Category: Children and Families
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Chilling Revelations In The Saga Of The 6-Year-Old Teacher Shooter
by Kerry Dougherty Excuse my language, but what the hell is going on at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News? On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that school administrators there have downplayed threats of violence, apparently ignoring pleas for help from frightened teachers. One account claims that the same boy who shot and nearly killed…
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Free at Last
by Jim McCarthy Compulsory K-12 education under state law is a fact often taken for granted since its enactment in 1908 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1984, the state authorized homeschooling initiated by an earlier Supreme Court decision in 1972 (Wisconsin v Yoder), providing for a religious exemption from compulsory attendance in public schools.…
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School Discipline, Part III: Reframing Discipline in Virginia and Considerations for Making New Policy
by Matthew Hurt and Kathleen Smith Reframing School Discipline The Student Behavior and Administrative Response (SBAR) data collection was implemented in response to reframing school discipline from that of criminal, punishment, and exclusionary practices from 1991-2020 to that of restorative, intervention, and inclusionary practices in 2021 and beyond. The SBAR reports on behaviors that impede…
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Parents’ Rights Under Assault in Richmond
by Kerry Dougherty HB2091 – SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Parental access to minor’s medical records; consent by certain minors to treatment of mental or emotional disorder. Adds an exception to the right of parental access to a minor child’s health records if the furnishing to or review by the requesting parent of such health records would…
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General Assembly Democrat Bill Supports Gender Transition at 16 Without Parental Consent
by James C. Sherlock I note that House Bill No. 2091, with Patrons Munden-King, Clark, Hope, Maldonado, Rasoul and Simon does two things: It modifies Code of Virginia § 20-124.6. Access to minor’s records to permit health care providers to deny a minor patient’s records to parents if, in the provider’s judgment, providing those records would be “reasonably…
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The Shooting at Richneck Elementary – Part 2 – the School
By James C. Sherlock The shooting at Richneck Elementary was a tragedy by every measure. I am not going to discuss the shooting itself here. I will instead offer a summary of the school’s state quality data so we can get a sense of the environment in that school. It is located across I-64 from…
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Area Principals Admit to Withholding National Merit Awards From Students
by Asra Q. Nomani While Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid claims the principal at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) withheld National Merit awards from students in a “one-time human error,” parents at two local high schools got a Friday and Saturday night surprise. The revelations are emerging after school…
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The Shooting at Richneck Elementary – Part One
by James C. Sherlock There is trauma everywhere you look. A six-year-old boy shoots his teacher in school and we first consider the trauma. Then we look for ways to minimize its effects. And we simultaneously ask questions about the event itself. What happened and why? Unless we are personally involved, and even if we…
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As TJHSST is Investigated, an Email from 2020 Reveals a ‘Pattern and Practice’ of Hiding Awards
by Asra Q. Nomani This week, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares walked through the glass doors of the Korean Community Center off Little River Turnpike, the dome of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology visible through the window, and with him stood five parents of current and former students at TJ, as the…
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Democrats Want to Raise Youngkin-Proposed Mental Health Budget Increase
by James C. Sherlock There is fundamental agreement in Richmond over mental health services. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia’s forecasts of long-term budget surpluses mean this year’s General Assembly has a chance to catch up with years of under-funding Virginia schools and the state’s behavioral health system, General Assembly Democrats say. To govern is to…
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Preparing for the Costs to Government of Virginia’s Generation COVID
by James C. Sherlock To justify her insistence on keeping schools closed, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in February of 2021, “kids are resilient and kids will recover.” She brought that same message to Virginia. In one of the strangest choices in Virginia political history, Terry McAuliffe brought Weingarten…
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Afghan Immigrants and Their Children in Virginia – Part 2 – the Afghan Adjustment Act
by James C. Sherlock When I wrote Part 1 of this series, I promised further investigation into immigration of Afghan allies into Virginia. The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS), a hero in this story, has been entirely forthcoming in answering my inquiries. I will recount in a follow-up post their work so far. But…
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RVA 5×5 – Holiday Briefing
by Jon Baliles It’s Friday! Which means this newsletter would normally be filled with stories and analysis about what is happening in the RVA region (not all of it good), with an honest and insightful take (so far as that is possible). For instance, this week we could have stories about: A non-profit that presented…
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Red States Have Significantly Higher Percentages of Minors than Blue States
by James C. Sherlock The Census Bureau yesterday released part of its 2022 population estimates. It showed marked differences in the percentages of children and adolescents under 18 among the states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Adults in red states are raising more children on average than those in blue states. And it…
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Why Aren’t Children Learning in Petersburg Public Schools?
by James C. Sherlock Why aren’t Black children, on average, learning in Virginia public schools? You have heard and perhaps internalized all of the excuses. Cue the historical/social/cultural/economic theories. They are all interesting. And exhaustively pursued. And irrelevant. Black children in many Virginia urban public schools are not being taught properly in environments conducive to…