Tag: James A. Bacon
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Sorry, Can You Please Explain Again How Systemic Racism in Healthcare Works?
by James A. Bacon The U.S. healthcare system, we hear with increasing frequency, is systemically racist. Here in Virginia, for instance, we hear that Black women suffer a higher rate of complications in childbirth than White women. But any theory of systemic racism in healthcare needs to explain certain inconvenient facts that I stumbled across…
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Alexandria Schools’ Tentative Return to Sanity
by James A. Bacon Yesterday I wrote about a move by the Alexandria public school system to designate 30 minutes each day to “social-emotional learning” — a therapeutic approach involving counseling and community circles to teach students how to behave themselves in school. This initiative follows a previous decision to restore School Resource Officers (SROs)…
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Symbol of Brotherhood… or Race Hatred?
Old Rule: it isn’t socially acceptable for Americans to display the swastika, an ancient symbol expropriated by the Nazi Party that has become synonymous with race hatred. New Rule: it isn’t kosher for Americans to display a symbol that sensitive individuals might construe to resemble a swastika, however remotely. The superintendent of Hanover County Public…
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Alexandria Schools to Devote 10% of Instructional Time to Social-Emotional Learning
by James A. Bacon Beginning in the new school year, Alexandria City Public Schools will designate 30 minutes every day to “social-emotional learning,” according to the school system’s website. In addition, Student Support Teams will provide more “targeted and intensive” interventions for individual students identified through the school’s Multi Tiered System of Support process. In…
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Teacher Shortage Update: Fairfax and Richmond
As students get ready to return to school later this month, Fairfax County classrooms are 97% staffed, incoming Superintendent Michelle C. Reid told parents in a July 28 letter to parents and staff. “We are working hard to continue to fill those remaining vacancies and to ensure that we will have a licensed educator in…
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Windsor Traffic Cops Broke No State Laws
by James A. Bacon Town of Windsor police officers won’t face state criminal charges for pepper-spraying a Black Army lieutenant during a traffic stop, but they aren’t off the hook yet. Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell, named as special prosecutor in the Isle of Wight case, has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to open a…
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Audit Skewers Arlington’s Virtual Learning Fiasco
by James A. Bacon An internal audit of Arlington Public Schools’ calamitous virtual-learning program during the 2021-22 school year cut school leaders no slack. “There was insufficient or minimal ownership, leadership . . . stakeholder input, planning, risk assessment, pilot study and progress reports,” John Mickevice told School Board members, as reported by the Sun…
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Does Fairfax Have a Criminal-First, Victim-Last Mindset?
by James A. Bacon Dozens of current and former Fairfax County police officers belonging to the Fairfax County Police Association gathered in a town hall last week with Attorney General Jason Miyares. Their message: recent Virginia legislation combined with a change in prosecutorial policies by the county’s Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, are making it harder…
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Dominion Kicks off Battery-Storage Pilot Project
by James A. Bacon A utility-scale battery storage system has gone online at Dominion Energy’s Scott Solar Facility in Powhatan County, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. During the day when solar output is peaking, excess energy is rerouted to the batteries. When the sun goes down and output falls, batteries release electricity back into the…
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The Great Escape
by James A. Bacon Fletcher Norwood has made his great escape. It feels, he says, as if he’s broken out of a German stalag and been elevated to Winston Churchill’s aide de camp. When he resumes teaching in August, he’ll no longer be consigned to the high-poverty Title I high school where he has been…
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Blacks Don’t Always Think the Way White Cultural Elites Think They Do
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin’s popularity in Virginia was the top-line story from a new Virginia Commonwealth University poll. The survey, published yesterday, found that 49% of Virginians polled approve of his job as governor compared to 38% who disapprove. It’s not surprising to see his popularity holding up so well. Virginians tend…
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A Shameful Shallowness of Intellect
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia Student Council has called for the immediate resignation of alumnus Bert Ellis from the Virginia Board of Visitors, and chastises Governor Glenn Youngkin’s decision to appoint him as “rewarding behavior that endangers students.” Ellis stands in a long line of violent racist oppressors, says the proclamation. “From…
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Violent Crime Now the Top Public Health Concern
Community violence and crime constitute the No. 1 “public health issue” that concerns registered voters in Virginia, finds the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) in a poll released today. Fifty-one percent of the 800 Virginians polled selected the issue. The No. 2 concern was healthcare work shortages, which logged the top vote from 25%…
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Richmond Police Unveil Anti-Violence Strategy
by James A. Bacon Shootings and homicides are surging in Richmond this year, and city police have a new strategy to bring the situation under control. They’re compiling a list of “shooters” and potential shooters. In a Monday press conference, Major Ronnie Armstead, who is leading the initiative, said the list includes “violent people that…
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Debunking Another Junk Study from the Left
by James A. Bacon The Prison Policy Initiative, a group dedicated to exposing “the broader harm of mass criminalization,” has published data detailing the incarceration rate of communities across Virginia. Among Virginia’s 95 counties and 38 cities, 26 are missing at least 1% of their population to incarceration, finds “The geography of mass incarceration in…