n LOUDOUN
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LIVING WELL AT 50+ INSIDE
VOL. 7, NO. 9
We've got you covered. In the mail weekly. Online always at LoudounNow.com
JANUARY 20, 2022
Youngkin Administration Targets Loudoun on Day 1 BY HAYLEY MILON BOUR hbour@loudounnow.com
The newly seated Republican governor and state Attorney General on Saturday immediately launched an investigation into the Loudoun County Public School district’s handling of a high school sexual assault that grabbed national headlines. Gov. Glenn Youngkin also signed an executive order banning Critical Race Theory in schools across the commonwealth, sparking concerns the state could roll back work the Loudoun school district has done after investigations documenting racial inequities in the school system. The Loudoun County School Board was a focal point for Youngkin and Republicans, who charge that the division was indoctrinating students with progressive political ideologies. Youngkin addressed that during a Fox News interview on Sunday. “I think the school systems in Virginia, and particularly Loudoun County, have been doing everything they can to try to obfuscate the fact that the curriculum has moved in a very, very opaque way that has hidden a lot of this from parents,” he said. Former Attorney General Mark Herring investigated allegations of racial inequity and discrimination in the Academies of Loudoun admissions process in 2018. Upon determining that the process was biased against students of color, Herring and the division agreed to a series of remedies. School leaders committed to outreach programs targeting students of color, and agreed to submit to third party monitoring. Loudoun NAACP President Michelle Thomas, who helped craft those remediation conditions, said there are concerns about what a ban of CRT will mean in classrooms. While not a course in its curriculum, the division has made addressing racial inequities in schools an objective. It contracted the California-based Equity Collaborative to conduct an audit of racial equities in its schools. The report showed that students of color are disproportionately disciplined compared to their white peers. It also concluded that racial inequity permeates the division’s hiring practices. “How do you ban a lie? How do you ban something that doesn’t exist?” Thomas said. “When you’re banning what LOUDOUN SCHOOLS continues on page 39
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Amanda Bean leads a rally outside the Loudoun County government center Tuesday, Jan. 18 in support of continued mask mandates in schools.
Mask Order Puts Schools Back in Spotlight
BY RENSS GREENE AND HAYLEY MILON BOUR hbour@loudounnow.com rgreene@loudounnow.com
On his first day in office Saturday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order seeking to let parents decide that mask mandates do not apply to their children. That action ignited immediate controversy, drew warnings from health experts— and put local school boards back
in the hot seat on COVID-19 safety. In the early days of the pandemic, school districts scrambled to figure out how to balance slowing the spread of the virus with giving students the education they need. As health officials have learned more about the virus, their advice has become firmer, and the state government took many of those decisions— and much of the controversy—
out of school boards’ hands with executive orders, health department guidance and new laws. But Youngkin’s action has put the spotlight back on school boards as they decide—unusually—whether to follow a governor’s executive order. Youngkin’s order takes effect Monday, Jan. 24. Already, MASK MANDATE continues on page 39
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