A clever term that seems to have gotten the governor is” Kids problem.” Glenn Youngkin, R- Va., elected in a small contest. Voters for Youngkin believe that parents are important. Has he, however, made it a real during his current administration?
On April 24, 2024, I reached out to , Lisa Coons, Virginia’s superintendent of public instruction ( appointed by Youngkin ), regarding President Joe Biden’s absurd , rewrite , of Title IX. I asked Coons to join , South Carolina’s Superintendent , of Education Ellen Weaver and Louisiana’s Superintendent of Education , Cade Brumley , in rejecting the harsh and possibly unconstitutional Title IX regulations recently released by the U. S. Department of Education.
In my email, I explained the , problems , with Biden’s correction of Title IX — that , conflating natural sex and gender has disturbing effects, especially for children. Our daughters need access to changing rooms and private bathrooms. Women’s sports may be feminine- only for the sake of fairness. Legally mandating that our kids use a woman’s preferred pronouns is compelled speech and a violation of the First , Amendment. And college students who have been accused of sexual assault receive access to just process.
Attorney General Jason Miyares announced in a press release on April 30 that Virginia would join” a six-state coalition” in suing the federal Department of Education ( DOE ) for its dangerous revision of Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act.
I’m happy Miyares is joining the multi-state lawsuit, but I’m unsure of the government’s general lack of response to parents ‘ concerns. As of now, neither Coons, nor people from her company, has responded to my message. ( As of publication, the Virginia Department of Education , has not responded to a request for comment from The Federalist. )
The “parents problem” administration has previously ignored parents, despite Miyares ‘ announcement to take action against the unfair revision of Title IX in his press release.
Symbolic Movements from” Day One”
Youngkin stressed the value of filial influence in educational decisions from” Day One.” He introduced , Executive Order One, which prohibited the training of controversial themes in public universities. However, he did not put it into a significant manner.
There was an email address, for example, intended to obtain information regarding public institutions ‘ training on divisive concepts, such as critical race theory. I received no response to my , issues sent to that email address , and, to my information, neither did anyone else who submitted letters to that address.
I also , wrote , about contentious aspects taught to our kids in Fairfax County public institutions and , questioned , if Youngkin’s administration may work, to no avail. The executive order issued by the Virginia governor to combat divides in public education was basically a symbolic gesture lacking enough application mechanisms.
According to Executive Order Two, the Youngkin presidency claimed that families had the right to choose whether their kids attended public schools. After the professional attempt was supposed to be in consequence, my three sons— therefore in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades — went to school maskless with my written agreement. Nowadays, they have a cumulative 39 times of , suspensions , to display for their thus- called maskless freedoms.
When I reached over to Youngkin’s leadership for aid, I was met with pity, but no action. My sons ‘ suspensions are still on their records more than four decades after lockdowns began, despite following appeals to the area.
Parental Rights for Disqualifying Students from Public Schools
In December 2023, I reached over to Coons, for the first time, about the absurd concept of “unexcused presence” in Virginia’s public schools. In the internet, I , explained , that the Virginia Department of Education needs to change its concept, which now grants the state power at the cost of parental rights.
The school’s administration is not able to determine whether a child’s absence from class is appropriate after the parent gives an excuse. When a parent excuses a child for a reason, whether it’s for a medical condition or a sporting occasion, that may quickly excuse the absence. As long as we can justify the presence, the college district is in no way responsible for our children’s absences. Evers not responded.
I assumed that all of this might be a Virginia issue; probably Youngkin and his appointees were just making money off of a constituency that is less interested in advancing electoral gains for the future. But last week, a parents in a Democratic city in Indiana, a Republican state, shared his experience with me. The school district’s officials have the right to decide whether or not his excuse for taking his children away from school is suitable in his remote area. The dad was angry, just as we all may be.
The Indiana family’s practice made me wonder if we are the puppets of a panderverse. Democratic candidates throw us a “parents problem” bone in our hectic lifestyles. Some of us forget what such a phrase does entail as we prepare foods and ride our kids to and from sporting events.
Kids are not taken for granted by political leaders. To our very key, we understand our necessity in our family’s lives. What exactly are our officials going to do to make sure that kids, and not the state, have the final state in raising our kids? We want behavior, not just thoughts.
Stephanie Lundquist- Arora is a family in Fairfax County, Virginia, an artist, a part of the Coalition for TJ, and the Fairfax book head of the Independent Women’s Network.
