Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

They’re Political; We’re Not

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Dick Hall-Sizemore
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by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The Governor is pretty upset about a toolkit sent to its members by the Virginia Education Association.

The toolkit includes sample lesson plans that include teachings on racial identity and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The Administration will not support a teachers union’s attempts to prop up a politically driven curriculum toolkit which contains tenets that go beyond teaching history, lesson plans, and operates as a political manual for the next generation of Virginia’s students,” Youngkin press secretary Macaulay Porter said in an email. “Virginia’s schools will continue to teach all history — the good and the bad.”

What is the Governor going to do?  Forbid teachers to use the material in the toolkit and use only lesson plans prepared by his Department of Education?  The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Ms. Porter “did not respond to questions about which aspects of the toolkit the administration opposes.”

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37 responses to “They’re Political; We’re Not”

  1. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    DeSantis Lite. Less taste. More fillings.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      percent of black voters in Florida = 17%
      percent of black voters in Virginia = 20%

      Are both writing them off as a constituency?

      Maybe not entirely: ” DeSantis won 14 percent of black voters …..”

      https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/minorities-helped-boost-ron-desantis-to-the-governors-office-and-the-numbers-show-it

      Youngkin got 13% of the black vote in Virginia

      https://www.washingtoninformer.com/2021-elections-show-inroads-gop-is-making-with-black-voters/

  2. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Thanks for including the link to the document, Dick. I will spend some time with it before responding further. Will suppress my first reaction.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Let me say up front that I don’t approve of all of it. A couple of topics seem to go beyond current issues and teaching and into advocacy.

      My main issue is what the Governor proposes to do beyond expressing disapproval. He seemed to imply that he was going to do something, but left it sort of vague.

      1. VaPragamtist Avatar
        VaPragamtist

        Maybe it’s because I’m on my first cup of coffee, but I don’t quite follow. You say “I don’t approve of all of it. A couple of topics seem to go beyond current issues and teaching and into advocacy” and the Governor’s office says “The Administration will not support a teachers union’s attempts to prop up a politically driven curriculum toolkit which contains tenets that go beyond teaching history, lesson plans, and operates as a political manual for the next generation of Virginia’s students.”

        It seems like you’re both saying the same thing. The Governor’s office didn’t say they object to all of it, but that by including the political advocacy components they’ve gone a step too far.

        For the Gov’s office, the whole toolkit is poisoned by the political advocacy, that toolkits should be objective. Given that you and the Gov’s office both think they’ve gone too far on some aspects, are you ok with letting some advocacy slide through if the bulk of the toolkit is objective? And if so, where do we draw the line on what is too much political advocacy?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Right. Do you chuck the whole thing or re-work it so the good stuff still goes forward?

          Seems like that was a compromise path that could have been chosen and the Gov taking a legitimate stand on the advocacy.

          As it is now, the Gov has firmly attached a 10ft pole to it.

          No teacher in their right mind will go near it unless they’re looking for more strife in their life.

          1. James McCarthy Avatar
            James McCarthy

            Toolkit must be vetted by Hillsdale College.

        2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          I figure teachers know enough to pick and choose the lesson plans they think appropriate. The Governor does not seem to think that is the case.

          1. Ronnie Chappell Avatar
            Ronnie Chappell

            Why would you think that? School administrators don’t trust them to handle discipline in their own classrooms or to search a first grader they think might be carrying a gun.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            well, he’s got that tip line to reassure him.

          3. James C. Sherlock Avatar
            James C. Sherlock

            The Governor “does not seem to think” is not an objective answer, Dick.

            You have built a straw man where none exists.

          4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            Just stating my opinion.

          5. VaPragamtist Avatar
            VaPragamtist

            So you’re good with any amount of political advocacy in these “toolkits”, and letting teachers discern what is and is not too political, and using their discretion to include or omit material?

            That’s fair. But then I suppose any political organization or advocacy group can create a “toolkit” for teachers and teachers can pick and choose the lesson plans they think appropriate, right?

          6. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            I did not say that I was “good” with the advocacy. I don’t agree with all of it, but I don’t trash the whole package as the Governor did.

        3. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          I figure teachers know enough to pick and choose the lesson plans they think appropriate. The Governor does not seem to think that is the case.

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Interesting dynamics. Is the NAACP baiting Youngkin with the idea of “outing” him to black voters?

    I can think of a number of differing responses coming from Youngkin that would not be seen as overtly combative.

    One thing is patently clear , the issue of race and racism is not at all in the rear view mirror. It’s clearly ongoing.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Still politically useful all around. Which is a shame.

  4. vicnicholls Avatar
    vicnicholls

    Maybe Dick, the other side looks at the evidence showing material being taught only is hurting everyone, dumbing down everyone, and is not condusive to the betterment of people and the country.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Teaching about the following subjects hurts everyone? Empathy, Barbara Johns and desegregation, Why Local Elections Matter, Black women who worked for civil rights, and contemporary civil rights movements.

      1. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Does teaching about the BLM movement include using donations to buy multi million dollar mansions and steering million dollar contracts to family while not funding local BLM members and not filing its 990s?

        1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          I don’t think that was in the package.

          1. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Me neither, but it would provide some “balance”.

  5. kls Avatar
    kls

    I guess the section ‘The Color Line’ will discuss the Democratic Party’s: pro-slavery movement, post-Civil War Jim Crow laws, the establishment and promotion of the KKK, gun control so freedmen could not protect themselves and families, the segregation movement, the separate but equal movement, and the role of Wallace and Byrd in the Dem Party?

    1. Rosie Avatar
      Rosie

      Yes, alongside the Southern Strategy, something you all clearly didn’t learn in school.

  6. Carter Melton Avatar
    Carter Melton

    As long as the “toolkit” talks about the self proclaimed communists who founded blm….and then offers an overview of comunism vs capitalism…and as long as the ” toolkit” talks about blm’s stated objective of destroying the nuclear family….and then explains how the nuclear family is the cornerstone of our society…I say let ‘er rip

  7. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    “The Administration will not support a teachers union’s attempts to prop up a politically driven curriculum toolkit which contains tenets that go beyond teaching history, lesson plans, and operates as a political manual for the next generation of Virginia’s students,” Porter said in an email. “Virginia’s schools will continue to teach all history — the good and the bad.”

    Uh, wait. “We are resolved. It is a definite maybe.”

  8. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    The trashcan in the public school’s mailroom is usually filled to the brim with junk mail such as this VEA toolkit. Most dues paying teachers just want the assurance that the VEA will have their back in a time of need.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      My wife resigned pretty early in her career and yes, the only thing of value she missed was the possibility of some legal help if needed. Professional liability coverage.

  9. Kathleen Smith Avatar
    Kathleen Smith

    I read every banned book when I was in high school. Just saying.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Especially if it was “in Boston”.

    2. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Yes, I remember the librarian in Redlands, California telling 6th-grade me that I couldn’t check out this book or that book, and I shouldn’t have been in those stacks. Didn’t deter me from going elsewhere. Don’t recall that they were salacious, though. 🙂 I had other sources for those.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Ah, but that was in the days before recycling so when you pulled last month’s Playboy from your neighbor’s trash can you had to pick bits of lettuce and fried chicken off of it.

    3. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      Come on, Kathleen, he didn’t “ban” anything. Just disagrees. Dick has built a straw man, and too many here are taking the bait.

      1. James McCarthy Avatar
        James McCarthy

        Gov. Y did not ban because he was powerless to do so.

  10. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    Reminds me of the UVA BOV extending Ryan’s contract way early – there was a clause with a specific period. That was a stick in Youngkin’s eye – on purpose – and a violation of their duty to the entire Commonwealth – and this is the same immature temper tantrum.
    Oh, mean people disagree with us!
    Keep it up and parents will rein you in because you won’t act like adults and stick to education, instead of the unopposed Leftist indoctrination you’ve enjoyed for about the last 20 years.

  11. James C. Sherlock Avatar
    James C. Sherlock

    Dick, you pose the question “What is the governor going to do?

    He has done the only thing he can do about opinions expressed by a private entity, the VEA. He expressed his administration’s disagreement.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Disagreement with what? Disagreement with the whole package? Disagreement about teaching about Barbara Johns, who has a statute on Capitol Square, a bust in the U.S. Capitol, and a has a state office building (housing the Va. Attorney General) named after her? Disagreement with teaching why local elections matter?

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