Smart phones, book bans, and new leadership bring big changes for students and teachers. Youngkin’s new accreditation standards will ramp up assault on public education.
Come next week, almost 70,000 children and young adults will make their way back to school in Caroline, Fredericksburg, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford. They’ll be walking into a school system unlike anything they’ve likely encountered since they started their educations.
Some of the changes will be immediately felt; others will take time to shake out. Some districts are embarking on bold new initiatives; others are looking to sharpen and refine approaches to education they’ve been working to introduce for several years.
The two largest school systems in our readership area will begin the year with new superintendents.
Calls for book bans are — mercifully — coming to a close for now in our area’s second-largest school district; in another county the sparks are — unfortunately — just beginning to take hold.
Also, every school across Virginia will be preparing for a new accountability system that is radically different from its predecessor.
To help families understand what they’ll be facing this year, the Advance will each day this week highlight one of the five public-school districts in our readership area. Each overview will include:
- An interview with the district’s superintendent
- Educational calendar
- Links to important and frequently requested information
Though each district faces challenges and opportunities unique to its community, there are several themes that every district will deal with this year.
Smart Phones
Caroline, Fredericksburg, King George, and Stafford are introducing new smart phone policies this year. Their approaches vary, and the Advance will be watching this year to see how their efforts to rein in students’ absorption with their hand-held devices is working.
Spotsylvania County is the lone holdout for now, most likely due to the fact that the district has come off a tumultuous school year that has seen the School Board flip, a controversial superintendent with no educational experience removed with cause, and a new, highly experienced educational leader taking the head job.
Under Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order, all school districts in the state must have a smart phone policy in place by January 1, 2025.
Book Bannings
The uproar in Spotsylvania County over book banning should have been an alert to area districts about the harm that such controversies cause. An overwhelming rebuke in November of a small band of parents’ plans to ban books in Spotsy cost two board members their jobs and ushered in a more-friendly set of pro-public-school board members to the dais.
One parent in the county continues to push the argument with all the grace of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Talk of book banning in the district should fade in the coming year. Don’t be surprised if they’re back with another effort, however, at some future date.
There are few rumblings in Caroline, Fredericksburg, and Stafford about book bans. King George County, however, is on the precipice of a major debate about the issue this year. The Advance will be watching and tracking this situation throughout the year.
New Superintendents
In Spotsylvania County, Clint Mitchell will lead the district in a bold new direction. Mitchell, as his interview with the Advance revealed, has a long record of success in turning around schools and districts. Most recently in Colonial Beach, where he led the district during the 2023-2024 school year to greater improvement in student outcomes than any other division in the Comprehensive Instructional Program consortium.
Stafford County lost Thomas Taylor to Bethesda, Maryland, late spring in a surprise move that caught many in Stafford flat-footed. A search is currently underway for a new leader. As one of the largest districts in the commonwealth with some of the highest-achieving schools, the district should have little difficulty landing a top educational leader.
New Accountability System
Gov. Glenn Youngkin rode to the governor’s mansion on a promise to restore parents’ rightful role as their child’s most important educator.
What started as “Parents’ Rights,” however, quickly devolved into a culture war that danced from one talking point to another.
- Teaching slavery? Yes, but only that it was bad. Not that the effects of slavery continue to affect people today. (Critical Race Theory; Diversity Equity Inclusion; and AP African American History are all, apparently, suspect)
- Attacking teachers? A mercifully short-lived tip line was set up to report any teacher — anonymously — who parents didn’t like.
- LGBTQ+ Students? Youngkin’s efforts included forced outings of students to parents.
At the same time, Youngkin waved lower SOL scores and screamed “failing schools” even though CNBC rated Virginia’s public schools No. 1 — a move that led to Youngkin celebrating public schools thanks to initiatives he introduced that have not had time to affect test scores.
Now that his appointees control the Board of Education, he is introducing a controversal new accreditation system that promises to rate at least half the commonwealth’s schools as failures.
How bad is the new system? “According to data projections from the Virginia Department of Education,” the Washington Post reports, “about 60 percent of Virginia’s schools will be ranked as “Off Track” or “Needs Intensive Support” under the current proposed metrics.”
In short, Youngkin will continue to hammer public education in an effort to end public education as we know it and replace it with a mix of charter schools (which underperform traditional public schools according to NAEP data), vouchers (which come with little to no accountability), and pushes to fund religious schools with public dollars.
As for parents, don’t expect the two-tier system (accreditation and accountability) to bring any clarity to school performance. More data that does nothing to help students and teachers succeed.
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