Youngkin Needs to Stop Politicizing Public Schools

Since launching his gubernatorial campaign and even more so since taking office everything Glenn Youngkin has done has been with an eye at a presidential run in 2024.   Part of this has involved a faux "parental rights" agenda in public schools which fits hand in glove with well funded far right efforts to censor public education and avoid any reference to topics that upset the Christofascist/white supremacist base of today's GOP - a party that is unrecognizable from what it was 25 0r 30 years ago.  Hence Youngkin's effots toward the erasure of any honest, fact based discussion of (i) Virginia and America's history that touches on systemic racism and the ugly brutality of the Jim Crow era, and (ii) the existence and contributions of LGBT individuals.  Sadly, so far transgender students - who are an obsession with the Christofascist set - have been the most targeted under the Youngkin regime's "new model policy" that would "out students" to their parents - many of whom could be abusive towards their LGBT offspring (40% of homeless youth are LGBT individauls discarded by their parents) - and elimiante any safe haven schools might provide to LGBT students.  A column in the Washington Post by the school board chair of the City of Alexandria (one of the highest achieving in Virginia) slams Youngkin and calls for politicians like Youngkin to stop politicizing public schools.  Here are excerpts:

On Sept. 16, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) released a “model policy” for how schools should work with transgender youths, including referring to students only using information about names and sex listed in their official record unless a parent or guardian has submitted a name-change form. School staff cannot “conceal material information” about a student, including information related to gender. The policy requires the use of bathrooms, locker rooms and other “intimate spaces” based on sex assigned at birth and states that athletic participation must be determined by sex.

The model policies have many inherent issues, beginning with a privileged assumption that all students have supportive home environments free of family abuse, neglect and generationally inflicted trauma. Policies protecting parents’ rights should take extreme care not to trample on the rights of innocent children.

Moreover, the timing of these policies follows extremely vocal criticism from the governor and his team about the state’s recent Standards of Learning assessment, results they attribute to the reduction of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. So, the question should be raised: What does a revamp in policy that focuses on preferred pronouns and bathroom preferences have to do with academic achievement and addressing unfinished learning?

[T]he only way to prepare students for college, career and life is to follow the data and set our tasks and priorities accordingly.

The data does not tell us to focus on outing students to their parents, hammering kids on bathroom preferences and calling a child “she” when they prefer to be called “he.” What the data does tell us is that we need to improve student literacy. Virginia’s School Quality Profile in the 2021 to 2022 school year showed that only 73 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in reading, 65 percent in writing, 66 percent in math, 65 percent in science and 66 percent in history. Unsurprisingly, Black and Hispanic students continued to lag behind their White and Asian counterparts on these assessments. If these achievements were to be “graded,” then Virginia would have a D average.

As educators, we must use data to make informed instructional decisions for our students so that we can crawl out of this pervasive hole of mediocrity. We should be given the space and time to respond to the individual needs of our students and families, working together to do the grueling work of placing an equity lens on everything we do and dismantling the broken systems that perpetuate opportunity gaps within our schools and school systems.

Though I appreciate the governor’s fervor for parents’ involvement in their child’s education (I, too, support this), the Youngkin administration’s “listen to parents” narrative has done more harm than good. This slogan has morphed into a tool used to divide families from their public school systems instead of encouraging the much-needed support of our educators. Of course we must listen to our parents. But we must also trust the expertise of our public educators and value their knowledge and experience.

I would not tell my doctor how to perform surgery; it is time to stop telling trained educators how to navigate the very complex task of educating our children.

This model policy is a distraction. The issue of schools and what happens in them has become too focused on politics and not focused enough on kids. The data is clear and tells us that we have an academic and equity problem. The pandemic showed us that our kids are hurting and we just need to let them be who they are right now.

So, let the teachers teach, let the principals lead and give the superintendents respect and grace. Elected officials must stop distracting them. That is the only policy that will help right now.

Don't expect Youngkin to heed such sound advice.  His sole concern is furthering his political ambitions and he cares nothing about the lives he is damaging.  He is yet another example of the moral bankruptcy of most Republican elected officials across America.