With the rise of leftist, anti- Israel protests on college campuses, Americans increasingly recognize the dangers of the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” ( DEI ) cancer in higher education. Some states, such as Florida and Alabama, have rightly taken steps to stem the flow of common solutions to DEI’s leftist agenda in public corporations.
But what fewer Americans are informed of is that the DEI mob is stealthily and effectively , manipulating , our younger children beginning in their public elementary schools and beyond. Some public school districts are also subjecting their kids to overtly , discriminatory , requirements. Fairfax County’s public universities, located just outside our government’s money in the largest school district in Virginia, are best among them.
On May 15, I wrote an , email , to the district’s deputy capital agent,  , Nardos King. I posed basic questions: What are the concepts of “marginalized organizations” and “protected group” — and which cultural groups are included in each type? She refused to give clear responses.
Discriminatory Term Are Embedded in Public School Policies
Because the college district foundations policies on these words, these words are particularly important. For example, educators are  , allowed , to display banners of “marginalized parties”. According to an , email , I received from a middle school director in Fairfax County, Black Lives Matter is a disadvantaged party, so teachers are free to show that leftist symbol in the state’s classrooms.
The categorization is unusual. A political movement called Black Lives Matter does not signify all dark people. BLM’s classification reflects apparent viewpoint discrimination, and it’s unclear how it could be viewed as a disadvantaged group. Parents and students should have the right to see what other teams are on that list because our children are subject to how these words are used in practice.
The district ‘s , Educational Equity Policy, passed by the school board in June 2023, also uses the term “marginalization” . , The point of that policy is for students to have equal outcomes, such as grades. To that end, the city has experimented with “equitable scoring” to boost thus- called marginalized parties.
Parents are concerned that their college applications will turn out to be unintelligible because of their concern. In other words, hard work and skills are never rewarded when similar result, and not significance, are the focus.
Additionally, Fairfax County Public Schools employs the term “protected class.” Although this term is recognized by the federal government, its definition and application are ambiguous at the local level in public schools. In the district’s code of conduct, “discriminatory harassment” seems only to apply to protected classes. The code , states,” Discriminatory harassment is unwanted conduct toward an individual based on their actual or perceived age, race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected class”.
Does that imply that this rule applies to nonprotected classes, which unquestionably include white men and heterosexuals? Are these kids subject to harassment based on their sexual orientation and race? Is it less serious when they are harassed? The school district must provide explicit implementation details in order for policy clarity. But they do not.
Vague Definitions
In response to my first email, King gave me vague definitions and declined to elaborate on which particular social groups were deemed “protected.” She , wrote,” ]A ] protected class is a group of people who are legally shielded from discrimination based on certain characteristics …]such as ] race, color, religion, national origin, sex ( which covers gender identity and sexual orientation ), pregnancy/childbirth, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, and genetic information”.
Even King was not completely clear on the district’s definition of “marginalized groups”. She , wrote,” While we may not have an official definition for’ marginalized group,’ it generally refers to people who face systemic disadvantages and discrimination. This can include women, underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, individuals based on gender identity and sexual orientation, people of various ages, individuals with physical disabilities, and non- native language speakers”.
While she stated whom it , may , include, she did not clarify whom it , does , include. Pushing back on her in response, I , wrote,” I remain a bit unclear about which social groups belong in each category. For example, are women a marginalized group in schools? They do n’t appear to have issues getting jobs in the classrooms or having access to higher education because they are not in the minority.
She referred me to four district policies that are supposed to clarify the terms ‘ definitions and requirements two days later, likely after speaking with the district’s legal counsel. They did not, so I responded,” Would you please explain this to me? My question is quite simple: Which social groups are classified in FCPS]Fairfax County Public Schools ] code as’ marginalized’ and/or’ protected’ and which are not”? As of publication, I have not received a response to my simple question.
A Recommendation for Districts That Institutionalize Discrimination
Alvin Lui, the founder of Courage Is A Habit, is right to , say , that the left “uses your vocabulary but not your dictionary”. It has been the left’s strategy to redefine words that we thought had clear definitions, such as “woman”, or Ibram X Kendi’s , racist , ideology of “antiracism”. For words such as “marginalized groups”, they are intentionally vague as a strategy.
We must press leftist school districts that have the authority to regulate our children on their discriminatory policies and the resulting implementation. To that end, if they insist on exposing America’s children in public schools to these absurdities, I would like to see an identity points matrix that stipulates the value of each child based on race, sex, religion, ethnicity, etc. as these school administrators perceive it.
At least then, we would all be looking at the same playbook. More importantly, we would be able to prove the clear violations of our children’s constitutional rights in court.
Stephanie Lundquist- Arora is a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, a member of the Coalition for TJ, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network.
