Category: Discipline and Disorder
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Spanberger Signs Tighter School Cellphone Ban Into Law
by Todd Truitt Virginiaโs move toward cellphone-free schools has now become a bipartisan through-line across two administrations. Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger yesterday signed Senator Stella Pekarskyโs (D-Fairfax County) follow-up school cell phone legislation, which had unanimously passed the Senate and overwhelmingly passed the House of Delegates. The law tightens the existing ban by replacing the…
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A Troubling Gap in School Transparency
by Stephanie Lundquist-AroraRepublished with permission fromย IWFeatures Last week, Fairfax County police confirmed that a public school student reported she was physically attacked at Centreville High School on March 4. Inside sources have told IW Features that the incident occurred during instructional hours and that the alleged assailant is a black male student. One source described…
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Best of Intentions, Unintended Consequences
by Matt Hurt Maintaining an appropriate level of orderliness in school is a delicate, nuanced balance when done well. Without discipline learning canโt take place. Good teachers are loath to remain in schools that do not maintain appropriate student behavior. Students respond to some practices by some teachers and administrators, and run roughshod over others.ย Many…
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Senate Looks to Tighten School Cell Phone Ban
by Todd Truitt A Virginia Senate bill sponsored by Senator Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax County, would tighten the stateโs school student cellphone ban law by replacing the word โrestrictโ with โprohibit,โ a change supporters say is necessary after local school divisions โ particularly Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) โ interpreted the current statute more loosely than…
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High School Abortion Coverup: Read the Tick-Tock.
School district learned of abortion scandal just last week? Teacher says she warned the school district seven times. by Asra Nomani There is an important story happening in Fairfax County, Va., about a school systemโs social worker who allegedly arranged and financed an abortion by a 17-year-old girl without her legal guardianโs consent or knowledge.…
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Fewer Students, Lower Scores, More Taxpayer Dollars
by James A. Bacon You’d think that with K-12 enrollment declining, the overall cost of educating Virginia’s children might start declining as well. The number of school-age children is sliding down a long slope (see graph above), and there is no indication that the exodus of 44,000 or so pupils during the COVID pandemic to…
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Va. Lawmakers Ban Phones in School, Remove Punishment for Breaking The Law
by Kerry Dougherty In principle, legislation is usually preferable to executive orders. Iโm talking at the state and federal level. They canโt be overturned with the flash of a pen by the next executive, for one thing. This is why Congress needs to act quickly to enshrine President Trumpโs executive orders in law. But when…
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Weapons Scanners, It Appears, Are Not Enough to Stop School Stabbings
๏ปฟ by James A. Bacon Last week a Henrico High School student was hospitalized after being stabbed at school. Needless to say, many students are upset. โSeeing the aftermath of it all โฆ the poorly cleaned up crime scene and still seeing the dried-up blood on the pavement and on the door โฆ as I…
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MS-13 Gang Member Welcome at Loudoun County High School
by Kerry Dougherty Lord knows, we tried to warn the good people of Loudoun County. We told them that Aaron Spence — formerly the Virginia Beach schools chief — was not a great hireย Pity they didnโt listen. Emmy-award winning TV journalist Nick Minock is now reporting that Loudoun schools will allow a student to…
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It Might Be Too Late to Fix School Discipline
by Dr. Kathleen Smith In a recent article about his new book, E.D. Hirsch argues that โchild-centered individualism started the slide in American education.โ Although he refers to the slide in academic outcomes, in my opinion, child-centered individualism is responsible for increased school disciplinary responses as well. As an educator in Petersburg, including the time…
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Teacher Vacancies Up Again
by James A. Bacon As K-12 schools open up this week, the good news is that the school-bus shortage has eased a bit. According to the Virginia Mercury, the bus driver vacancy rate is down 5% compared to last year. There’s still a shortfall that leaves school districts scrambling for bus drivers, but the situation…
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Youngkin Seeks Phone-Free Classrooms
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order ordering the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to draft guidance for public school divisions to restrict the use of cell phones in schools. Executive Order 33 directs VDOE to develop guidelines that balance cell phone restrictions with parents’ desires to contact children in…
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Fredericksburg Schools Ban Cell Phones
Another Virginia public school division — Fredericksburg — has joined the growing movement to ban cell phones in schools. Last night the city School Board unanimously approved a policy forbidding students from operating PCDs (personal communications devices) including tablets and smart watches during the school day, reports the Fredericksburg Free Press. โItโs time for all…