But that wasn’t the case in Loudoun County where former schools chief Scott Ziegler was indicted last week in a high-profile case in which a teen boy assaulted two female classmates months apart — with no warning to the greater school community after the first attack.

This time, it was Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, elected last year on a pledge to empower parents, who spearheaded the investigation into the district’s handling of the case: Acting on his state Attorney General Jason Miyares impaneled a special grand jury to investigate the school system’s alleged coverup and mishandling of the assaults. Its findings were released earlier this month in a .

Ziegler was fired after the grand jury found he lied to the public about the first incident, which took place in a girl’s bathroom. 

The location sparked outrage among those who believed the assault was tied to the district’s decision to allow students to use the bathroom of their choosing rather than the one that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth. The attacker was wearing a kilt at the time. Despite early rumors, he is not transgender and the bathroom policyuntil long after the first assault.

Both Ziegler and the district spokesperson were with the former superintendent facing multiple misdemeanors, including false publication, and his colleague, Wayde Byard, accused of felony perjury. Ziegler was also charged in connection with a special education teacher who said the district failed to take action after she complained of being and then retaliated against her for speaking out.

Ziegler, in a statement to The Washington Post last week, spoke about the grand jury investigation and said, “I am disappointed that an Attorney General-controlled, secret, and one-sided process — which never once sought my testimony — has made such false and irresponsible accusations. I will vigorously defend myself. I look forward to a time when the truth becomes public.”

Youngkin’s intervention, while unusual, is no surprise. Conservative parents in Loudoun County, riled by the district’s COVID policies, teachings about systemic racism and alleged sexualization of children through LGBTQ literature, have been among the most vocal in the country since the pandemic began. Youngkin capitalized on that during his campaign and came through with his promise to give parents statewide a greater say in the goings-on at their children’s school — starting with Loudoun County.

After the grand jury report was released, Youngkin addressed the backlash to his direct role in setting the investigation into motion.

“I do believe that part of my job as governor is to make the decisions to shine light on circumstances like this,” he told . “And at the end of the day, we were going to … make sure that the facts were clear, and that those that had, in fact, violated their duty would be held accountable. And that’s exactly what happened.”

The grand jury’s recounting of the case seemed to shed more light on the disturbing series of events than the political heat they generated.

The offender, just 14 years old at the time of the first attack on May 28, 2021, arranged to meet a classmate in the bathroom for a consensual encounter only to forcibly sodomize her. The victim’s father, who drove to campus soon after, was chastised by school officials for causing a ruckus at the front office. Administrators alerted parents to his behavior that day — not to the sexual assault. 

Even worse, parents said, school officials were warned more than two weeks earlier about the boy’s troubling behavior: A teaching assistant, writing to a superior at Stone Bridge High School about his infractions, ended with, “I wouldn’t want to be held accountable if someone should get hurt,” the grand jury found.

Parents were even more enraged by what came next: The boy was merely transferred to another school — rather than placed in a more secure setting — where he sexually assaulted and nearly asphyxiated another girl at his new campus on October 6, 2021.

The grand jury blamed the district for the second assault, attributing it to a “remarkable lack of curiosity” and “adherence to operating in silos.” Among the more surprising revelations: A special education teaching assistant walked into the bathroom during the first assault, saw two sets of feet in one of the stalls and did nothing about it.

The report also noted a June 22, 2021, school board meeting in which the superintendent said, in response to a question, “to my knowledge, we don’t have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms.” He was lying, the grand jury found: He and other school staff had already discussed the offense. Ziegler has said he thought he was being asked if they had records of any transgender or gender-fluid students assaulting other students in school bathrooms.

And there was a lead up, too, to the second assault. On Sept. 9, the boy grabbed a girl aggressively, tapped her head with a pencil and asked if she posted nude photos online. He asked another boy in his class “if his grandmothers’ nudes were posted online,” according to the report.

The superintendent, deputy superintendent and chief of staff were alerted to these incidents and knew this was the same boy involved in the earlier assault, the grand jury reported. 

“Despite having a 12-page disciplinary file, wearing an ankle monitor, being closely monitored by the Broad Run principal, knowledge of this incident by the highest administrators in LCPS … the individual received nothing more than a verbal admonishment,” they wrote. 

A juvenile court judge found sufficient evidence to sustain the charges in the first assault in October 2021 and the teen pleaded no contest to the charges in the second assault a month later. The judge to receive treatment, counseling and full rehabilitation at a locked residential facility until he turns 18, noting, “This one scares me.”

Erin Poe, who has three sons in the district, said she was devastated upon learning the scope of school administrators’ dishonesty and ineptitude. 

“I cannot imagine what this has done to the girls’ lives,” she said, adding she laments the district’s “unconscionable” decision to hide this news from families and move the offending student to another campus. “The entire situation was handled so poorly, from the victims to the child who committed these acts. All the way around, things need to change.”

Poe, co-founder of , an activist group, told ����Ӱ�� she’s grateful for the Republican governor’s intervention: She voted for Youngkin and hopes he’ll help expose the district’s wrongdoings. 

“I was happy to see Youngkin was going to make Loudoun County an example,” she said, adding his involvement, “would make it harder for them to do things the way they want — rather than the way it should be handled.”

But Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said Youngkin’s role has gone “above and beyond.” He said the investigation into the district’s handling of the case could have happened without him. 

“I think it’s just part of his politics to continue to come across as the champion of education in Virginia — and a champion of parents’ rights,” said Domenech, who lives in Virginia and has closely watched Youngkin’s ascent and the scandal plaguing the Loudoun schools.

He said both Youngkin and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who during the pandemic — are “out of line.” 

He cited DeSantis for removing board members from Broward County schools this summer after a grand jury accused them of related to their role in managing a campus security program. DeSantis ordered the grand jury to investigate the district after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in 2018. 

That probe also resulted in the 2021 indictment on felony perjury charges of former Broward County schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, of the hardline governor. Runcie has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

“DeSantis has gotten himself involved in education to a level we have never seen,” Domenech said. “He’s, in a number of school districts, removed board members, appointed board members — which is really a local election process. I’ve been in this business for 55 years and have never seen anything like this.”

In Loudoun County, the parents of the second victim had little use for school leadership across the board, according to a statement they issued after the release of the grand jury’s report.

“The senior leaders at both high schools, along with the Loudoun County Public Schools and the School Board members, should be reminded that our fifteen-year-old daughter displayed more courage and leadership when she reported what happened to her to the Sheriff’s Resource Officer than any of them ever did,” they said. “The ineptitude of all involved is staggering.”

Disclosure: Andy Rotherham is a member of the Virginia Board of Education and sits on ����Ӱ��’s board of directors. He played no role in the reporting or editing of this story. 

Pandemic learning loss and subpar standards have led to a significant decline in outcomes for Virginia’s K-12 students, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his education appointees argued Thursday as they presented a new data analysis of school performance.

Pointing to what the described as an “honesty gap” between what state learning assessments show and how Virginia students fare on a national assessment, Youngkin suggested decisions of prior administrations created an inaccurately rosy picture of the state of K-12 education.

At a news conference in Richmond, Youngkin called education “the singular most important issue for Virginia’s future” and said trends going in the wrong direction could jeopardize the state’s reputation for high-quality schools.

“The significant lowering of expectations, the lack of transparency with data, the weak accountability for these results, that all ends today,” Youngkin said.

Citing , Youngkin and his schools team said Virginia has an unusually wide gap between its state assessments and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which tests samples of students from each state to produce a metric called “The Nation’s Report Card.”

For 2019, state Standards of Learning assessments showed 75 percent of Virginia fourth-graders proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent proficiency under the NAEP, according to the new report. The gap was wider at higher grade levels, with 76 percent of eighth-graders showing reading proficiency on SOLs, and 33 percent showing proficiency according to the NAEP.

To underscore some parents’ frustration with the state of public schools, the Youngkin administration’s report notes the number of homeschooled students jumped 56 percent in the 2020-2021 school year. That same year, the report says, 3,748 public-school students transferred to private schools in Virginia.

“We are not serving all of Virginia’s children,” Youngkin said. “And we must.”

The Youngkin administration’s analysis showed similar assessment gaps in math scores, and wider gaps in both math and reading for Black, Hispanic and low-income students. The governor’s office also presented data showing those achievements got worse due to pandemic-era school closures, with SOL pass rates dropping substantially between 2017 and 2021 for Black, Hispanic and low-income third-graders while white students showed a more modest decline.

The Virginia Education Association, an advocacy group representing Virginia teachers, blasted the Youngkin report as a political document that relied on “blatant manipulation of data” to “disrespect and belittle the amazing work Virginia educators have done, and continue to do, under incredibly difficult circumstances.”

“If Governor Youngkin is concerned about an ‘honesty gap,’ he need look no further than his own office to find it,” VEA President James J. Fedderman said in a news release.

When asked if the group has any specific critiques of Youngkin’s methodology, a VEA spokesman said the organization was still reviewing the report and expects to have “a more detailed rebuttal” next week.

Education Secretary Aimee Guidera said the data makes an “irrefutable case that this state has not been serving all students well,” a conclusion she said was obscured by past leaders shifting standards and expectations.

“And they often did this in the name of equity,” Guidera said. “President Bush used to refer to this as ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations.’ I call it plain rotten. We cannot afford to lose another generation of our children because of our inability to hold ourselves, our schools and our students to high expectations.”

Youngkin’s education agenda, which has focused largely on ending pandemic-related measures like online learning and mask mandates, giving parents more input into school operations, and expanding charter schools and other alternatives to traditional public schools, has seen mixed results so far in the General Assembly. Democrats have resisted charter schools, prompting Youngkin to pursue in partnership with colleges and universities. He was successful in winning some bipartisan support for legislation to end mandatory masking in schools and notify parents of sexually explicit reading assignments. The still-unfinished state budget is expected to include significant new funding for K-12 education and teacher pay raises.

After the failure of legislation meant to deliver on his campaign promise to rid Virginia schools of so-called critical race theory, a catchall term conservatives use to describe a variety of racial equity and diversity initiatives in K-12 schools, Youngkin has used his executive powers to try to purge the concept of equity from the state’s education bureaucracy.  He also drew strong criticism for setting up a confidential email tipline allowing parents to lodge complaints about allegedly divisive teaching or purported examples of critical race theory.

The tipline and Youngkin’s rhetoric about “restoring excellence” in Virginia schools drew a sharp rebuke earlier this year from the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, which accused Youngkin of presenting an “inaccurate assessment of Virginia’s public education system currently and historically.”

“Again, by most measures, Virginia ranks near the top and surpasses most states throughout the country,” the superintendents’ organization wrote in the March 10 letter. On Thursday, the VASS said it was in the process of reviewing Youngkin’s new report.

“As always, we remain committed to the highest standards for public education in Virginia and hope that we can work with the administration in ascertaining and facilitating the resources and support referenced in the report that will be needed for all children to succeed at those standards,” VASS Executive Director Ben Kiser said in an email.

Proponents say equity-driven initiatives allow for a fuller reckoning with systemic racism and realign resources to address lingering educational disparities in a former Jim Crow state famous for fighting to block racially integrated schools. 

Youngkin has said he supports teaching all Virginia’s history, but he contends equity initiatives encourage overbroad racial stereotyping and division. Among the seven priorities laid out in his new education report is “zero tolerance for discrimination,” described as barring “the ascribing of traits or behavior based on race, gender, political beliefs or religion.”

“We shouldn’t be teaching our children to be judgmental,” the governor said.

In a statement, Senate Democratic leaders ripped the Youngkin report’s assertions as “an outright lie,” “a joke,” “tomfoolery” and “dog-whistle talking points.”

“We all know Governor Youngkin’s end goal — to erase Black history and any mention of equity from Virginia’s curricula,” Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, who chairs the Senate’s Education & Health Committee, said in the news release. “This misguided effort based on fake news and debunked theories is an outright attack from the far right, riling up racist constituencies with lies and deceit. This report shows once again that Governor Youngkin wants to take us back to the days of Jim Crow.”

Joining Youngkin for Thursday’s announcement was former Gov. Doug Wilder, who was elected as a Democrat in his history-making campaign for governor in 1989, but more recently has made a habit of criticizing Democrats and supporting Youngkin.

Though Wilder didn’t speak from the podium during the event, he huddled with Youngkin afterward as reporters looked on, praising the governor’s call for administrators, teachers and parents to work together to put students first.

“I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t believe in you. God bless you,” Wilder told Youngkin. “I hope you have continued success.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Robert Zullo for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on and .

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The policy changes, announced in an from the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, hew closely to directives already issued by Youngkin in . According to Balow, every resource listed on the department’s website falls under the category of a “divisive concept,” including a 52-page “” developed by the department under former Gov. Ralph Northam and Secretary of Education Atif Qarni.

The Northam administration document details plans to “dismantle any and all forms of inequity in Virginia’s public education system,” including the disproportionate impact of disciplinary measures such as suspensions on Black students, which is well supported by state data and . The roadmap explicitly supports concepts such as cultural competency training and anti-racism, defined as the acknowledgement “that racist beliefs and structures are pervasive in all aspects of our lives.”

The administration is also eliminating an intended to help local school divisions develop and implement their own equity initiatives.

“All Virginia students should have the opportunity to receive an excellent education that teaches all history — the good and the bad, prioritizes academic excellence, and fosters equal opportunities for all students,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Our Virginia students should not be taught to discriminate on the basis of sex, skin color, or religion and VDOE policies should certainly not direct such concepts.”

The report specifically addresses internal policies within the Virginia Department of Education, but it’s still unclear whether the administration plans to expand its audit of “divisive concepts” to local school divisions. 

Youngkin officials, including Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera, have cited local programs such as a “” assignment in one Fairfax County class as examples of the concepts they’re seeking to eliminate from public schools. But the report does not identify any district-specific initiatives, though Youngkin directed Balow to include any policies, programs, training, or curricula that fell within the administration’s definition of inherently divisive concepts in his first executive order.

The superintendent was also directed to submit an additional report within 90 days of any executive or legislative actions needed “to end use of all inherently divisive concepts in public education.” But legislators in both and Senate have Youngkin-backed measures to ban divisive concepts through the General Assembly, and the administration could not immediately say whether it believed the governor could end local programs through executive action.

Otherwise, the report treads familiar ground for Youngkin, who made opposition to “divisive concepts” — including what he’s described as critical race theory — . As an academic term, describes the concept that U.S. systems, including criminal justice, public education and housing, include racist policies that have led to still-existing inequalities between different racial groups. But critics, including the administration, have expanded the term to include virtually any discussion or training related to equity or antiracism in local school systems.

Youngkin has already rescinded or criticized many of the initiatives included in the report, such as a 2019 memo from former state Superintendent James Lane on “resources to support student and community dialogues on racism.” The communication, sent out to division superintendents, recommended the books “White Fragility” by author Robin DiAngelo and “Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education,” an academic text that also explores how the discipline moved from legal studies to the educational field.

“Numerous resources within EdEquityVA employ the concept that current discrimination is needed to address past discrimination. (Treating people differently based on skin color to remedy
old/previous discrimination.),” the report says in a section justifying rescinding resources on the EdEquityVa site.

Youngkin and his education appointees have argued that critical race theory and other academic concepts such as anti-racism pit students against one another and encourage some children to feel personally accountable for historical injustices such as slavery.

“We must continue to ensure that no student in Virginia is taught to judge or treat others differently solely on the basis of their race, skin color, ethnicity, sex or faith,” Balow wrote in the introduction to her report.

Other rescinded policies, though, don’t have any direct relationship to historical racism. In his first day as governor, Youngkin ordered Balow to end the , another program the superintendent identified as an example of “divisive concepts.” 

The Virginia Department of Education was exploring the initiative to reform the state’s mathematics curriculum before Youngkin took over as governor, partially due to data showing that Black, Hispanic and low-income students have lower pass rates on state math assessments than White and Asian students. But at least 22 states have explored the idea, which is based on decades of research on how traditional math coursework is failing students from many backgrounds.

The initiative was launched in partnership with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia after many colleges and universities shared that students were coming in unprepared for higher-level math courses. 

“What we learned was that it wasn’t the students’ ability to do calculus or not that was preventing them from being stellar engineers or stellar scientists,” Patricia Parker, SCHEV’s adviser for the program, told the Mercury last year. “It was that they were coming with weak foundational skills.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Robert Zullo for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on and .

The possibility was first raised by Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears in on Fox News. While Youngkin had previously stated he planned to use “every resource within the governor’s authority” to address noncompliant districts, he didn’t outline specific enforcement actions. Sears, though, suggested that state funding could be used as leverage in response to a question from a Fox interviewer.

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“There are certain combinations of money we send to the local school boards and he could withhold some of that,” she said. When asked by the Mercury whether Youngkin agreed with the statement, spokesperson Macaulay Porter said Tuesday that Democrats had “willfully mischaracterized” the remarks, but did not say whether Youngkin was considering the possibility or other specific enforcement mechanisms.

“The executive order allows parents to opt out of mask mandates so that they can make the best decisions for their children and anyone who wants to wear a mask is free to do so,” Porter said. “Consistent with the governor’s past remarks, we will consider the tools available to make sure that parents’ rights are protected.”

Both legislators and local school divisions have been scrambling to respond to the directive, which has already been challenged in the Supreme Court of Virginia by a group of Chesapeake parents, . More than a dozen other school districts have already announced they plan to keep their universal masking policies despite the directive.

It’s true that the executive order does not ban masks in schools, despite some characterizations by the Democratic Party of Virginia and some individual legislators. Instead, it’s largely directed at parents, allowing them to opt their children out of any universal masking requirement adopted by their division.

That still puts school districts in a difficult position as Virginia continues to see of new coronavirus infections, largely driven by the highly infectious omicron variant, according to state health officials. Divisions are under a law passed last February by the state’s General Assembly and signed by former Gov. Ralph Northam. But the language of the bill also orders local school districts to follow mitigation guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention “to the maximum extent practicable.”

explicitly recommends universal masking for all students, staff and visitors regardless of vaccination status. Shortly after those guidelines were published last July, Northam that masks would be required in Virginia schools.

For local divisions, there’s wide concern that following Youngkin’s executive order puts them in direct conflict with existing state law. Others are worried about the timing amid a deluge of staff and student absences. Large Virginia school districts, including Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William, are among those who say they plan to keep their universal masking policies despite Youngkin’s directive. Even divisions in more conservative areas of the state are encouraging students and staff to maintain the use of face coverings.

“We are struggling to keep all schools open for in-person learning due to quarantines, isolations and normal absences among faculty and support staff,” Bristol superintendent Keith Perrigan wrote in a Monday email to families. “We will strongly encourage everyone to wear masks until the Omicron surge ends.” 

While Youngkin’s directive doesn’t take effect until Monday, potential enforcement is still top of mind for many school administrators. Ben Kiser, executive director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, said there’s been no communication from the administration regarding the governor’s order. The text directs Jillian Balow, the state’s newly appointed superintendent of public instruction, to issue new guidance for schools on COVID-19 mitigation measures, but Kiser said there are still significant questions on how communities with surging case numbers should protect both students and staff.

“There’s just a lot of uncertainty right now as a result of the order,” he said. “And I hope we’ll eventually get clarity so we can do what’s required of us.” Both the CDC and the Virginia chapeter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend wearing masks in schools as a way to curb the spread of COVID-19. And while have shown mixed results on how extensively face coverings in schools, wider research shows masks can significantly and , especially combined with other mitigation measures like vaccinations and social distancing. 

Some Republican-led states have already set a precedent for punishing schools with masking policies, including Texas, where the attorney general that defied Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on local mandates. The Florida Department of Education also from schools that kept their mask policies after a similar executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Some legal experts, though, said they’d be surprised if the issue progressed as far in Virginia. Historically, the state’s pandemic orders have despite the threat of enforcement. There’s also a legitimate constitutional question of whether the governor has the authority to supersede state law — in this case, the legislation directing schools to reopen — or local school board policies. 

In his executive order, Youngkin cited giving parents the “fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care” of their children. That section was codified into law in 2013 after involving parental custody rights. Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, said it doesn’t override the law passed last year — or change the state’s constitutional language regarding public education.

“The constitution makes clear that overall education policy is made by the Board of Education,” she said in a Tuesday morning news conference organized by General Assembly Democrats to push back on the executive order. “But the day-to-day supervision of schools is left to local school boards.” The governor himself has previously stated that school divisions would have to make their own decisions on whether to keep local mask mandates in place.

“I think the governor’s own words really speak to it,” added Jon Becker, an associate professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University. “He’s said he doesn’t have the power to tell local school divisions that they can’t mandate masks. Virginia has a long history of local control, especially in education, so this type of executive authority is antithetical to how we’ve operated for a very long time.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Robert Zullo for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on and .

First they were confused. Then they got angry.

The parents expected a focus on core subjects like math and science, Lowe said, but found their children were learning about race, sexuality and LBGTQ issues. Not only were their children too young for that, she added, but the schools betrayed their trust. 

“Honestly, it’s disgusting,” said Lowe, chair of the Tarrant County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national right-leaning organization founded in January that has quickly grown to 60,000 active members focused on the “survival of America” by . 

Lowe’s chapter in the Fort Worth-area, formed in June, boasts . They’ve been showing up at school board meetings to make sure their concerns are heard. 

“What this is all about is a socialist ideology being indoctrinated to the American student young enough that it would conflict with the parent or the family of origin’s ideology,” she said. “The government needs to back up. They are way out of their lane.” 

Lowe and her neighbors aren’t alone in their beliefs. Conservative parent alarm over critical race theory helped for Republican Glenn Youngkin in the bellwether race for governor in distant Virginia.  

Emboldened by one of the nation’s most far-reaching anti-critical race theory laws , suburban parents have attacked school boards and districts for teaching about sexuality and racial discrimination, topics that were added amid criticism schools whitewashed history. 

Their demands, sometimes through intimidation and threats, are getting attention and results. 

Tension in the suburbs

Since the law passed, Texas educators have struggled to comply. In one case, a school administrator outside Fort Worth instructed teachers to offer in their classroom libraries.

The list goes on. A suburban Dallas principal —  accused of promoting critical race theory —  was put on leave with an eye toward not bringing him back.

Another school district outside of Dallas considered .

At least one North Austin teacher packed away her classroom library all together to avoid  controversy. 

These clashes in Texas are centered in the suburbs, where population growth is booming, diversity is expanding and political influence flourishes. More than Republican versus Democrat, the suburbs are the root of broader “us versus them” politics, particularly in areas with a large economic or racial divide, said University of Houston political science professor  Brandon Rottinghaus.

“These rapid demographic changes mean tension in traditional suburban Texas that is suspicious of change and is skeptical of real or imagined threats,” he said. “People believe (critical race theory) to be the threat to the traditional suburban way of life.”

‘Discomfort,’ ‘guilt’ and ‘anguish’

Texas was one of banning educators from teaching critical race theory, a new buzzword in the American education lexicon used as an all-purpose tag referring to race. Only to restrict the teaching of discrimination based on race or sex, although Texas passed two.

The laws target teaching concepts of discrimination. Specifically, students in a course to feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on the account of the individual’s race or sex,” according to the law. While there are no fines for non-compliance against districts, educators could lose their jobs. 

Educators argue they do not teach CRT, a university-level study examining how racism is baked into policies and the legal system, but instead focus on inclusivity and race’s context in America.

‘Their thing is I’m racist against white people’

The best way Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia can explain what it’s like to be a school board member over the last year in Texas is to liken the intensity to the growing brightness of a light controlled by a dimmer switch.

Beginning in the 2020 school year, passion over issues of race lit up slowly at meetings of the Leander Independent School District north of Austin. Parents opposed a recommended diversity policy and objected to books like “Red at the Bone” by Jacqueline Woodson, about a Black teenage couple getting pregnant, and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas about a Black teen who witnesses a police officer fatally shoot her best friend. 

By February, a parent brought with her to a school board meeting to protest “In the Dream House,” a memoir by Carmen Maria Machado about an abusive relationship with an ex-girlfriend. 

This school year, meetings grew rowdy. Parents argued the district was breaking the law, and would crowd school board meetings carrying large signs with board members’ faces on them, calling on them to resign. 

“As I walk through those front doors, it’s terrifying,” recalled Gonzales-Dholakia, a Latina board member. “There are people there with utility knives on their belts, they’ll shout at me, scream at me that I’m a racist. Their thing is I’m racist against white people. They’ll call me a communist, I’m a ‘Marxist,’ I’m a ‘traitor to the country,’ I’m an ‘enemy of the state.’ That’s the newest.”

Legislative probe of library catalogues 

Last week, Texas House Committee Chairman Matt Krause, one of the most conservative Republicans at the state Capitol and a founding member of the tea party-minded House Freedom Caucus, went a step further.

Krause, of the General Investigating Committee and a state representative from Fort Worth asked for in several school districts, including novels like “Thumbelina,” alphabet picture books, and memoirs, many about the LGBTQ and African American experience, and a book about .

Krause wanted to know how much money the districts spend on those books and how many copies are in school libraries and classrooms. He also asked for other titles absent from the list that include sexuality, HIV, AIDS, sexually explicit images or other material that would cause students discomfort.

Battles in Texas  

Pressure to oust critical race theory from Texas schools have taken a variety of forms this year, from removing books and second-guessing ethinic studies courses to disciplining educators.

Just outside of Houston, more than 400 parents in Katy signed a petition to dump a set of award-winning graphic novels about a modern-day at his new mostly-white private school. Parents in September alleged “New Kid” and “Class Act,” by Jerry Craft, are for teaching students “that their white privilege inherently comes with microaggressions which must be kept in check.” After a review, the district reinstated the books.

A Black high school principal near Dallas was placed on leave in August from Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District after he was after the murder of George Floyd. The school board has put in motion a plan to not renew his contract for the 2022-23 school year. The principal has appealed.

At Little Elm ISD, about 45 minutes outside of Dallas, the school board considered , arguing CRT would sow division, until the sponsor dropped the proposal during debate. In nearby McKinney, the school district in a nationwide youth and government program, citing a provision in the law restricting political activism and policy advocacy.

But no case compared to Southlake, a suburb 30 minutes outside of Dallas where one teacher at Carroll ISD was disciplined for having “This Book Is Anti-Racist” in her classroom after a parent complained the book violated her family’s “morals and faith.” Days after the school board voted to discipline the teacher, a school official explaining the law told educators if they have a book in their library about the Holocaust, for example, they also need a book of an  

The law’s sponsor has said Carroll ISD’s and school officials have since backtracked on that recommendation. 

Parents there have also railed against a proposed diversity plan that included training and an anti-racist curriculum, ultimately delaying the proposal and who saw the plan as promoting with a far-left ideology that discriminates against white children and those with Christian values.