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Virginia’s Rep. Wexton endorses Subramanyam to succeed her in Congress
U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) is backing state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam to succeed her in Congress, she announced Monday, an endorsement that is likely to give the Loudoun County Democrat significant momentum in a crowded primary race. “Suhas is a principled, effective leader who has a long commitment to service, and he is rooted right here in our community,” she said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post. He “will continue my legacy of getting things done for Northern Virginians.” Wexton, who has represented Virginia’s 10th Congressional District since 2019, is not running again because of health reasons. Her impending exit from Congress has drawn a packed field of 12 Democrats in the party’s primary, making it hard for any of them to emerge as a clear front-runner.
Virginia child care rating system aims to improve kids’ school readiness
Virginia has implemented new guidelines to establish a unified rating and improvement system to assess the commonwealth’s publicly funded early childhood care providers. Approximately 75% of child care programs that received public funding previously did not participate in the state’s voluntary quality measures, according to Del. David Buolva, D-Fairfax, who co-patroned 2020 legislation that led to all publicly funded providers being required to participate.
70 years after Brown v. Board, many Virginia students separated by race, economic class
When the U.S. Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education, the court hoped K-12 schools across the nation would give equal opportunities to both Black and white students. Many believed that tying the fate of Black students to the fate of their white peers would lift Black students because of white parents’ and legislators’ resources and political leverage to provide for their own children. But today, nearly 70 years after the landmark ruling, students in Virginia remain largely separated by race and economic class. While segregation is no longer mandated by public policy, it is reinforced by school attendance zones and segregated housing patterns.
2 Virginia Universities Won’t Require DEI Classes After Governor’s Review, Board Pushback
Starting this fall, undergraduate students at two public Virginia universities, Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason, were going to be required to take diversity-themed coursework. The efforts had been years in the making, the classes had been crafted and faculty bodies had already signed off. But earlier this semester, the impending mandates faced 11th-hour scrutiny from Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin. His administration asked to review the syllabi for the classes—a move that one Virginia Commonwealth faculty member called “hostile state scrutiny.” A spokesman said that Youngkin had heard concerns from parents and students about “a thinly veiled attempt to incorporate the progressive left’s groupthink on Virginia’s students.”
Yancey: From graduation walk-outs to police in riot gear, the campus protests in context
Virginia made national news over the weekend when some students walked out of the graduation ceremonies at Virginia Commonwealth University when Gov. Glenn Youngkin started speaking. Some left to express support for Palestinians, others protested some of Youngkin’s policies and still others the VCU board’s decision not to require that students take a course in racial literacy. Maybe some were protesting all three. This wasn’t the only school that saw some kind of protest at its graduation ceremonies — there were pro-Palestinian demonstrations at multiple schools across the country over the weekend. It’s also not the first time that students have walked out on Youngkin.
UVa Faculty Senate calls for an external review of May 4 clearing of encampment
The University’s Faculty Senate passed a motion at a meeting May 10 to call for a University-wide external review of the events on and leading up to May 4, when police forcibly cleared a pro-Palestine encampment outside the University Chapel. University President Jim Ryan and other administrators attended the meeting, where they answered questions from Senators, including questions regarding their decision to authorize the use of police force at the encampment. The Senate also discussed various senator-proposed motions regarding the events that transpired.
UVA’s last-minute update to tent regulations document creates confusion, frustration
In the days after police forcibly cleared a pro-Palestine encampment near the University Chapel, a last-minute edit to a list of guidelines — from the Office of Environmental Health and Safety — related to the use of tents on Grounds has been the subject of questions and debate. According to University administrators, a document on the office’s website outlining fire safety regulations for tents contained an inaccurate clause that exempted recreational tents from permit requirements. University officials said the document was updated for accuracy, as official University policy requires all tents to receive permits prior to their use on Grounds. Administrators said the encampment violated this policy.
Why Fairfax schools may lock student cell phones up during class
To help curb the growing concerns of what kind of impact cellphones have on children in school, officials at Fairfax County Public Schools are about to explore ways to further limit cellphone access. During a meeting to discuss student policies on Thursday, the board approved a motion by Member At-Large Kyle McDaniel for the superintendent to develop a plan for secure cellphone storage, such as lockers or magnetic pouches. The board would consider the plan for the next school year.
School Board votes for Arlington Career Center contract with no prevailing wage agreement
The Arlington School Board has approved construction of a new Arlington Career Center building without a guarantee of paying workers a prevailing wage. Seeking to avoid rebidding the project and causing at least a year of delays, Board members voted 4-0 last night (Thursday) to finalize a $132 million contract that has drawn criticism from Arlington state representatives, labor groups and the local NAACP chapter.
UVa administrators and faculty paint conflicting pictures of May 4 encampment clearing
At a University-run virtual town hall Tuesday and an independently organized faculty-led town hall Thursday, administrators and faculty presented differing accounts of the events of May 4, when police forcibly cleared a pro-Palestine encampment near the University Chapel. The details contested between the town halls included the clarity of the University’s tent policy, aggressiveness of protesters, provision of medical treatment and the presence of suspicious individuals at the encampment.