“So…it’s actual not parents that get a seat at the Youngkin administration table…it’s private interests.”; “It’s the Betsy DeVos model of destroying public ed.”

Now with a 5-4 Youngkin-appointed majority on the Virginia Board of Education, as well as some real right wingnuts (Elizabeth Schultz, etc.) in positions of authority overseeing Virginia’s public education system, watch out for some bad stuff to really start happening now. For more background, see Virginia Board of Education delays review of history standards (“The Virginia Board of Education delayed proposed revisions to state standards for history and social studies lessons at a Wednesday meeting, the first held with the five-member majority newly appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The reconstituted nine-member board on Wednesday also heard the details of an initiative by Youngkin (R) establishing “lab schools” via partnerships between colleges and K-12 districts and voted to alter how the state will assess the academic performance of some students with disabilities this year.”). Also, see below for a few comments, including:

• Gov. Ralph Northam’s Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, who says “The Republican-controlled VA State Board of Ed voted to stonewall the revised history standards which dozens of historians and thousands of Virginians worked on. Youngkin wants to suppress black and brown voices.”
• VA State Senator Ghazala Hashmi, who tweets: “It was never about Virginia’s children or parents or education. It’s always been about the pillaging of public education dollars and transferring those billions of dollars into private enterprises. It’s the Betsy DeVos model of destroying public ed. Fearmongering with a purpose.”
• VA Del. Candi King, who tweets: “So…it’s actual not parents that get a seat at the Youngkin administration table…it’s private interests. Interesting.”
• VAPLAN/Cindy, who tweets: “These people will absolutely dismantle the public education system. The best way for them to preserve their power is to control WHO is allowed to be educated and WHAT they are taught. Critical thinking and reasoning just for some; others will be trained to be worker bees.”

In short – watch out, bad changes ahead!