If you haven't been following the 'equity' furor engulfing Fairfax County public schools in Northern Virginia -- which is separate from the sexual assault cover-up scandal in another nearby blue county, which has triggered firings and indictments -- you can get caught up here. In short, officials at a prominent high school delayed informing recipients of National Merit Scholar honors that they'd earned those accolades, reportedly rooted in a desire to spare the feelings of lower-achieving students. The district has adopted a mission statement calling for "equal outcomes" for all students, which was evidently put into practice by hiding unequal outcomes -- to the direct detriment of students who'd applied to colleges having been denied knowledge of a significant accomplishment.
When this egregious decision was made public, the district blamed a one-time 'human error' for the mistake. Then the principals of two more Fairfax high schools confessed that their schools had done the same thing. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who had ordered a special investigation into the sexual assault fiasco in Loudoun County, asked his Attorney General to open a probe into this matter. He did. That inquiry then expanded when officials at those additional schools admitted their complicity. And now it looks like it will need to expand yet again:
🚨 Today, at least four more high schools in Fairfax County have admitted to not telling students their national merit recognition in time for important college scholarship and admissions deadlines. This brings the total to SEVEN FCPS high schools not notifying students @7NewsDC
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) January 14, 2023
Four more Fairfax County schools failed to tell students about national merit award recognition in a timely fashion, 7News learned Friday. Edison High School in Alexandria, along with Lewis High School, West Potomac High School and Annandale High School announced on their website that notifications did not go out on time last fall...Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is already investigating Fairfax County Public Schools after the same problem happened at three other schools.
This decision was systemic, disproportionately negatively impacted certain students of color, and seems to have been made and concealed in the name of 'equity.' Youngkin is rightly keeping up with each development and demanding accountability:
Rest assured that @JasonMiyaresVA will get to the bottom of this failure because our students and parents matter.
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) January 14, 2023
For what it's worth, one year into his term, Youngkin is slowly and somewhat quietly building a notable record in Virginia:
When I took office, Virginia was 47th in the nation for job recovery from the pandemic. Since then, more than 85,000 Virginians are working – placing Virginia now in the top 20 of states for job growth since the turn of the year. pic.twitter.com/9g3hAuJcdd
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) January 14, 2023
We have to compete to win. Virginia has seen out migration for nine straight years. We are going to have to lower taxes to make Virginia more attractive to young people, families, veterans, and retirees, and more competitive for small local businesses. pic.twitter.com/hHlWiR9hS6
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) January 14, 2023
I'll leave you with a cartoonishly awful abuse of the public trust, involving government schools, in Chicago:
Mayor Lightfoot responds after her campaign emailed CPS teachers. The emails encouraged students to volunteer for the campaign in exchange for class credit. pic.twitter.com/2S0Bolfd3L
— Lauren Jiggetts (@laurenjiggetts) January 13, 2023
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection campaign sent an email to Chicago Public Schools teachers Wednesday asking them to encourage their students to volunteer to help Lightfoot win a second term as mayor – and earn class credit. It was unclear how many Chicago teachers received the email from Megan Crane, whose LinkedIn page identifies her as the deputy campaign manager for Lightfoot. The message was sent to teachers’ official work email accounts, which end in cps.edu. The email says participants in the “externship program” would be expected to contribute 12 hours per week to the Lightfoot campaign and students could earn “class credit.” “We’re simply looking for enthusiastic, curious and hard-working young people eager to help Mayor Lightfoot win this spring,” according to an email obtained by WTTW News.
Incredibly, Lightfoot's office defended this move at first, before the mayor backtracked and blamed subordinates for what she called a "mistake."