School Boards Are Hot

For John, BLUF:  School Committees are findinding that the voters who elected them are a bit more restless than normal.  No doubt COVID-19 and accompanying school closures are a part of it.  However, another part is the use of wokeness to explain performance problems and develop paths for improvement  It may be worse if it appears to parents (some parents) that versions of Critical Race Theory are being imported into the local school system.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Asian parent calls out Va. school board over wokeness in powerful speech — gets told to sit down

From The Blaze, by Reporter Breck Dumas, 7 May 2021.

Here is the lede:

Former Wall Street Journal writer and Asian American immigrant Asra Nomani delivered a moving speech before the Virginia school board overseeing her son's education, lambasting officials for their "anti-racism" propaganda push before she was cut off and told:  "Go to your seat."

Unlike most other years, i am seeing a lot of anti-School Board animus this year.  The hotbed may be Loudoun County, Virginia, but it is showing up across the Fruited Plain.  (Northern California, Rochester, Palo Alto, Vail, AZ, Pheonix.)  Some of it is directed toward School Committees going "woke".  However, I expect, some is a result of resentment against teachers and their unions, who won't follow the sciece with regard to COVID-19.

In this case it is wokeness.  I loved this part:

But then a buzzer rang, signifying that Nomani's speaking time was up.  An official immediately began telling Nomani that her "time has expired," and repeatedly calling for the "next speaker" before ultimately telling the mother:  "Please, go to your seat."

In sharing the video of her speech on social media, Nomani tweeted, "I spoke from my heart to the @fcpsnews school board.  Watch board chair Ricardy Anderson rage at me.  Didn't she get the memo that watching the clock is 'white supremacy'?  She reveals the board's true anti-Asian animus.  @ricardy4Mason, YOUR time has expired."

My understanding, from Public School Civics, is that School Committees represent the voters and the interests of the voters with regard to Public Education.  It appears, to use a US Department of State expression, some School Committee members have "gone native".  They now represent the interests of the educators against those of the parents.  Frankly, there is a lot to be said for the professionalism and dedication of the School Staff in sum.  However, the School Committee that makes its allegience too obvious risks being voted out next term, unless the schools are suddenly very high performing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff