Loudoun County reviewing school board meeting rules after raucous scenes
Officials with Loudoun County Public Schools have instituted a review of events at a raucous school board meeting that took place earlier this week in the Washington, D.C., suburb and are considering changes to the rules governing public comments for future school board meetings.
The gathering of school officials and parents devolved into chaos on Tuesday when opponents of a new transgender policy spoke out forcefully during the public comment period of the meeting, the county’s last before summer.
SCHOOLS AWAKEN SLEEPING GIANT AS PARENTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST WOKE EDUCATION
Parents brought signs decrying the policy as well as a racially charged curriculum that some in the community have accused Loudoun County schools of promoting but that the school system says it does not embrace.
At least one person was arrested following the unrest, and school officials shut the public portion of the meeting down early because it had become too rowdy. Board members had issued several warnings to the energetic crowd that it was making too much noise for the speakers to be heard.
“Loudoun County Public Schools is now doing a review of Tuesday’s meeting to see what steps may be taken in the future to make sure the public is heard in a safe, respectful manner,” Wayde Byard, spokesman for the schools, told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
Jon Tigges is detained following a controversial Loudoun County School Board meeting which included discussion of Critical Race Theory, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein - RC2Z5O9KQEZ8 Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS
The northern Virginia county has become a microcosm of a nationwide fight against allowing teachers to instruct from an academic framework known as critical race theory. While few schools teach critical race theory in its entirety, the term is often used to describe any kind of curriculum that encourages students to view themselves, their peers, and society through the lens of race.
Loudoun County has denied that critical race theory is in its classrooms.
“As the superintendent and School Board members have said, repeatedly, Critical Race Theory is not part of the curriculum being taught to the students of Loudoun County Public Schools,” Byard said.
But parents of students in the system have organized against policies and lessons that they say are reflective of critical race theory. A group of Loudoun parents, Fight for Schools, is even leading an effort to recall school board members they have accused of targeting critics in the community.
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The leftist ideology spreading in many public schools has, in recent weeks, inspired a national movement of parents and activists fighting school boards over everything from curriculums to holidays on the calendar.
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Tags: News, Critical Race Theory, Virginia, Education, Schools
Original Author: Sarah Westwood
Original Location: Loudoun County reviewing school board meeting rules after raucous scenes
