Author: sherlockj
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Mitigating COVID-Related Learning Losses – Conflicted Advice Gets an Airing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch
by James C. Sherlock Any attention given to learning losses is welcome, but some are more welcome than others. Data published in an op-ed by Kristen Amundson in the Richmond Times-Dispatch give preliminary evidence of the destruction of K-12 learning that has been going on since last March. “A new poll from Christopher Newport University found…
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Healthcare Spending Drives Growth in Virginia Budget over Last 10 Years
by James C. Sherlock On December 16, the Director of the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget provided a briefing for the Joint Meeting of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, the House Appropriations Committee, and the House Finance Committee. The subject was the Governor’s proposed amendments to the 2020-2022 Biennial Budget. The Governor submitted…
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Year-Round School in Virginia until COVID Learning Losses are Made Up
by James C. Sherlock – revised 20 December 2020 This essay will recommend that each school board implement what the title suggests. The concept is far from fanciful. COVID-related learning losses are extreme. Summer learning losses are also a big factor on traditional school calendars. Year-round schools are acknowledged to improve student learning, and Virginia is…
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Orwellian Aspirations, a False Alumni Association Narrative, and Adult Supervision at UVa
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes things come together that confirm one’s worst fears but improve hope for the future simultaneously. Such a turning point happened with me not long after UVa’s alumni magazine, Virginia (Winter Edition 2020), arrived at my house earlier this month. The first story in the magazine was a piece written…
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Hard Power Matters – America’s Universities Must Protect It
by James C. Sherlock This is a continuation of the discussion raised by my column on the folly of educating Chinese and Iranian visa holders in Virginia universities and colleges. Some in that discussion thought soft power would overcome what America loses in hard power. Soft power is both crucially important and utterly insufficient to…
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Why Are We Educating Citizens of Hostile Nations in Advanced Math, Science and Engineering?
by James C. Sherlock Updated Dec 16 at 1:55 PM The title poses a reasonable question. China and Iran are two of America’s greatest national security threats. Yet we continue to educate their citizens in the most security-sensitive programs of instruction at the highest levels of American higher education. Chinese and Iranian students are nearly exclusively…
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Sen. Lucas’ Record Shows No Concern for Poor Health of Her Constituents
by James C. Sherlock I mentioned Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, prominently in my essay yesterday in which I criticized the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. To illustrate the point, I have reviewed Sen. Lucas’ sponsorship of bills concerning health care that came before the Senate Education and Health Committee of which she was Chairwoman in 2020…
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Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Sits Idle While Constituents Suffer and Die
by James C. Sherlock I have been attempting to improve healthcare access, affordability and competition, which improves both access and affordability, in Virginia for 15 years, especially for the benefit of the poor. I have seen the Governor’s office and members of the Virginia General Assembly (especially Democrats on health care issues) continue to bow to…
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All You Need to Know
by James C. Sherlock Three consecutive stories in today’s VPAP VaNews: Matt Jones in the Daily Press. “75% of Virginia parents fear their children are falling behind in the pandemic, new poll says” Kenya Hunter in the Richmond Times Dispatch. “Virginia Education Association calls for classrooms to close across the state” Gregory Schneider in the…
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What Do We Do “For the Children” Now?
by James C. Sherlock I just read Jim Bacon’s column. In it he revealed: “Most Virginians (64%) said they were somewhat or very satisfied with how school officials have handled instruction this fall. Only 22% were dissatisfied. At the same time, an even larger majority is worried that their children will fall behind: 53% very…
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Chronic Absenteeism and SOL Failures in Virginia Schools
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes common sense is not so common as we think. Common sense will tell you that if a kid misses too much school, he or she is not going to keep up with the academics. That apparently has not occurred to the Virginia Board of Education or the Department for which…
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Omissions and Lies in the Annual Report of the Virginia Board of Education
by James C. Sherlock This weekend I read the 168-page 2020 Annual Report on the Condition and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia (the report) published by the Virginia Board of Education appointed by Governor Northam. The report is most notable for its omissions and occasional lies. Poverty. First the good news. The Board…
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Remote Learning Takes Predictably Highest Toll on Virginia’s Most Vulnerable – There are Villains
by James C. Sherlock The most predictable (and predicted) crisis in the history of the nation’s public schools has come to pass. The education and thus future prospects of millions of poor children have been destroyed by weak governors and mayors, aggressive teachers unions and feckless boards of education who not only should have known better,…
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University of Chicago Principles, Freedom of Expression and Virginia’s Universities
by James C. Sherlock Where does education stop and indoctrination begin? A useful demarcation line is freedom of expression. Many Virginia colleges and universities have crossed that line. Students, faculty and administrators live in fear of reprisal for speaking their minds. Some institutions maintain anonymous tip lines that lead to non-judicial procedures through…
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Individual Virginians have Political Power If They Will Use It
by James C. Sherlock We discuss here every day issues such as Virginia’s dangerous shortage of health facilities inspectors that have great consequence to the people of the Commonwealth regardless of their political affiliation. The Director of the Office of Licensure and Certification in VDH was brave to provide an unvarnished reply to my FOIA…