Imagine my surprise this morning—as I scrolled through my social media accounts to get up to date on any happenings in the current Virginia Legislative session—and I came upon this quote from VA State Senator Amanda Chase.
I’m an educator. I’ve taught in public schools with both conservative and liberal teachers across the board. I have never met another teacher who would place personal politics above the work they are doing educating our children. Might they leave the profession for health/safety reasons? Absolutely. Do most of them leave due to being underpaid and overworked? Also, yes. But none of them are going to leave en masse due to a “political” belief.
There is a massive assault on our public schools taking place nationwide, but Virginia is the current epicenter of the attack, as evidenced by statements like this from a state senator. With legislative items set to remove the power of local school boards from making public health decisions (SB739), add censorship to school libraries (HB1009), syphon public funding for charter schools (SB125), and limit the ability for teachers to teach accurate and factual history (HB781), this attack is ramping up fiercely.
It is now, more than ever, we need progressive school board members to protect teachers and students at a local level from the attempted dismantling of our public education systems at the state level, which is why I am running for Chesapeake School Board in 2022 (donate here). I believe in public education and the teachers who work hard every day to prepare our children for the future.