance for creating safe and supportive environments for transgender students, just as were already available for cisgender students. This policy was consistent with the federal law because it prohibited bullying, harassment or discrimination. Transgender students were to be treated in accordance with their gender identity under Title IX. In 2022, Governor Glenn Youngkin's administration revised Virginia’s model policies for transgender students in Virginia, and to a large degree ended their rights and protections. The new model policy stated that students should use bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In addition, it offered an “opt out” option for parents to request a sex-separated facility where the federal law requires schools to permit transgender students to share otherwise sex-segregated facilities with students of the opposite gender. Five school districts in Virginia refused to comply with the revised policies, and were legally able to do so as model policies are more suggestions than a law. In June 2024, AG Miyares filed an Amicus Brief in support of a case against FCPS which contended that FCPS policies regarding harassment of transgender students and their access to bathrooms violated the religious liberty rights of a high school student, Jane Doe. Also in 2024, President Joe Biden’s administration formalized the long-standing view that under Title IX sex discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation. Immediately following inauguration in 2025, President Trump initiated a series of Executive Orders intended to roll back the protections and rights of transgender students, but even then not all school districts complied. To date the districts that have refused to comply with both Governor Youngkin’s and President Trump’s transgender policies include Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties; and the cities of Arlington and Alexandria. These districts maintain that their trans policies are protected by the Fourth Circuit decision on Gavin v. Gloucester County School Board. After the U.S. Department of Education (US ED) announced they were withholding federal funds for lack of compliance, the FCPS board sued the US ED, but the suit was dismissed. The school board appealed the decision to a higher court and asked for an emergency injunction. In response, Attorney General (and candidate) Jason Miyares filed an amicus brief to deny the emergency request for an injunction by FCPS and APS. On October 1, 2025, Miyares filed another amicus brief in support of the students whose alleged sexual harassment of a transgender student in a LCPS locker room resulted in their suspension, thereby supporting the accused over supporting the civil rights of all students. To date the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has not announced if they will hear the appeal. Virginia 2025 Candidates’ stances on transgender rights in schools On the campaign trail, democratic candidates are focusing on the economy, federal overreach, and civil rights of Virginians. On the other hand, republican candidates seem to be hyperfocused on transgender students and their access to bathrooms and locker rooms. Gubernatorial candidate and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears supports policies that separate facilities by “biological sex,” a term that, outside of policymaking, is considered to be inaccurate by the medical profession and anti-LGBTQIA hate speech by others. She appears happy to discount some of the most vulnerable students in Virginia in order to prevent a minority of students from feeling uncomfortable. Recently, at a rally at a Fairfax County middle school she stated “How about let’s just have fairness. Let’s have girls have their private spaces and boys have their private spaces. It has worked for how many millennia, and certainly it can work now.” The democratic candidate for Governor in Virginia, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger stated that she believes “...we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities,” and that her “priority is making sure Virginia’s kids are safe and supported.” A statement made in 2022 provides more specifics on her opinion of the Youngkin administration’s revised policy: “Gov. Youngkin’s [transgender] mandate targets vulnerable children, and it’s downright shameful to think that an elected leader would punch down at kids to score political points. This mandate rolls back the rights of kids to be themselves in schools.” The Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, John Reid said that transgender students were “delusional,” “trans ideology is not normal,” and “... for us to engage and indulge sexual delusion, and that’s what this is. ... No one is changing their sex by declaring themselves to be something other than they are.” The Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor Senator Ghazala Hashmi criticized her Republican colleagues for discriminating against transgender students and said “Far too often, society’s message to transgender children and youth is that they don’t belong and that they should not be seen for who they are… We need to focus on funding our schools, providing mental health services, supporting our teachers and ensuring safe learning environments. It’s time to stop these culture wars that target trans kids.”“ Jason Miyares, who is running for reelection as Attorney General, stated in an amicus brief against the five Northern Virginia school districts this summer, "The policies in Fairfax and Arlington allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on subjective gender identity instead of biological sex are unlawful, unsafe, and indefensible.” Vanessa Hall noted that Miyares consistently supports federal overreach by the US ED and violations of student civil rights. The democratic challenger for Attorney General, Jay Jones, replied when asked about his opinion on trans policies in public schools “ I believe these are decisions that should be decided locally, and that neither politicians in Richmond nor Washington should be telling local communities and parents what to do.” Impacts on transgender students The Fairfax County Public School System and other school systems that refuse to adopt the transgender policies of Youngkin and Trump, believe their policies are protected by the Fourth Circuit decision on Gavin v. Gloucester County School Board. Until the courts rule differently, these schools intend to provide the rights and protections for transgender students as outlined in that decision. Nevertheless Trump’s Executive Order Imposing Restrictions on Transgender Students in K-12 Schools has led to his withholding federal funds from schools that are in what he calls “non-compliance”. His mandated policy and withholding of funds can have major impacts on the approximately 300,000 trans students in our schools. These impacts include: a general impact on the health and well-being of transgender students and negative physical and mental outcomes of the students associated with schools that do not recognize student’s gender identity. These outcomes are specifically associated with restrictions on access to bathrooms and other gender segregated facilities. In addition any forced outing of trans students to their families can result in abuse, rejection, homelessness drug addiction, declining mental health and suicide.

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 protections, initiating a hiring freeze affecting all levels of government including health care for veterans, and so much more. Primarily, states and local governments control curricula, classrooms, and operations; however, sweeping orders intended to make broad social agenda changes will impact public education, including aggressive anti-immigrant actions, redefining gender, targeting civil rights protections, and sweeping broader social agenda changes. Before you close the browser and hide under your bed again because “it is all just too much,” check out alternative analyses of some the Trump EOs here: The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng covers the first EOs in 30 seconds here. Seth Meyers covers the grant freeze EO, which was quickly rescinded here. The Daily Show’s John Stewart covers the impact of the DEI EO here. The Daily Show’s Joshua Johnson recaps the first week of EOs here. If you are still here and not under your bed, you can read a rundown of the EOs that will negatively impact on students, public schools, and families at the end of this blog. But before you do, please consider the current effort by Trump to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (Dept of Ed) which has both a: 1) financial role distributing billions to colleges and K-12 schools; and 2) regulatory role including providing services to disabled, lower income, and homeless children. Interrupting these roles will have devastating effects for families, students, and school districts across the country. Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) points out that the three EOs targeting DEI are attempting to turn back the clock on civil rights and upend “longstanding, bipartisan federal policy meant to open doors that had been unfairly closed. In his first few days, President Donald Trump is undertaking a deliberate effort to obfuscate and weaponize civil rights laws that address discrimination and ensure everyone has a fair chance to compete, whether it’s for a job, a promotion, or an education.” Specifically, via these three EOs, Trump is “aiming to chill efforts to promote equal access in education.” A number of the EOs threaten civil rights of the transgender community including access to healthcare, sports, bathrooms, military service, and the right to exist. As a result, multiple groups are suing the Trump administration for their attacks on these civil rights, including: Families and PFLAG, supported by Lamda Legal and the ACLU, have filed a complaint against Trump’s order to end all federal funding or support for healthcare for children under the age of 19. Trump’s order resulted in healthcare facilities across the country ending critical healthcare and support for transgender children and their families. Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign who are suing to ensure that brave men and women are not banned from military service. Of course, threats to public education come from multiple EOs as evidenced by the January 29th memo to freeze thousands of public programs and grants, including Title 1 funding, meals on wheels, and homelessness programs. Pressure from advocates, congress people, and 22 Attorneys General ensured a temporary restraining order was put in place. So these school community grants are safe…for now. Obviously, this is devastating news; however, dozens of lawsuits have already been filed to combat the federal overreach and possible illegal actions by the Trump administration. Some of these have already resulted in temporary restraining orders. Nevertheless, keep vigilant, take care of yourself and your loved ones, keep on doing the work, and demand accountability from this administration and your elected officials, in particular U.S. Senators and Representatives who are responsible to hold the Executive Branch in check. If you care about public schools, teachers, and students, pick something you are passionate about and advocate for it. Find groups that are like-minded and join them. Give funds to group suing for funding, civil rights, and freedom that is being taken away by these EOs. RESIST. Trump EOs that Will Affect Public Schools The President also rescinded close to 80 executive orders of preceding Presidents, including those that protect LGBTQIA people, offer asylum to refugees, efforts to reunite migrant families, and more. Education Week examines Trump’s first week of education-related EOs, but here are links an further information about education-related EOs to date: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government – This EO redefined “men” and “women” to a restrictive conception-based, non-scientific, incorrect, and likely illegal definition that effectively defined all Americans as women. In addition, Trump removed transgender protections, rights, and government publications. Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing – Ends all federal government programs related to diversity, equity, inclusion, (DEI) and accessibility, and terminates federal positions related to DEI. Immediately, accessibility on many federal websites was disabled. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) removed guidance and training documents and canceled DEI training. The Army removed sexual assault guidelines, but reinstated them after outcry; however, this action begs the question of how will sexual assault and harassment be treated in public schools. Additionally, the EO as it intends to “encourage” ending DEI in private business and elsewhere. See Anjy Cramer’s blog on how DEI is civil rights. Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling – This EO seeks to push federal policies on states and school districts as to what can be taught, where kids can go to the bathroom, and the level of patriotism in teachers’ civics lessons. It is unknown how this will affect public schools, particularly since typically states and localities have the authority over curricula and school policies. Nevertheless, it is chilling and threatening using words such as “indoctrination,” “radical,” and “anti-American.” Additionally, some far right groups like America First Legal are targeting Virginia school districts with lawfare by demanding federal investigations of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William school districts. Establishing And Implementing The President’s “Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – This unleashed DOGE on the federal government where Elon Musk’s agents have gained access to sensitive (e.g., private, financial, or protected) data in multiple agencies and are attempting to dismantle multiple federal agencies. The impact of this likely illegal effort will be felt in every sphere of American life. Expanding Educational Freedom And Opportunity For Families – Prioritizes school choice in the ED via discretionary grants, which will pull more taxpayer money from public schools. Protecting The American People Against Invasion – This is the primary mass deportation EO which is wreaking havoc in communities across the U.S. It permits Immigration, and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct arrests in schools, churches, hospitals, and courthouses–all places that used to be sacrosanct, but now are targets of deportation terror and chaos. This is one of several EOs targeting immigrants, refugees, and schools. See 4 Public Education’s blogs on how departion cruelly affects public school communities and Fairfax County Public Schools response to deportation. Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation – This EO specifically targets transgender children’s healthcare. The ACLU identifies that the EO “directs federal agencies to withhold funds from medical providers and institutions that offer gender-affirming medical treatments such as puberty suppressants and hormone therapies to anyone under 19, threatening to shut down access to essential health care that is already out of reach for many.” Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within The Federal Workforce – This is an effort to convert federal civil servants, most of whom are experts in their field and serve the American people, to political appointees loyal to the Trump Administration. Thus, merit ends in the federal government.

Speech given to Arlington Public Schools (APS) School Board Meeting Public Comment Period, Thursday, August 21, 2025 (51:41). Note: it has been edited for clarity. In the 1950s, APS found itself mired in a constitutional crisis. They had to navigate divergent Federal ( Brown v Board of Education ) and State Laws (Virginia's " Massive Resistance ") regarding segregation in schools. In Virginia, any division that enacted school desegregation would lose local control of their education system; their public schools defunded and officially closed (1). Vouchers  would then be given to attend private schools. With the backdrop of McCarthyism  and a rising segregationist movement, those who spoke out were harassed via phone (2), mail (3), and the occasional cross burning in their yards . According to oral histories from the 1980s, in the 1950s school board members faced recrimination, accused of being Communists, and one almost lost his Federal Government day job due to these accusations. Outside actors regularly disrupted school meetings (4). Some board members brought in the culture wars. Helen Lane   loved pulling books off of APS shelves . Ms. Lane even forced the board to vote on eliminating the school lunch program (5) from the budget. Robert Peck, dismayed at APS' sex ed program (6), bypassed the school board and took the matter to the state. The Sex Ed program, developed by experts, vetted through a citizen's advisory committee and approved by the Board... was gutted and suspended.  The Arlington County School Board did eventually approve a very gradual desegregation plan (7). The Virginia legislature almost immediately voted to disband their elected public school board  (a right that no one got back until 1993 ).  But let's be clear: despite Lane and Peck, APS didn't desegregate due to benevolence. They did it due to bond obligations (8) and building capacity concerns (9). Black parents' advocacy (and lawsuits ) brought us to 1959. Despite some people in the room, APS is on the right side of history today. Stay here. A social studies teacher in another state sent me this quote today: "You don't have the right to feel safe–you have a right to BE safe, which is not the same. Fascism is obsessed with perceived danger coming from every vulnerable/marginalized population and its only answer is to eradicate them. If you feel unsafe when you are not, you should ask why."  They/Them Might Be Giants   The last time I stood at this podium, I said I would stand behind you until it was necessary to stand in front. I stand by my words. Leave them kids alone! References: Thank you to John Stanton and Heather Crocetto for assistance in locating the source documents linked herein. See links below to view the sources. 1955 Fact Sheet for Voters Supporting Segregation 1956 Media Coverage of Harassment of NAACP Lawsuit Plaintiffs 1958 Threatening Letter from Irene Compton Comparing Desegregation to Communism 1957 Article Segregationists Disrupt School-Based Meeting 1957 APS Public Input demanding Elimination of Public School Lunches 1954 Newspaper Articles covering New Censorship Committee to Review Library Books 1956 APS Desegregation Policy, Including Caveats for Parents who Object to Desegregation 1956 Coverage of APS School Board Member, James Stockard, Statement on Desegregation and Bond Obligations 1961 Article Covering James Stockard’s Efforts to Integrate APS All of the Arlington County Library's Oral History Programs used in this speech can be found at the Charlie Clark Center for Local History, Central Library, including the following that were used to develop this public input: Oral History transcript, James Stockard, April 23, 1984, pg 28-30. Oral History transcript, Bernard Joy, December 6, 1983, pg 29-30 Oral History transcript, James Stockard, April 23, 1984, pg 15-16. Oral History transcript, Elizabeth Campbell, September 3, 1984, pg 28-29. Oral History, Robert Peck, September 3, 1984, pg 29-31.

If you Google “Fairfax County School Board Meeting’ and select “Images”, you will find the FCPS School Board seal along with professional images of School Board members at the dais. You will also find no shortage of images like these: Angry parents. Screaming parents. Obscene parents. Headlines across the country decry the behavior at school board meetings, including this opinion piece , “When parents scream at school board meetings, how can I teach their children?” by New York State Teacher of the Year. Who are these parents that have claimed the podium, microphones and sidewalks? We are not these parents. They are not the voice of all parents . Hate sells headlines, so media follows and these sensational but misleading images fill up those Google search results. Respect, civility, truth, even common decency have left the building. Intimidation rules the day. What can be done? 4 Public Education was born from this cry. We can reclaim the podium with meaningful conversations that can challenge and question while honoring differences and ensuring equity. We can show up with truth and not get shouted down. We can engage parents who champion public education as the core of democracy. We can uphold free speech. We can replace fables with fact. We can combat fear and chaos with information and empowerment. To do this, we will stand together. We start by uniting, empowering with information and engaging. We show up at the podium, in the room, on the sidewalks, at the bus stop, in living rooms and in all our digital communities. Every call to action- from postcard writing to calling an elected official is another brick in the foundation in the path to restoring civility and decency. We will listen, we will speak up, we will welcome voices and engage in thoughtful, fact filled discourse to work for an inclusive, safe, uncensored, and welcoming environment. Our result? A sustainable and fully supported 21st century system of education that cultivates thriving individuals and communities in our society. Democracy demands nothing less. That’s what parents want. Unite with us to take action. Together we will champion public schools: Sign up for Connecting 4PE Champions emails Sign our first petition Facebook Twitter

Please Note: This is an opinion piece. It is not filled with links to authoritative studies, or data analysis.  I’m simply going to tell you what I know, from many years of designing curriculum, teaching students, teaching teachers, and studying tests and test scores our entire system has become dependent on. We are not measuring what: Initiates student engagement  Promotes long-term, sustained engagement Critical thinking and action tools are necessary to problem solving Leads to task completion Makes enthusiastic and accomplished learners All of these are much needed understandings for both our most and least effective learners and for those who educate them. We are not measuring: How to expand perspective.  How to identify key prerequisites to understanding (e.g., what comes before and between memorization and automatic implementation). Which areas and kinds of understanding are most important to this historic time period, this environment which is so different in speed and variation from the past. We learn nothing about these critical components of learning no matter how many tests are purchased, the vast resources spent on tracking the tests, or how many measures are developed from them to quantify school effectiveness. Current testing calendars in almost all states also do not tell us whether students are even making progress within the test parameters because the tests are not well matched from beginning to end of year and from year to year for relevant, actionable use.  For at least 26 years our policy makers have insisted we continue to spend increasingly more time and more money on a single type of data collection: multiple choice standardized tests. Not only do we have numerical evidence for the monetary cost, but anecdotally we know testing now takes roughly one fifth of a school’s instructional year.  During the remaining instructional time, students learn for the test, not for life.  According to eVA, Virginia’s procurement system, this year Virginia spent $217 million of taxpayer money with NCSPearson. Pearson is a testing company that provides SOL tests and various other tests and testing materials. According to Brookings, other states spend similar amounts on other tests like the PARCC, SBAC, and MCAS to the tune of $1.7 billion a year nationwide. The College Board (the PSAT, SAT and AP testing service) makes over $1 billion a year. None of the policies or regulations and none of the tests have significantly moved the needle on learning.   Not No Child Left Behind Not Common Core and Standards based Learning Not the NAEP Not State Exams Not ESEA accountability reporting Not the College Board tests None of these have told us what we need to know to help our kids learn and thrive.  None of them have given reasonable predictability of positive long-term outcomes for our children. Yet, our experts scramble and develop new formulas, new cut-scores, new technology tools, new standards, and new accountability regulations–year after year wasting yet more time on the databases that do no more than prove the ineffectiveness of our measuring systems. It is time we reframed why, what, and how we are measuring, and the answers to those questions must come from the classroom, not from the board room. Finally, do we even know how to assess whether we can teach our children how to live healthy, happy, knowledgeable, well adjusted lives?  Nobody in the Edusphere is asking.

Community members gathered in person and online to hear from Indivisible Co Founder and Executive Director Ezra Levin, on Friday, January 10th. The event, titled " Celebrating Community in Uncertain Times ", was co-hosted by Fairfax Indivisible and 4 Public Education. Watch the full program here: Click image to open video link Fairfax Indivisible Lead and 4 Public Education Board Member Marianne Burke introduced Ezra and invited attendees to meet fellow activists and members of grassroots groups after the presentation. Thank you for watching! Find an Indivisible group here . In person attendees with Ezra Levin

Experts have warned about the deleterious mental health  and educational impact of cell phones on students, and school districts across the nation are implementing sweeping policies to ban cell phones from classrooms and some school grounds. For the most part, students, teachers, administrators, and parents and caregivers approve of these plans, with some reservations and a lot of questions. Even the Governor of Virginia has jumped on the cell phone banned-wagon with his recent Executive Order for phone free K-12 education zones . Local Cell-Phone Program Example In Fairfax County Over the summer, Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) approved a proposal  for a pilot program involving a system-wide student cell phone storage solution, in addition to changes to the Students Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R). Their vote required a presentation of recommendations in July from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid. Per the FCPS description of the pilot program , about one-third of middle and high middle schools are participating in this program which is hoped to “limit classroom disruptions and improve student engagement and learning.”  Starting on September 3, 2024, the program will be implemented in select middle and high school, as follows: Middle School: Participating students will receive a “special cell phone storage pouch, called a Yondr pouch.” Students will bring their own pouch each day to lock up phones after placing them in silent or airplane mode. They will unlock the pouches at the end of the day before leaving school. If a student forgets their Yondr pouch, then they are expected to bring their phone to the front office at the beginning of the day for storage. Lost or damaged Yondr pouches will result in a $18 assessment.  High School: Students are expected to place their cell phones into a storage unit at the beginning of each class. The current version of SR&R regulation 2601  prohibits all students from using phones in class, but HS students can use their phones in between periods.  All pilot programs:  To reach your child in the case of an emergency, call the front office. There is no change in the cell phone policy for students with medical accomodations. Other Cell Phone Accessories: All phone accessories (e.g., air pods) are to be silenced and put away. Smart watches may be worn, but phone features (e.g, texting, internet, calls) are to be silenced. These are big changes; however, the guidance indicates no change in the cell phone policy for students with medical accommodations, which is a relief for many parents. Nevertheless, we all have a lot of questions, including How much time will this take out of each day? Who will supervise whether students are complying? What are the consequences for failure to comply (i.e., not putting a phone away) or using the phone in class? Will teachers support the change and respect students’ medical accommodations? Hopeful for this Change and It's Success Honestly, I’m hoping this pilot program is successful, despite sharing some strong opinions in May . I’ve talked to a number of teachers from Virginia and other districts who are hopeful regarding these cell phone changes, as well.  Many caregivers are on-board, as well. However, there are still outstanding concerns about being able to contact students during emergencies. Most parents I’ve spoken to are concerned about being able to be in contact with their student(s) during school shootings, as highlighted by students texting with their parents during the devastating attack at Apalachee High School in Georgia  yesterday. FCPS also asks for your feedback on the pilot program here . We at 4 Public Education would love to hear your thoughts and experiences, as well.  Please  share here .   In the future, we hope to share additional perspectives from teachers and students as the year progresses.

Disease, Disruption, and Disinformation You may not know but today is the five-year anniversary of regular life ending as we knew it. Kids stayed home from school, many adults began working from home, people pulled out sewing machines to make masks for their neighbors, and the world suddenly became much smaller and scarier than it had been only months before. And people got sick and died.  To me, the signs were obvious in January 2020 that something bad was coming, so my household had masks, wipes, flour, cleaning supplies, and other essentials just in case when the world shut down seemingly overnight. Honestly, every time Trump said “everything is fine” from January to March 2020, I went out to purchase more toilet paper or shelf stable goods. I felt like Chicken Little at the time, but during the pandemic, it meant that I could share with my neighbors and friends when they and the stores ran low on flour, yeast, and tp. I will admit that at the beginning, it felt good to finally have an excuse not to go anywhere, to bond with my family, and to be quiet. It was still scary because people were sick, but it was doable. We banded together and connected remotely. The longer the pandemic lasted, the harder it was, especially for those with in-person jobs, unstable housing, small children, and/or solitary living conditions. Over the years, I’ve always wondered why many people immediately became angry at the schools and teachers–so angry that they formed loud, aggressive groups to hound elected officials, teachers, and other parents. It seemed odd that those Open School groups never voiced discontent with the Trump administration’s bungling of the COVID response. However, their support for him despite his lack of leadership made more sense once you realized how many political operatives and candidates founded those groups. It made even more sense when you realized those Open School URLs were purchased simultaneously with Trump April 2020 tweets about opening schools , and there is a clear intersection of the Open School groups (including COVID-denial and anti-mask groups) and Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Networks . Many progressives joined them because they thought the Open Schoolers intended to work to open schools through advocacy, science, and masking. They were sorely disappointed, as the Open School groups were right-wing echo chambers of disinformation, complaints, and harassment of teachers and other parents. Progressive parents quickly left realizing that open conversation was as unwelcome as science or empathy in the Open School groups. Honestly, it has been funny to watch those groups rebrand themselves as “parents rights groups” despite the fact that they were obviously always extensions of the local Republican party and their screams have been memorialized in School Board videos, but I digress...  To me, it was obvious that the first Trump Administration was ill-equipped to handle the pandemic, much less work to address the pandemic. They ignored that people were dying, masks helped, and the U.S. needed a real plan and leadership to protect Americans and people around the world. It never felt like the Trump administration took COVID seriously when they called it a “flu.” So by the time the Biden Administration arrived, there were already a million dead, and mask and vaccine hesitancy were encouraged by the previous administration to such an extent that many American bought the lies wholesale. Nevertheless, I’m eternally thankful to those scientists and leaders that did their work to research, correct misinformation, and develop a vaccine that saved lives.  Five Year Anniversary: The Gift of Would The fifth anniversary gift is wood. That won’t transfer very well in a blog, but I will ask you: What would  you have done differently during the pandemic? What do you wish we would have learned and implemented post-pandemic? I will share a very personal “would have done.” I wish we would have spent more time with my parents when we were isolating to try to reduce the spread of COVID. There was so little information about COVID that we isolated our households from each other, which was not healthy for my elderly parents or for my family, particularly since my mother received a dementia diagnosis on March 12, 2020. The isolation was not good for her or my dad. I think her dementia wouldn’t have progressed as fast if we had been able to spend more time together, and kept her connected to us.  Otherwise, I think we would have done everything pretty much the same: online school, masking, getting the vaccine, and isolating when we had a cold, as one should. Does it mean that my kids learned as much as they would have in person? Yes, because they wouldn’t have been able to learn anything fearing that their classmates’ coughs or sniffles could kill their parents.  Post-pandemic, I have a list of things that I wish our communities would be doing or have already done, including: Improving overcrowded, underfunded schools that end up being the educator, health care, counselor, and mentor to our children. Rethinking health care to ensure that those who cannot afford it can still have access to basic preventative and health care so they can keep themselves and their families healthy for work, school, and life. Silencing the wheels of disinformation that have infected our country so that half of it doesn't even know the truth anymore. Making a plan for the next pandemic or global crisis so that the fear of death does not derail people from living life. Obviously, there is more I could say, but this seems enough when the world feels like it is on fire and our country is threatening its allies while siding with oligarchs and dictators. Like we did during the COVID pandemic, we will continue to work, learn, and try to make the world a better place. We must live, thrive, and support others, as we did during the COVID pandemic, only now we can do it in person…unless you have a cold, and then please stay home until you are better.

Reproduction of the West Springfield Women's History Display, "G is for Gaslight." Project 2025 Attacks West Springfield High School (Part II) Women’s History Month is over, but the effect of Project 2025’s attacks on Fairfax County Public Schools are still ringing through the halls of one local high school. West Springfield High School (HS) became the center of far right enraged attention after a self proclaimed “boy mom” found a students’ Women’s History display to be “highly inappropriate,” “leftist” propaganda and her views were amplified quickly across far right, dark money media from the Daily Signal to Ingraham Angle to Fox News. Learn more about this in Part 1: Project 2025 and IWF, Don’t Censor Our Students. The Women’s History Display was taken down one week after Stephanie Lundquist-Arora published her opinion piece attacking the girl students who created the unique, thought-provoking display. Was it taken down because boys were repeatedly tearing down the display? Was it removed because Project 2025’s disinformation campaign was interfering with education at West Springfield HS? Or, was it because Women’s History Month was coming to an end? The truth is likely somewhere among those possibilities. Nonetheless, the display is now empty, girls have been silenced and threatened by Project 2025 activities, and FCPS had to spend more money and time on culture wars started by paid operatives in our schools. The Project 2025 disinformation campaign attacked students, their free speech, their teacher, and their school. Ultimately West Springfield HS girls were silenced when their display was taken down, while Lundquist-Arora and her coworkers at Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) were invited to the White House to witness the signing of Trump’s Executive Order to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education. Of course, eliminating an entire agency would still require full approval of congress. “I am honored to be attending this historic event at the White House to witness President Trump sign the executive order to direct the elimination of the Department of Education.” –Lundquist-Arora At West Springfield, there was violence as boys repeatedly ripped down the girls' Women’s History display following the Project 2025 media onslaught. Meanwhile Project 2025’s mouthpiece, Lundquist-Arora, seemed to celebrate this violence on the Larry O’Connor show on WMAL where she showed greater empathy for boys violently ripping down the display than she did for the West Springfield HS girls whose work was being destroyed. In fact, Lundquist-Arora, O’Connor, and Julie Gunlock all seemed to think that the school counseling these boys who broke the rules was akin to telling an assault victim that their “skirt was too short.” Astonishing. Imagine how unsafe that made girls at West Springfield High School feel. Imagine other vulnerable communities who feared they could be next. For those who do not know O’Connor and Gunlock, here are their affiliations with Project 2025’s IWF: O’Connor is the host of a radio show on WMAL which seems to run on disinformation and political grievances, and platforms to far right operatives, candidates, and elected officials. O’Connor is a regular at CPAC and host of Republican events. Two days after the January 6th violent insurrection on the nation’s capital, he stated his view that there was “widespread fraud” in the election. He gave the 2023 IWF Resilience Award to the queen of stochastic terrorism, Chaya Raichick who runs the Libs of Tiktok. Her tweets have been linked to threats against individuals, as well as bomb threats, and even attacks againstFCPS teachers. In 2024, Raichick was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) hate watchlist. Gunlock is one of two IWF co hosts added in 2022 to the O’Connor and Company show on WMAL. She is program manager of IWF and director of Independent Women’s Network (IWN), a paid nationwide network for conservative women founded in 2021. She hosts the IWF Bespoke Parenting Podcast, and has even interviewed O’Connor to discuss how to “raise patriotic kids.” She uses the r-word. She is one of many “right-wing media figures [who] immediately claimed the student protesters were exploited” after nationwide walkouts one month after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, when hundreds of thousands of students walked out of their classrooms for 17 minutes, demanding stronger gun safety laws. (Note: Gunlock has falsely accused the author of abusing her own children and being a “complete mental case.” ) Because of Project 2025’s stochastic terrorism and media megaphone, students were deprived of their civil rights because of threats and disruption wrought by Project 2025 operatives. Student rights do not end at the schoolhouse door, but Project 2025’s influence should. By the way, the total 2023 revenues of the dark money Project 2025 groups and affiliates who attacked the West Springfield HS Women's History students are $113 million (tax-free). To learn more about how Project 2025’s IWF and their operatives are attacking free speech, read on. Is this Advocacy or Terrorism? The technique described above used by the Project 2025 groups is called “stochastic terrorism” which is “political violence instigated by hostile public rhetoric directed at a group or an individual.” Often the rhetoric involves dog whistles or codes in order to grant “the instigator plausible deniability for any associated violence.” They use dehumanization, disinformation, fear, hate, and conspiracies to incite violence through “ideologically driven hate speech [which] increases the likelihood that people will violently and unpredictably attack the targets of vicious claims.” Scientific American provides many examples of this, including: 1) the Qanon Pizzagate conspiracy theory that Democratic leaders, including a former first lady, were running a child trafficking ring out of a Washington, DC pizza restaurant basement when Comet Ping Pong, the pizza parlor in question, didn’t even have a basement, and 2) Chris Rufo who has repeatedly stated that drag queen story times were intended to sexualize children. Pizzagate led to threats against democrats and a man traveling from North Carolina to open fire at Comet Ping Pong. Rufo’s grooming accusations have led to violence at drag shows and library events. Mother Jones uses Donald Trump’s rhetoric as a prime example of stochastic terrorism in action where he encourages political violence against those he dislikes by “pinning a bull’s-eye on the back of an opponent in a volatile situation—perhaps suggesting the world would be safer without this supposed threat—knowing this could lead to violence against that target. It’s indirect incitement, inspiring someone else to do the dirty work.” In 2022, Axios compiled a list of Trump statements encouraging violence: by police when handling suspects, shooting migrants in the legs to slow them down, and using the military to quell peaceful protests. ABC News, Vox, and the New York Times have similar lists. Essentially, Trump has avoided consequences for his speech because he is not the one lighting the match, but he has been pouring gasoline for those who intend to start a fire. Who is IWF? IWF’s funding is murky, but their far right politics are clearly political, despite their classification as a 501(c)(3), tax deductible charity. The tax code restricts organizations from qualifying as a tax deductible charity if they “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” The Heritage Foundation has been reported for violations of its 501(c)(3) status. IWF has been identified as anti-feminist due to their advocacy against women’s rights and issues, including on their stances on the subjects of contraception, abortion, women’s sports, transgender women, domestic violence, violence against women, government funded healthcare, sexual harassment, income equality, gun control, chemical regulation, etc. A 2013 New York Times editorial described the IWF as "a right-wing public policy group that provides pseudo feminist support for extreme positions that are in fact dangerous to women." Of course, IWF is well-funded by some of the same dark money that funds other Project 2025 advisory board members like the Heritage Foundation and America First Legal. The latter of which is bankrolling Lundquist-Arora’s lawsuit against FCPS for the ability to deadname and misgender other FCPS students. Ms. Magazine notes that “IWF/V has received money from the Koch network, Leonard Leo’s network and funds from secretive donor-advised funds, like the Bradley Impact Fund, the National Christian Charitable Foundation and DonorsTrust.” In Fiscal Year 2023, IWF received at least $439,000 from Donors Trust and $175,000 from the Bradley Foundation. In 2023, IWF had $7.1 million in revenues and spent over $2.5 million on salaries and wages above and beyond their leaders’ salaries ($245,951 for President Carrie Lukas and $116,403 for Executive Vice President Amber Schwartz). This means that their scholars and spokeswomen earned an average of about $60,000, up to $100,000 in compensation in 2023. IWF is a known signatory of Project 2025 whose alliances and goals mirror those of known SPLC hate groups like Parents Defending Education (PDE) and Moms for Liberty. In some cases, they even shared employees, executives, and board members. Local Coalition for TJ parents, Harry Jackson and Asra Nomani, were employed by PDE until their “antics” in 2022 (Nomani’s meltdown at the school board and Jackson’s online mocking of an autistic student) led them to be fired by PDE and hired by IWF. Similarly, current leaders of PDE and Moms for Liberty are directly connected to IWF and the Heritage Foundation as employees and frequent collaborators. Project 2025’s Mom/Messenger It is not often that just any mom gets the kind amplification that Lundquist-Arora has enjoyed. Most parents have opinions, but rarely are any listened to by the media, much less do any parents have a red carpet rolled out for half-baked political ideas. Click here for Part 1 Well, this is not just any mom, Lundquist-Arora is one mom among a network of moms on contract with a Project 2025 group, IWF, whose opinions were posted in the Daily Signal, which is produced by none other than Project 2025’s Heritage Foundation. IWF is a tax-free anti-feminist charity with over $7 million 2023 revenue, and the Heritage Foundation, a tax-free charity with over $100 million 2023 revenue! (Learn more about the other groups involved here.) Never mind that both of these groups have tax-free designations and millions at their disposal from dark money donors like Koch Foundation, Bradley Foundation, Devos family, Adolph Coors, and Donors Trust. It is unknown how much a IWN Fairfax Chapter Lead like Lundquist-Arora makes or how she fulfills IWF’s stated goal of “improving communities and our country” by writing media pieces for the Daily Signal and appearing on the Laura Ingraham Angle to attack the hard work of young women at West Springfield HS. It is also unknown how many actual members besides her are in the Fairfax chapter. Funding for IWN activities falls under IWF, per their tax forms, but it is entirely possible that Lundquist-Arora also receives payment from other associated organizations. This is common, for example in Lundquist-Arora’s most recent lawsuit against FCPS, her lawyer (Ian Prior) was compensated handsomely (nearly $400,000) by both America First Legal and Citizens for Sanity in FY 2023. However, it is known that Lundquist-Arora and her children, along with a host of other IWF employees, were invited to witness President Trump signing the Executive Order to abolish the U.S. ED. While nearly all parents, educators, and school districts decried the move to abolish the U.S. ED. IWF refers to removing 45 years of centralized oversight of the nation’s schools as “The Beginning of The End of An Error.” Locally, Lundquist-Arora has been busy over the last three years, popping up publicly in 2022 when in she hosted a July rally for GOP candidates with special guest Sebastian Gorka (known America First provocateur, podcaster, Trump advisor, and anti-trans activist) where she advocated for the right to bully trans students because she felt that the anti-bullying language in the SR&R was “compelled speech.” Lundquist-Arora is currently involved in the America First legal lawsuit against FCPS on that subject and the issue of excluding transgender and non-binary students from FCPS rest rooms, and she has written numerous anti-trans opinion pieces, some of which criticize FCPS for refusing to comply with Youngkins anti-trans model policies. In fact, she asked Youngkin to fine school districts like FCPS for failure to comply. In 2022, she, Harry Jackson, and Jeff Hoffmann (all 2023 Fairfax County school board candidates) openly mocked a talented autistic musician at a School Board meeting. She dropped out of the 2023 school board race, but proceeded to regularly campaign with/for Jackson even after astonishing revelations about him in local media (e.g., history of spousal abuse, known association with Christian Nationalist Groypers, vicious attacks on local parents, sending controversial mailers to homes depicting sex acts, etc.). In the last two years, she has written dozens of opinion pieces for the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, and Fairfax County Times. Unsurprisingly, most of those media sites coordinate with and/or are funded by Project 2025 and their funders. For example, The Federalist, is a conservative online magazine known to publish pseudoscience. Although it has been cagey about its funders, the New York Times has identified one funder as Dick Uihlein, a long-time source of dark money for nonprofits like IWF, the Heritage Foundation, and support for far-right candidates. The New York Times also identified that Conservative Partnership Institute provides funding to the Federalist, as well. It doesn’t take much review of any of these media sites to know who and what they politically support. (Hint: MAGA and support for the radical far right agenda.) Of course Lundquist-Arora has the right to write whatever she wants and to say whatever she wants on the myriad of interviews on WMAL, Fox News, Ingraham Angle, and NewsMax. However, Lundquist-Arora’s opinion matters about as much as any parent’s opinion, which means that it does matter, but only as much as one voice in an entire community of hundreds of thousands of voices. However, if someone is advocating to violate the free speech rights of other students and families, every parent in FCPS should be concerned, particularly when that person has been handed a large platform by her employers. Project 2025 Gaslighting Free Speech One panel of the students’ Women’s History display was “G is for Gaslight,” something far too many women experience at work, at home, and in the community. Ironically, Lundquist-Arora was guilty of gaslighting when she redefined mansplaining as a “derogatory term to indicate when men try to explain things to women.” Weird. Why redefine a word that has inspired countless memes and charts, and when every woman, whether she has a PhD or is a high school student, has experienced a man with far less knowledge than her condescendingly explaining something to her? To gaslight us all, of course. Oddly, Lundquist-Arora frequently advocates for free speech absolutism, which seems to be a component of her lawsuit against FCPS for supposed “compelled speech” regarding dead-naming and using anti-trans slurs against transgender students. Does she find it a bridge too far when young women are expressing honest fears and concerns about womanhood? Lundquist-Arora’s attempts to gaslight her audience to think it is acceptable to curb young women’s free speech is astonishing, considering her long history (and lawsuits!) advocating for free speech. Where is the author who wrote an “An ode to the comedians who fight for free speech” this past January? Or do free speech protections only apply to comedians who have been lambasted for cruel jokes at the expense of transgender people? Do students and young women not have the right of free speech? Or, must they suffer the consequences when paid activists use them as a punching bag for far right messaging? Where is the author who asked in 2022 “Why can’t we all get along?” Does Lundquist-Arora not really want to “live a peaceful life free of discord” while opposing “bullying”? It is a wonder because her constant conflict at her sons’ schools and attacks on the Women’s History students at West Springfield HS, seem to suggest otherwise. Using platforms provided by Project 2025 to attack the hard work of young high school women would fall under the definition of bullying, which is to “seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable).” Where is the author who complained about school codes of conduct that enable students and staff to anonymously report violations of civil rights? Does she dislike civil rights or anonymity? If Lundquist-Arora was so concerned that a “tattling line” would end K-12 student speech, why does she suddenly find it acceptable to “prohibit not only free speech but free thought” for high school girls? In her own words, why is the author and IWF “spending its resources monitoring our children to shape them ideologically”? What is IWF’s purpose? Stochastic terrorism? Indoctrination of future students? Unfortunately, Lundquist-Arora's anti-feminist musings were shared in the Daily Signal and on the Laura Ingraham Angle. It is truly odd that the Daily Signal, known for “free speech absolutism” ran this obvious attempt to intimidate students and silence their free speech and creative expression. However, once one realizes that Project 2025’s Heritage Foundation runs the Daily Signal, it makes more sense that it would run Lundquist-Arora’s opinion piece targeting young women’s free speech. On the other hand, this is not the first time that Ingraham has celebrated “free speech for we” but not for “thee” when it comes to non-right-wing speech. She is known to support free speech only if it is her kind of speech, so it is unsurprising that she would support the suppression of student free speech while amplifying the free speech of an IWF employee. Source: Fox News Ironically, Lundquist-Arora is the same mom who dismissed concerns about toxic masculinity in a recent Fox News opinion piece. One can’t help but wonder if she considers women’s rights to be bad and toxic men to be good? She sounds a bit like a modern day Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative activist, commentator, and author, who successfully campaigned against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. Which students have the right to speak in Lundquist-Arora’s opinion? Does she think that female students do not have the right to share non-political speech in schools? Does she believe that “discomfort” should squash free speech while at the same time suing the schools about “compelled speech” that violates the civil rights of another student? Does she believe that when boys want to exercise their rights, their rights should supersede anyone else’s rights? Does she believe boys are allowed to resort to violence because they cannot control their emotions? Lundquist-Arora should not be in control of picking and choosing which students “deserve” to be heard, because “Public schools are for everyone.” Not just boys. Not just girls. Not just cisgender people. PUBLIC. SCHOOLS. ARE. FOR. EVERYONE. Her employers have put a target on the back of public education; however, FCPS, is the only school district targeted for elimination by the architect of Project 2025, Kevin Roberts (President of Heritage Foundation) in his recent book. Thus, we must be vigilant and raise our hundreds of thousands of parent and guardian voices to advocate for the civil rights of our students in FCPS and beyond.

Students arrive for first day of school at Bailey's Upper Elementary For the caretakers of public education, Summer 2025 has been a speeding roller coaster of ups and downs at all three levels of government. From threats to close the US Department of Education and dismantle IDEA, to the Big Ugly Bill with cuts and federal vouchers; to state  Accountability and Accreditation Frameworks with new SOL cut scores; and finally surprise budget cuts and lawsuits at district levels: The chaos has seemed pervasive.  Even with all that, it is August and a little over 1,250,000  Virginia school children are going back to school. For students the questions are simple and immediate. “Will I like my classmates?” “Will my teacher be nice?” “Will my classes be interesting?”  For parents, it all boils down to “Will my child thrive and be happy?” and yes, “Will they learn what they need?”  For the more than 90,000 educators in Virginia, the looming, “How can I best help my students learn and thrive?” is always the central question, and the answer to it is currently highly influenced by, “Will circumstances outside my control help or hinder that purpose?”  Like all of us, teachers also deal with personal things like family life, commutes, and child-care, while also adjusting to course assignments, class sizes, and autonomy and instructional support from their districts.  Once children are in the room, concerns about governmental cuts and political scandals give way to issues like supplies and materials and classroom dynamics, “How do I physically and psychologically protect these children and meet their needs.” As everyone resumes the rhythms of the school year, may all your questions be met with good answers. May 2025-26 be a surprise year, not for its problems, but for its successes. May 2025-26 be one we remember for engaged and thriving children, for contented parents, and for fulfilled staff people. - And maybe even a new and less chaotic normal.  Here at 4 Public Education we will be preoccupied with clearing the way for those more immediate conditions to be addressed.  Join us in that work. Welcome back everybody!