Tag: James Sherlock
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Key Fiduciary Duties of School Boards and Superintendents
by James C. Sherlock My frequent columns on Virginia schools bring up the same lines of arguments and agreements every time. I hope it will help if I explain what I expect of school boards and superintendents. I try to align my writing with those expectations. School boards and superintendents hold their positions first as…
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Charter Schools Reveal Hypocrisy and Incompetence of Loudoun and Albemarle School Leadership
by James C. Sherlock Some people are exactly who they say they are. Not so with the Loudoun County and Albemarle School Boards and their superintendents. They are nationally famous for projecting moral superiority. They arrest lesser mortals for objecting in their presence to the policies they impose. The public charter schools in those two…
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Virginia’s Changing Public School Demographics – COVID Edition
by James C. Sherlock Virginia’s public schools underwent significant changes in enrollment between 2018-19 and 2020-21. The figures for this school year have yet to be released. In the three-year period ending 2020-21, Virginia public schools saw a decline of 37,775 students, a loss of 2.9%. The racial and social-economic demographics also changed. The numbers…
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Change the Law to Attract the Best Charter School Organizations
by James C. Sherlock A key part of Governor-elect Youngkin’s campaign message was bringing more charter schools to Virginia. He wants to attract the best charter schools, and he wants to get started on day one. The path must start with changing Virginia law — in 2022. Fortunately there is a model law available from…
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Day One Powers of the Governor – Removal of Members of Boards and Commissions
by James C. Sherlock The left routinely reminds us that elections have consequences. Well, indeed they do. People ask what can Glenn Youngkin really do on day one of his administration. The answer — more and more consequentially — than is commonly understood. I have written here repeatedly about long term corruption in the Board…
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Candidates Matter
by James C. Sherlock Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe proved that candidates matter, even in blue states like Virginia. Jack Ciattarelli and Phil Murphy in yet bluer New Jersey have proven it again, no matter how that dead even race turns out. I wrote here in early May that Glenn Youngkin and Jason Miyares would…
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By Failing, Progressives ‘Win’
by James C. Sherlock Progressives in America have perfected the art of winning by failing. They create demand for more government with devastatingly destructive government programs badly run. It is the idea of control and the money it brings policy makers from rent seekers rather than the management of programs that attracts them. Plenty…
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Youngkin Takes the Lead
by James C. Sherlock The Real Clear Politics poll average has Glenn Youngkin in the lead for the first time. Nice job, Glenn. Terry, thank you for being perhaps the worst retail politician Virginia has seen since Ken Cuccinelli.
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The Stunning Wealth of UVa’s Nonprofits
by James C. Sherlock As an alumnus of the University of Virginia, I like to check in occasionally to see how my alma mater is doing financially. Not the actual University, but the wealthy and proliferating nonprofits set up for its off-the-books support. When I say wealthy, I mean $13,568,527,649 wealthy. OK, rich. All of…
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Terry McAuliffe as Governor Aggressively Denied Charter Schools to Poor Minority Children
by James C. Sherlock Terry McAuliffe demonstrated as governor that he will fight public charter schools. He will oppose them regardless of the lifelong costs to the students of some truly pitiful Virginia public schools, many with majorities of minority students. When governor, he vetoed a major attempt by the General Assembly to help those…
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Richmond Public Schools Deploy Extraordinary Resources at MLK Jr. Middle School
by James C. Sherlock Virginia School Quality Measures have shown Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Richmond to be perhaps the worst public school in Virginia. Richmond Public Schools (RPS) is flooding it with more adult supervision, instructional resources and student assistance than I personally have ever seen in such a school. MLK Jr.…
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The Loudoun Way — School Rapes by a Member of a Progressive Protected Class
by James C. Sherlock Any time you think there is only one system of justice in America, consider these two stories I offer below, one a progressive dream and the other true. The true story will show some progressives care more about their dogma than kids. And any time you think only big city progressives…
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Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI+) Pilot – Hidden Data, Disappearing Value — Thanks for Nothing
by James C. Sherlock This is a follow-up to my Monday report on VPI+, a federally funded four-year pilot program to assess the value of the Virginia Preschool Initiative. Today we will discuss what was not reported to the public. We will also assess the dreadful results of the pilot participants after those kids graduated…
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McAuliffe Lets the Cat out of the Bag
by James C. Sherlock Current Virginia law and Terry McAuliffe cannot coexist. “A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.” Code of Virginia § 1-240.1. Rights of parents. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Terry McAuliffe, Sept 28,…
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Nursing Home Ads Pose As Official State Advice
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia state government has a Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. Who wouldn’t want one of those? But in the case of recommending nursing homes, it would be better if it would either stop or fix its broken system. Which it pays a nonprofit, VirginiaNavigator, to run. It is…