Author: sherlockj
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Redistricting is Working – Sen. Barker Threatens to Resign
by James C. Sherlock Something must be going right. Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria, has threatened to resign. Seems he is unable, at least so far, to pick his voters in the redistricting process. Virginia’s new bipartisan redistricting commission is working the details with two months to complete its work. Barker is on that commission. But…
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The President Had Somewhere Important to Be
by James C. Sherlock The caption of the photo: “US President Joe Biden looks down alongside First Lady Jill Biden as they attend the dignified transfer of the remains of a fallen service member at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, August, 29, 2021, one of the 13 members of the US military killed…
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A is for Activist
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes the discussions about the ever increasing political content in Virginia K-5 classrooms is hard to visualize. Perhaps this will help. The Daily Wire discovered the video below posted on a VDOE website by a couple of teachers in Chesapeake public schools as a resource for 3rd grade teachers. The website…
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Retirees Can Help the Schools
by James C. Sherlock Virginia has 132 school divisions. I don’t pretend to know what each has done to address the monumental task of teaching kids who have been at varying levels disconnected from the educational system for 18 months. But I offer a suggestion that some may already be using: seek the assistance —…
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Should Large Numbers of K-12 Students Repeat Grades This Year?
by James C. Sherlock The question asked in the headline is a class 5 hurricane that has come ashore. School is in session. The recommendations for whether and how to execute large-scale retention in grade, whatever they might have been, would have proven very controversial but potentially helpful. Such guidelines are now moot. Work in…
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Endeavor to Persevere
by James C. Sherlock Chief Dan George played Lone Watie in the 1976 classic The Outlaw Josie Wales, one of the greatest westerns ever made. Lone Watie related a story of a visit to Washington. The visit was the occasion on which the Secretary of the Interior told the chiefs that they would have to…
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First Morning Bus Delays in Fairfax Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock Updated Aug 23 at 5.50 PM FCPS has published its first morning FCPS Bus Delay list of buses delayed more than 15 minutes. Remember: This is the first day of school, but certainly there were several trial run days this summer in an attempt to provide sufficient time in the schedules to avoid lateness.…
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Schools Desperately Short of Bus Drivers; Carpooling App Needed
by James C. Sherlock A Fairfax County Public Schools Twitter message August 19: “If you can walk with or drive your child (and perhaps a neighbor’s), please do. Also, we ask that you update your transportation status through your school, if you choose to not have your child take the bus.” WTOP reported that as…
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State Mental Health Plan Too large, Complex to Succeed?
by James C. Sherlock I really want Virginia’s mental health program to work. It looks like a major struggle, however. I will recommend a major change: state control of the Community Services Boards (CSB)s. I think that will be necessary for the plan to have any chance of succeeding. I have just finished reading a draft…
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Marijuana and Casino Legalization Linked to Increases in Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
by James C. Sherlock We know what is going to happen. Dr. Daniel Carey M.D., Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources, will soon apply to the federal government for funding for substance abuse prevention grants. He knows. He plans to tell the federal government that additional people, mostly poor and Black, are going to…
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What Does Northam’s Masking Order Mean for 70,000 School Kids with Disabilities? Does Northam Even Know?
by James C. Sherlock My own preferred policy for schools is mandatory vaccination for school staff, recommended vaccinations for the kids and voluntary masks for everyone. One of the advantages of that is that it is executable. One of the disadvantages is that I have no influence whatever over the governor or health commissioner. Pretty…
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Shots and Masks in Richmond Schools
by James C. Sherlock Belt and suspenders? Vaccinations and masks now are both mandatory in Richmond Public Schools. Vaccinations because the school board ordered it last night. Masks because the Governor ordered it last week. The vaccination order, though many oppose it, has science behind it. Vaccinations work. For the vaccinated, though, the mask wearing…
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Are We Willing to Require Health Care Workers to Get Vaccinated If There Are No Replacements?
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes reality trumps policy. The headline asks a question for which I do not have an answer. My personal position is that all health care workers and all school workers should get vaccinated. Reality suggests that changing the verb from “should” to “must” depends on the availability of replacements, the necessity of…
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Virginia Beach and Afghanistan
by James C. Sherlock It was never a Navy war. But in this Navy town, it was brought literally home to us again and again. We are home to nearly half of the Navy SEALs, including SEAL Team 6. Something like 4,000 to 5,000 total plus their families. SEALs are America’s special operations forces specially…
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Return to Autocracy in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock. Updated Aug 13, 12:15 PM It was so easy to predict that I can claim no special prescience. I wrote a week ago: “The Governor’s 15-month emergency powers expired June 30, and, God, does he miss them…. (H)ow long (will the) governor put up with the lack of emergency powers?” If…