Bacon's Rebellion

  • Virginia’s Ideological Litmus Test for Teachers

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Hans Bader

    Can a state punish its school teachers for not having a progressive ideology? That’s what Virginia’s Board of Education appears to be doing. Its newly adopted “performance standard” for teacher evaluations is based on whether a “teacher demonstrates a commitment to equity and provides instruction and classroom strategies that result in culturally inclusive and responsive learning environments and academic achievement for all students.”

    This standard is full of buzzwords and ideologically-charged phrases that can be used to punish conservative teachers or reward bad teachers for mouthing politically-correct platitudes. Its adoption will make it even harder to get rid of bad teachers and attract good teachers.

    A “commitment to equity” sounds nice until you learn that “equity” means something very different from equality and non-discrimination, in “Virginia’s Roadmap to Equity.” In that book, “equity” is about racial “outcomes,” and it is not about equal “opportunities” or achievement based on “ability.” It describes “culturally responsive educators” as those who fight “injustice,” not just “racism,” or effectively teaching minority children. (more…)

  • Relaxing Restrictions on Pharmacists

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Under a bill signed by Governor Ralph Northam today, pharmacists will be able to provide a wider array of services to adults such as writing prescriptions for the flu, administering COVID vaccines, and prescribing controlled substances for HIV. A separate bill signed into law will expand the scope of practice for physician assistants.

    “It’s long past due for us to eliminate barriers for people to get basic care,” said Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, who submitted the bills. “Pharmacists and physicians assistants are health care professionals who can and should be able to provide basic services. For people who don’t have a primary care provider, this will make a huge difference when it comes to treating basic illnesses.” (more…)

  • Will Fairfax Schools Become Ungovernable?

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Having previously prohibited several forms of physical restraint to control disruptive students, the Fairfax County School Board approved in December a policy that banned seclusion — isolating students in a place where they are physically prevented from leaving. As an alternative, teachers would use conflict resolution, de-escalation, and prevention.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    For starters, the school system promised to train staff on alternative approaches to dealing with highly disruptive students. But now that students are returning, post-COVID, to school buildings, staff training has been limited to online sessions, reports Inside NoVa.

    But that’s a temporary problem. Eventually, staff will receive better training. Here’s what can happen when you mainstream students with severe emotional-control issues:

    “The fact is, when it takes five of us to even physically keep a student in an area that’s safe, then that’s not worth the injury to staff,” special education teacher Cheryl Sandford told Inside NoVa. “No one is going to stand there and just get bitten or hit repeatedly, or be given a concussion because a chair was thrown at their head.” (more…)

  • Virginia to Teach Critical Race Theory to Newborns

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    George Orwell

    George Orwell, call your office. A copy of “Virginia’s (New) Birth-to-Five Early Learning and Development Standards” is on your desk.

    For our readers, go here and click the March 19 VDOE press release to download.

    The Commonwealth has published “Virginia’s Foundation Blocks for Early Learning” since at least 2013. They were excellent but voluntary. 

    Progressives cannot abide voluntary.

    They have always considered parents the biggest obstacle to turning kids into little “social justice” warriors. Virginia’s General Assembly progressives have fixed that problem. The new program is mandatory unless you keep your kids at home until they must by law attend K-12.

    Where your kids will get a “late” start on that journey.

    Parents have no voice, much less rights in the matter. That is a progressive definition of heaven. (If that word has not been cancelled — hard to keep up.) (more…)

  • A Chaotic Night in Virginia Beach

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    “Don’t drive near the oceanfront,” warned the caller on my cellphone Friday night. “Something’s going on.”

    I was on my way home from a dinner near the courthouse and usually travel north on Pacific Avenue.

    The other person, who’d left before me, was stuck in traffic. There were sirens and flashing lights. He said a dozen or so guys had just dashed from the west side of Pacific running toward Atlantic – where the action was.

    They were wearing ski masks.

    Another crazy night on the resort strip, I thought. Looks like the hot weather brought the kids out early.

    But this wasn’t just another rowdy night in the roughly 10-block area that locals avoid and city officials pretend is perfectly safe for tourists after dark.

    By dawn we knew that 10 people had been shot. Two were dead. (more…)

  • Unthinkable–a Tax Decrease!

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Patrick Duhaney,City Manager, Virginia Beach

    By Dick Hall-Sizemore

    According to a report in the Virginian –Pilot, the city manager of Virginia Beach will be recommending that city council reduce the city’s real estate tax rate. He is also recommending that the city delay a previously approved storm-water fee increase.

    Last year, the city cut $67 million out of its operating budget in anticipation of COVID-19’s impact on the economy. The impact was not as bad as anticipated and revenues have stabilized. Even with the proposed cut in the real estate tax rate and the delay in the storm-water fee, resulting in a loss of about $9.3 million, the manager projected enough revenue in the budget to recommend 3% salary increases for city employees and the approval of 54 new positions, primarily firefighters and emergency responders.

    The fiscal condition of the city of Virginia Beach is not typical of that of other Virginia local governments and there are probably few, if any, others who could afford to take these steps. However, the city is an example for most of the contributors and commenters of Bacon’s Rebellion that governments are not always trying to get as much out of the taxpayers as they can.

  • Would Someone Enroll the UVa Board in These Courses, Please?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Laura Goldblatt

    by James A. Bacon

    Like most higher-ed critics, Bacon’s Rebellion conducts analysis of Virginia’s higher-ed institutions from a politically conservative perspective. Colleges and universities have mostly gotten a pass from commentators on the left wing of the political spectrum because, I would suggest, colleges and universities are almost all leftist-dominated institutions. But there are occasional exceptions.

    One of those is a course taught by University of Virginia assistant professor Laura Goldblatt this spring, “The Marketplace of Ideas? Following the Money at the University of Virginia.” Her course description starts with an excellent question: “Why does student tuition for four-year, US colleges keep rising (at rates above inflation)? And where do all those tuition dollars go?”

    Goldblatt, who worked as an English teacher at a failing high school in the Mississippi Delta before coming to UVa, continues (unedited except for paragraph breaks):

    Why do some students have to work and take out loans to attend the University of Virginia, when others don’t? What does “need-blind” admissions mean and does the University of Virginia meet full financial need for all students? How do they even calculate that? (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    Jeanine’s Sunday Memes, Bull Elephant

  • Why Haven’t More Asians Been Vaccinated?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Vaccination stations at the Richmond Raceway around noon today.

    by James A. Bacon

    Asians comprise 7% of Virginia’s population, but according to the latest Virginia Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, they account for only 3.6% of confirmed COVID cases, 4.5% of hospitalizations, and 1.5% of deaths.

    That would seem to be good news for Asians and Asian-Americans. But never fear, the intrepid social-justice reporters at the Richmond Times-Dispatch can always find an angle supporting their narrative of racial oppression. An article published this morning focuses on the fact that Virginians with an Asian background are getting vaccinated at a lower rate than Whites, Blacks and Hispanics.

    The RTD identifies some genuine obstacles that hinder Asians from getting vaccinated, such as the spread of rumors that non-citizens don’t qualify to get the vaccine, and limited proficiency in English, which makes it more difficult for public health authorities to combat misinformation. But the article also postulates some nonsensical reasons, such as the supposed “model minority” myth that all Asians are well educated and financially well off, and, in a total non sequitur, a supposed wave of of anti-Asian violence. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

    Hat tip: John Butcher

  • Recommendations for “Equity” in Virginia Public Schools Will Destroy Them

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    I just received my March edition of “EdEquityVA Monthly Newsletter” from Governor Northam’s Department of Education. Here are the opening paragraphs:

    The Office of Equity and Community Engagement is pleased to share that the Virginia Board of Education has revised its teacher performance standards and evaluation criteria to add a standard on culturally responsive teaching and equitable practices.

    The action during the Board’s March 18th meeting aligns to stated goals outlined in Virginia’s Education Equity Framework, and carries out legislation approved by the 2021 General Assembly (House Bill 1904 and Senate Bill 1196) requiring that teacher evaluations include an evaluation of cultural competency. The following performance standard was added to the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers: “The teacher demonstrates a commitment to equity and provides instruction and classroom strategies that result in culturally inclusive and responsive learning environments and academic achievement for all students.” (Academic achievement was not defined.)

    (more…)

  • Spring Has Sprung, the Grass Is Ris…

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    James A. Bacon

    … I wonder where the boidies is
    The boid is on the wing,
    But that’s absoid
    From what I hoid
    The wing is on the boid!

    The so-called Brooklyn National Anthem was on my mind this afternoon when I strolled through my neighborhood. Yesterday, it was still winter. Today, it’s spring. Trees had exploded with red bud and white cherry blossoms. The forsythia and periwinkle were in full bloom. And the frogs in pond, normally very reclusive, were croaking their little hearts out in mating rituals. As for the boids, I did notice a red-breasted robin or two. (more…)

  • Contract for Experienced STEM Professionals to Teach in Virginia Schools

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    James Lane
    Superintendent of Public Instruction

    Every time the shortage of STEM teachers is taken seriously, as it was in William C. Lyons’ terrific article yesterday, the Departments of Education and local school boards come up with what they consider to be a cool name for a program to entice retired military officers, most of whom have engineering and other STEM degrees and are still relatively young, to teach STEM classes as a second career.

    They get some takers.

    Those officers have their military pensions to reduce the impact of low wages on their families. They already have the health insurance and other benefits they need, so that is not an attraction to teaching.

    But teaching is very worthwhile and under the right conditions can be quite fulfilling. Sounds like a perfect match.

    Yet I have three Navy friends who tried it for all the right reasons a couple of decades or more ago, and none of them lasted more than a year. If left to teach, they would have been fine.

    But none of them ultimately could put up with the daily annoyances that passed for management and administration in the public schools. It was the meetings, committees, “training,” and what some considered less than professional environments and treatment that drove them away. (more…)

  • The Transmission Bottleneck for Renewable Energy

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    You want more renewable energy? You’re going to need more high-voltage transmission lines to move intermittent wind and solar power around the country to balance fluctuating supply and demand. And you’d better get started. Transmission planning and construction involves long lead times, typically between seven and ten years.

    “The window may be closing to develop the needed transmission expansion to enable the optimization of clean energy, meet state clean energy objectives, and other ‘voluntary’ demand for low-cost renewable energy,” summarizes a new study, “How Transmission Planning & Cost Allocation Processes Are Inhibiting Wind & Solar Development in SPP, MISO, & PJM.” (more…)

  • Look in the Mirror, Fairfax School Board

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    After months of condemning Asian students for dominating the merit-based testing process for admission into the Thomas Jefferson (TJ) High School for Science and Technology, the Fairfax County School Board has issued a statement condemning anti-Asian racism… which it blames on others. Stated the resolution:

    The Fairfax County School Board condemns violence and discrimination targeting the Asian and Asian-American community; and rejects any language that associates the ongoing public health crisis with a particular national or ethnic group, recognizing that discriminatory language is counterproductive to defeating a virus that observes no national or ethnic boundaries.

    But some parents of TJ students aren’t buying the proposition that COVID-19 has anything to do with the supposed surge in anti-Asian incidents. Helen Miller sent this message, widely copied, to the Fairfax school board, Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, and governor Ralph Northam. (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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