Virginia Parents Fight Back Against Radical, Sexualized Education – Providing Encouragement and an Example for Us All

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), in Virginia, has been in the national news a lot the past few years – and not for the high quality of education in its schools. As a result, parents have banded together to educate other parents, their community and the nation about the district’s ongoing agenda to sexualize and radicalize students.

Their courageous efforts show all of us what can happen when concerned parents, teachers and students talk to school administrators, speak out at board meetings, form groups, talk to the press, and post stories and videos on the internet. Parents have also filed a lawsuit against LCPS for discrimination and violating first amendment rights, and another group of citizens launched a recall effort to remove school board members who don’t represent their values.

While they haven’t won the battle yet, they’re an example to all concerned parents and citizens who wonder what to do to engage the culture as we see biased and inappropriate education in schools across the country.

LCPS board meetings have been packed and explosive, as parents, students and teachers rail against district policies and actions from board members and teachers. These include:

LCPS spent $425,000 on diversity training inspired by critical race theory (CRT) – but insists it doesn’t teach CRT to students.
The district uses the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Learning for Justice” program where elementary school children can learn about “gender expression,” “gender identity,” and LGBT activist symbols like the pink triangle and the rainbow pride flag.
“Learning for Justice” also has resources that “can help spur discussions about implicit bias and systemic racism, and empower students to work toward a more just society” – language straight out of CRT.
The district paid $2 million for classroom and library books that introduce young children to sexual issues such as homosexuality and cross dressing, while books for middle and high schoolers are laced with profanity and graphic descriptions of sexual activity.
Virginia has policies to encourage abstinence instruction, but Parent and Child Loudoun, a group working for children’s safety and protection, notesthat ninth graders in LCPS discuss “How Far Will You Go” and “students are instructed they can obtain birth control at the health department without parental permission/notification.”
The district created a Student Equity Ambassador program (SEA), “designed for minority students to inform on their peers about potential racial insensitivity or ‘microaggressions,’” through a “bias reporting system,” The Daily Wire reported.
Byron “Tanner” Cross, a physical education teacher in the district, spoke strongly against a new transgender policy at an LCPS school board meeting. He was immediately placed on leavefrom his job; later, a Virginia court ruled that the county school system must halt its retaliation and reinstate Cross.

At one meeting, a black mom with biracial children attacked what students are taught, saying, “CRT is racist; it is abusive; it discriminates against one’s color. … Think twice before you indoctrinate such racist theories.”

The Daily Wire wrote that a teacher encouraged students, “Students, you’re on the front lines of these indoctrination camps. Challenge the staff when you’re presented with a ludicrous statement, and do not allow anybody to tell you that you can’t accomplish anything because of your skin color or to hate yourself because of your skin color.”

Just this week, a Chinese woman told the board that what she was seeing was like what she experienced during Mao Zedong’s destructive “cultural revolution.” In a video posted by Fight for Schools, she said, “I’ve been very alarmed by what’s going on in our schools. You are now training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history. Growing up in Mao’s China, all of this seems very familiar. The Communist regime used the same critical theory to divide people; the only difference is they used class instead of race.”

At the same meeting, a 14-year-old student criticized sexualized library books and LCPS’ “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” policies. She said, “Now, boys are reading erotica in the classroom next to girls, and you want to give them access to girls locker rooms and you want to force girls to call those boys ‘she.’”

Momentum to take back education in Loudoun County has led to the formation of a number of groups, such as:

Parent and Child Loudoun, according to a newsletter on its website, “is a group of Loudoun County parents whose backgrounds include education, health care, and biology. We advocate for transparency and parental involvement in public education for the safety and rights of our children.” The organization looks at materials in LCPS and publishes reviews of offensive, profanity-laced, sexualized books; evaluations of sexual education materials; resources for parents regarding sexual orientation and gender identity issues; as well as information about other groups in Northern Virginia Counties.
Parents Against Critical Theory (PACT) is “a grassroots advocacy and outreach organization that is adamantly opposed to Critical Race Theory in all forms.” PACT provides information about CRT for Loudoun County – but also for parents across the nation. The founder of the organization, Scott Mineo, Patti Hidalgo Mender, the lead plaintiff, and other LCPS parents filed a lawsuit against the district alleging that the SEA program and the “bias reporting system” violate “the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and equality before the law. SEA “is limited to certain students on account of their race, and discriminates against students on the basis of their viewpoint,” the suit alleges.
“Fight for Schools is a non-partisan political action committee focused on electing common sense candidates that commit to policies that support equal opportunity, tolerance, meritocracy and achievement.” The group has organized a recall campaign against six LCPS board members who, “were part of a private Facebook group that planned to target parents for opposing critical race theory in the school system.” The organization says, “With school board elections not held until 2023, it is imperative for parents to act now, recall these school board members, and hold new elections that will decide the future of education for our children.”

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the takeover of public schools by activist groups with an agenda that politicizes education and inappropriately sexualizes children. But Loudoun County parents, teachers and students are an example to all of us about how we can engage the culture for the protection and good of children. It’s encouraging to see ordinary people coming together and fighting to transform local schools.