Celebrating 100 Issues
On January 20, 2023, I launched the first edition of F2S. I had no aspirations beyond creating a space to continue sharing my writing about local issues with the wonderful people in our community who had supported me at The Free Lance-Star, and wanted to continue hearing from me.
From the beginning, something was different about F2S - something that 100 issues in, I’m just now beginning to appreciate.
While many news agencies are under pressure to “just provide the facts,” we are working hard to analyze those facts and help people understand the deeper issues at play. We’ve even developed an expression to capture what we do. The “Why behind the why.”
Conflicts, personalities, organizations all have their “why” for everything they do. That’s the top-line news, and it’s important this be covered.
F2S, however, goes deeper, to understand the why behind the why. What brings people to where they are? How has their journey shaped who they are and why they act the way they do?
It took us some time to understand that, but you, our readers, saw it right away. The growth of F2S has gone far beyond anything those of us involved in this project could have imagined.
We will have much more to say later this summer about what this growth means for where we’re headed.
But for now, it’s time to celebrate.
Here are the five most-popular stories to date.
Enjoy - and thank you for making F2S a success.
No. 5 - June 21
From the Campaign Trail - Emptying My Notebook
by Martin Davis
Ben Litchfield prepares to address his supporters after it became clear he would not win the Democratic nomination for State Senate on Tuesday night.
In journalism, to “empty your notebook” is to cram every quote, every interview, every piece of research you did for a story into the final printed project. It’s a mistake that journalists make early in their careers, though not for long.
One learns what to report, and what to hang on to.
My notebook from this election is packed. This morning, I’d like to empty just a bit more of my notebook about this race than I normally would.
Over my 25-year career, rarely have I gotten to know a candidate as well as I’ve gotten to know Ben Litchfield. For more than a year, we have shared emails, text messages, phone calls, and Chinese food. Rarely a week has gone by since we met last January that we didn’t connect at least once. Some weeks we connected daily.
In many ways, this made my job harder. I have to ask questions - sometimes uncomfortable ones. Sometimes those questions can cost you your access.
And I have to write things, sometimes knowing full well it will not go down well with the candidate.
That’s part of the job.
When I was selected to moderate the Democratic debate between Litchfield and Griffin, I had to call Litchfield and tell him that for a period of about a month, we could not connect like we usually did.
I needed the space to prepare for a debate that would be fair to both candidates. And I couldn’t risk advantaging him over Griffin, even if inadvertently, as I prepped.
Litchfield never questioned my need to temporarily terminate our discussions. I have known too many candidates who would have not been as understanding.
I did not forget his graciousness and his professionalism and his commitment to the common good he displayed by respecting my request for some distance.
Being one person, I could not be present at three speeches Tuesday night. While I attended the watch parties for Tara Durant, Griffin, and Litchfield, when it became clear that Litchfield would lose, I left Griffin’s party and walked 10 minutes to the home where Litchfield’s watch party was being held.
His was the speech I wanted to hear, and he did not disappoint.
“Final results are not in,” he began, “but it appears that we were not successful in this election.”
A person in the back of the room said: “This time.”
“This time,” he echoed back.
From there he made a point to his team about why he ran.
“I set out to prove a point,” he began, “that ideas matter, that policy matters, experience matters, compassion matters, humanity matters, this community matters.
“A few moments ago, this campaign came to an end. But the cares that you have shared with me. Your concerns, your issues, your troubles, your day-to-day complaints and problems that seem so insurmountable for each and every one of you, we carry those with us and we carry them forward. We carry them forward in the hope that our party, the Democratic Party, will stand with the people always.”
Words of a politician, one might say.
I would say to you, no.
These are the words of a man who followed President Obama’s advice and put his name on a ballet and took a stand.
His run certainly garnered him some friends, but it cost him other friendships and relationships. Such is the behind-the-curtain reality of any campaign.
I saw him on days he was confident and feeling grand, and days when he was low and struggling just to get through the breakneck schedule a race places on any candidate.
But mostly, I saw a man who day in and day out, put others above himself.
It’s a character trait in far too short a supply.
And he will continue to do so. “We have a Democratic nominee,” he told his campaign workers - most all of them young, enthusiastic, and full of the optimism that has long sense left too many voters. “His name is Joel Griffin. He is a good man. We must unite behind him. We must defeat Tara Durant in November. We must deny Glenn Youngkin his Senate majority.”
And so beginning tomorrow, Litchfield’s public political life ends for a bit. But his work to make our community better goes on.
We could all learn a great deal from Litchfield.
Politics, like life, favors the winners.
But life, like politics, only works when we live for something beyond ourselves.
As such, we all enjoy a few moments in the sun. But it’s what do when the klieg lights aren’t on us that reveals who we are.
Ben lost … this time. Our community, and our democracy, however, are better and stronger for his having run. But he won’t stop just because he is no longer the person people like me regularly talk with and write about.
As I see it, Litchfield showed us all what true American exceptionalism is. A campaign run and lost by a selfless, optimistic young man.
This time …
No. 4 - May 22
ANALYSIS: Is Spotsylvania County a Testing Ground for Building “Christian” Public Schools?
by Martin Davis
Editor’s Note: In this column, “Christian(s)” is in quotes when referring to fundamentalist Christians and/or Christian Nationalists. Our understanding of fundamentalist Christianity is sound, because it’s a category of Christianity that stretches back to the mid-19th century and is well-defined. To learn more, read: “Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism” by George Marsden, and “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” by Mark Knoll.
Christian Nationalism is a term that generates considerably more discussion, and definitions of the idea vary considerably, as Kenneth Woodward of the Washington Post recently observed in a May 16 editorial. Esteemed religion writer Bob Smietana tackles this issue head on in another Washington Post editorial from May 19, and then advocates for the definition that scholars Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead propose: “a cultural framework that blurs distinctions between Christian identity and American identity, viewing the two as closely related and seeking to enhance and preserve their union.” This is the definition that I follow in this piece.
While true that not all fundamentalist Christians are Christian Nationalists, and vice-versa, the two do overlap at many points, and the latter arguably does not exist without the former.
Being clear about these distinctions is important because the “Christianity” that is fueling the belief systems of Superintendent Mark Taylor and the four members of the Spotsylvania School Board that constitute the majority (Kirk Twigg, April Gillespie, Lisa Phelps, and Rahbih Abuismail) is well outside what historically has been identified as orthodox – both Catholic and Protestant.
With graduations behind students, staff, and faculty at Spotsylvania County’s high schools, the cycle of starting to think about the new year ahead should be happening.
In Spotsylvania, there’s a lot to plan for. Just a very few items the district should be paying attention to:
The physical state of some schools in the district are in dire need of attention.
The shortage of teachers in the county has continued to plague the district, and shows no signs of abating in the near future. (There is a significant backlog with licensing new teachers that threatens to further complicate hiring enough teachers, and some are suggesting the situation is worse than the official numbers the board is putting out would suggest.)
In many districts across the state, preliminary results of SOL tests are rolling in, and leadership teams are learning from those results as they prepare for the upcoming fall. (The information will be publicly available on August 17.)
Still awaiting final funding numbers from the state, Spotsy has budget planning to do.
Unfortunately - but predictably - these are not the issues that appear to be driving Spotsy’s superintendent Mark Taylor, who is doubling down on finding new ways to ban books.
Taylor insists he is not banning books. His reasons for stating this vary. At times it’s because he is following school policy and state law. At other times it’s because the books are available in public libraries. The first argument is deeply suspect, as I have previously explained. The second argument is nonsensical, as Taylor has no control over public libraries. In the one venue he can exercise control - school libraries - he is banning these books by removing the right of individuals to read them - even when their parents see no problem with the books.
This may be just the start, however. In a disturbing twist this week, Taylor has signaled that he may well be planning to move beyond getting rid of “pornography” and starting going after other controversial topics.
His obsession with this topic is hard to explain. It’s not politically expedient. The backlash against his suggestion he would have to close libraries should have told him that he does not have the community’s support on this issue. It’s not practical, as the county faces far more challenging issues to educating our children.
His obsession does begin to make sense, however, if you place it in the context of religious extremism, and especially “Christianity” and Christian Nationalism.
To understand how, we need to back up and connect some dots.
Superintendent Sidebar Takes Center Stage
In his most-recent Superintendent’s Sidebar, Taylor continued to push paranoia over books and the ideas contained therein by sending this message:
The dedicated members of our SCPS team have followed standard practices and guidance provided by the VDOE and other appropriate authorities. They have done very good work with very limited resources. I respect and appreciate our staff, and I find it regrettable that they and all of us are now facing a challenging dilemma.
Simply put, the dilemma is this: We don’t know the content of the books in our school libraries.
Despite all the real and challenging issues Spotsylvania Schools face, this is the one Taylor chooses to put front and center as people begin to plan for a new year.
We say that our North Star - our first imperative and first guiding principle – is that we shall provide a safe environment for children. The Commonwealth of Virginia has said that maintaining parental rights to know and parental choice to avoid sexually explicit materials is imperative.
There are lots of problems with this argument. Let’s start with the obvious.
First, while it’s true the Commonwealth of Virginia is pushing hard for parents to be able to prevent their students from having access to materials some consider “sexually explicit,” to this point neither the governor nor the Department of Education has voiced support for book bans. (Whether Youngkin would sign legislation banning books is a separate question. I believe he would, and will, if given the chance.)
Second, the issue of sexually explicit content in books is not the only issue Virginia is dealing with. In fact, it’s not even the one getting the most attention.
Improving physical facilities has been a major push of the Youngkin administration, and Virginia recently awarded more than $365 million in funds to assist with school building projects. Fredericksburg City received almost $7.5 million toward the cost of the new Walker-Grant Middle School. Spotsylvania did not receive any funds. (At the time of writing we do not know if Spotsylvania even applied for these funds.)
Other foci include raising academic achievement, as new Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons said to the editorial board at the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Continuing to roll out the Profile of a Virginia Graduate is another major push, as well as getting more teachers in the classroom, are also taking center stage.
Yes, Youngkin continues to push “parents’ rights,” but this is more political posturing than effective policy.
For Taylor, however, parents’ rights is all that seems to matter.
But even in this area, his thinking is inconsistent and shallow.
The truth is, Taylor and the board are talking about parents’ rights even as they are excluding more parents than they are empowering.
He is overruling parents by actively banning books in schools that review boards composed of parents from the community said were perfectly acceptable to appear on school library shelves.
And despite statements to media before his hiring that he wanted to talk with “all sides,” Taylor has shown no interest in talking with anyone outside the “Christian” bubble that he lives in.
This board is not better. Lisa Phelps’ behavior at school board meetings - shutting off microphones when she doesn’t like what’s said, marginalizing the three members of the minority to the point they have no effective voice on this board, and forcing parents to the back of the room in a move that symbolically makes clear they don’t matter - makes clear that she’s not interested in empowering all parents. Just those that she agrees with.
It is against this backdrop that what Taylor said next in his Superintendent’s Sidebar becomes so disturbing.
The inclusion of sexually explicit content is not the only basis upon which materials may be contested. We must clarify, modernize and maintain other pathways for challenges in our policy.
What “other pathways” Taylor has in mind is anyone’s guess. But it’s not hard to speculate on the topics that might be targeted next.
A book that some parent thinks has CRT in it? Gone.
A book that talks about socialism? Gone.
A book that treats other religious traditions in a balanced, academic manner? Gone.
Despite all the serious educational problems facing this district - many brought on my the board majority’s short-sighted policies - it’s the culture war against books that Taylor will continue to force.
And “Christians” and Christian Nationalists are at the core of this movement.
Sunday School Romper Room, Not Bastions of Enlightened Learning
Taylor’s obsession with banning books is carried out with all the passion of past efforts by “Christians” to ban books in the 1970s, and convince parents that devil worship was widespread during the 1980s.
He, as well as the lone parent who has pushed for these bans and the four members of the school board who support and even encourage such bans, is following the playbook of Moms for Liberty.
Touted as a “grassroots” movement of concerned moms, M4L is nothing of the sort. It’s heavily funded by deep-pocketed right-wing groups and actively trains people in methods to undermine public schools.
Not surprisingly, it has ties to extremist conservative groups. But it’s also known to have ties to the Council for National Policy, a group founded by evangelicals in the early 1980s and is a funder and supporter of Christian Nationalist organizations.
Taylor appears to be at home in this Christian Nationalist world.
In a conversation with F2S, his daughter Jael, who previously raised concerned about her father’s suitability for the superintendent’s role in a letter to multiple media sites, told F2S this weekend that she would agree with the assessment that her father’s beliefs are those of a “Christian Nationalist.”
She further notes that his embracing Christian Nationalism is somewhat new, as she had noticed him becoming more religiously extreme “over the past five years or so.”
In public interviews, he’s gone out of his way to suggest that his faith position isn’t driving this, by noting that the parent who is bringing the challenges is a Buddhist. True that may be, but the fact remains it’s extremist Christians who are fueling this this book-banning movement, and extremist Christians he is actively reaching out to.
Which brings us to the hiring of Tara Mergener.
Formerly with CBS News, Mergener is best known for her work with the Christian Broadcasting Network. She has no background in K-12 education, no real connection to this area, and purportedly isn’t even in Spotsylvania for work all that often. (F2S reached out to Mergener at her school email address for comment, but she has not responded.)
So why did Taylor and the board bring her in at a salary of almost $150,000 a year?
Apparently not to improve communications between the district and parents, which have continued to wither under Taylor’s time as superintendent.
Rather, I believe there’s a case to be made that she has been brought in to get the story of what Taylor is doing in Spotsylvania out to a sympathetic national audience of likeminded “Christians” across the nation.
Since her hiring, Taylor has appeared on two national broadcasts, both with close ties to the Christian Broadcast Network and to Christian Nationalists.
Recently, Taylor appeared on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. Perkins is president of the Family Research Council - an extremist Christian group that the ACLU has identified as a hate group for its rhetoric about LGBTQ people.
Prior to this, Taylor appeared on America 180, which is hosted by David Brody who is affiliated with the Christian Broadcasting Network and openly expounds Christian Nationalist ideas.
Whether Mergener is the one responsible for making these appearances happen is unknown. No one in the Spotsylvania School leadership will talk with F2S or my former colleagues at the Free Lance-Star about these appearances. That makes it impossible to put the question directly to them.
By taking his case for book banning to a national audience - even as he avoids local media and local parents and local groups that support public education - suggests Taylor’s first concern is building connections to “Christian” leaders and supporters.
If I am reading the pieces correctly, the picture that is emerging is deeply troubling.
Mark Taylor is about far more than bolstering the governor’s efforts to undermine public education. He’s working to build a school system that would appeal directly to Christian Nationalist people. And he wants to broadcast those efforts to the country at large.
And what, exactly, is he promoting to them? There is no positive educational philosophy driving his ideas. His entire approach is grounded in negation. Taking away books. Taking away the freedom to teach history fully. And taking away the rights of parents to speak openly in the public arena.
If he succeeds, he will be responsible for turning our educational system into a Romper Room Sunday School, as opposed to centers for enlightened thought.
Running from science, running from the full story of America. That is in the DNA of Christian Nationalism.
It looks to be in Taylor’s, too. And he is working to bringing that anti-educational approach not only to Spotsylvania, but to the rest of the nation, too.
No. 3 - April 22
ANALYSIS: In Spotsylvania, the worst is yet to come
And the worst starts Monday
by Martin Davis
Taylor’s assertion that “Virginia came in last in math and reading for 4th graders and 8th graders in the United States” is demonstrably wrong. In fact, Virginia’s 4th and 8th graders scored squarely in the middle or better in math and reading.
As bad as things have been in Spotsylvania County Public Schools, they’re about to get worse. Much worse.
And the opening salvo was fired on America 180 - a production of the conservative Washington Times and hosted by evangelical Christian and Christian Broadcast Network commentator David Brody - Friday afternoon.
School superintendent Mark Taylor, who refuses to be interviewed by F2S or to spend time with the Free Lance-Star, gave an extended interview to David Brody replete with hagiography for far-right-leaning Jen Peterson and her crusade against library books. He also promulgated blatantly wrong NAEP data about Virginia students’ performance on the assessment more-commonly known as The Nation’s Report Card.
Why Taylor is misleading people is not as troubling as this reality. The superintendent of Spotsylvania County Public Schools, who was criticized when he was hired for having no background in education, put that ignorance on full display for a national audience by stating blatant untruths about the state’s educational performance.
Following up on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s assertion last fall that Virginia’s performance on NAEP was among the worst in the nation - an assertion I refuted last October in an op-ed - Taylor took the governor’s reporting of incorrect analysis of NAEP data a step further, promulgating a demonstrable falsehood when he stated:
Last November, the results were posted for the National Assessment of Education Progress [NAEP], and Virginia came in last in math and reading for 4th graders and 8th graders in the United States. Last.
There are several things of note here.
First: Taylor gets the name of the assessment wrong. It’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, not “Education.” This is a minor miscue that otherwise wouldn’t be worth noting, except for what Taylor then claims.
Second: His assertion that “Virginia came in last in math and reading for 4th graders and 8th graders in the United States” is wrong. In fact, it’s not remotely close to right. Virginia’s 4th and 8th graders scored squarely in the middle or better nationally in math and reading.
From the report on Virginia’s performance by 4th graders in math:
“In 2022, the average score in Virginia (236) was lower than those in 5 states/jurisdictions; higher than those in 14 states/jurisdictions; not significantly different from those in 32 states/jurisdictions.” [Emphasis added]
Graphic is from the NAEP report for Virginia showing math performance by 4th graders.
Again, from the report on Virginia’s performance by 4th graders in reading:
“In 2022, the average score in Virginia (214) was lower than those in 8 states/jurisdictions; higher than those in 6 states/jurisdictions; not significantly different from those in 37 states/jurisdictions.” [Emphasis added]
Graphic from the NAEP report for Virginia showing reading performance by 4th graders.
Perhaps, you’re thinking, the scores were worst in the nation for 8th graders, and Taylor simply got confused. But that’s not the case.
From the report on Virginia’s performance by 8th graders in math:
“In 2022, the average score in Virginia (279) was lower than those in 1 states/jurisdictions; higher than those in 29 states/jurisdictions; not significantly different from those in 21 states/jurisdictions.” [Emphasis added]
In other words, Virginia’s 8th graders’ scores were among some of the best in the nation.
Graphic from the NAEP report for Virginia showing math performance by 8th graders.
And again, from the report on Virginia’s performance by 8th graders in reading:
“In 2022, the average score in Virginia (260) was lower than those in 4 states/jurisdictions; higher than those in 9 states/jurisdictions; not significantly different from those in 38 states/jurisdictions.” [Emphasis added]
Graphic from the NAEP report for Virginia showing reading performance by 8th graders.
So clearly, Taylor’s understanding of Virginia students’ performance on the NAEP assessment is wrong. Horrifically so.
Third: Not only does Taylor blatantly misrepresent the performance of Virginia’s 4th and 8th graders on NAEP performance, but he went so far as to emphasize that he meant to say our students finished at the bottom on the national barrel.
“Virginia came in last for math and reading for 4th graders and 8th graders in the United States. Last.” [Emphasis added]
Why Taylor would spew such falsehoods, misleading parents and a national audience about student performance on NAEP, is anyone’s guess. Whatever the reason, there’s no defense for just how far off the mark he is. NAEP data and results are easy to find and clearly presented so that any educated person can understand them.
It is true that Virginia’s students suffered some of the steepest declines in scores from 2019 - 2022 (See this story in Axios). This is worrying and deserves attention - though what it really means is hard to say. Still, it’s a far cry - a very far cry - from what Taylor is trying to argue.
Still worse that Taylor spewed this nonsense before a national audience. A performance that would earn an F in any high school class in the state.
Foreshadowing?
Taylor’s irresponsible statements on Friday are more disturbing in light of the agenda for the budget work session scheduled for this Monday night. Are they a type of foreshadowing?
The so-called work session is front-loaded with agenda items that have absolutely nothing to do with the budget.
Among the items:
Visual Arts Awards for April (Guempel)
2023 SCPS Teachers of the Year (O'Quinn)
Winter VHSL Academic and Athletic Recognitions (Guempel)
Instructional Highlight - Brock Road and Lee Hill Purple Star Designation (Belako)
Approval of Resolution in Support of Military Children and Families (Guempel)
Approval of the 2023-2024 Special Education Annual Plan Application (Langridge)
Food Operations Management Services (Trayer/Pitts)
Approval of Spotsylvania Middle School Renovation Project (Forrest)
Approval of Purchase of Replacement Firewall (Zicari)
Each of these items is more appropriate for a regular meeting. Which begs the question. Why are all of these in a budget work session?
It’s impossible to know for sure, but there is reason to believe that the four majority members of the board and Taylor want as small an audience at this work session as possible. Work sessions are generally less-well-attended than regular meetings, and even when meetings are well-attended, the later the meeting goes the fewer the people in the audience to vocalize their concerns. So by forcing the budget discussion to the very end of a long meeting focusing on significantly less-important issues, by comparison, they increase the odds that people won’t be there to see what happens.
Why he is misleading people is not as troubling as this reality. The superintendent of Spotsylvania County Public Schools, who was criticized when he was hired for having no background in education, put that ignorance on full display for a national audience by stating blatant untruths about the state’s educational performance.
That matters because this meeting Monday night has the potential to be more than a work session. In fact, it’s described as a “Budget Work Session/Possible Adoption of FY 2024 Budget and FY 2024-2028 CIP.”
In short, the board could approve this budget on Monday night - and whatever cuts it plans to make for the division.
Taylor - in a move that can only be described as a political misstep of the highest order - publicly announced recently that school libraries were on the cut list. Would this board move to cut school libraries this coming Monday night?
Virginia statute requires that libraries be maintained. (8VAC20-131-190). But that statute did not stop Taylor from making the threat. And there’s no guarantee this statute would stop this board from moving forward.
I asked Rabih Abuismail - the only member of the board majority I’ve been able to have any level of discussion with - via text message why the majority is burying the budget discussion so late in the meeting. And I asked if libraries were specifically on the chopping block.
He would not answer the first question, stating that he needed “more context,” and then wrote that he had previously spoken out against libraries being cut.
Still, Abuismal has shown no stomach for voting against Phelps and Twigg. He has repeatedly voted for whatever they put before him, showing no real ability to think independently and act accordingly.
All of this, of course, is bad. But things get even worse.
At the time of writing (Friday evening), the minority board members who will have to vote Monday - Dawn Shelley, Nicole Cole, and Lorita Daniels - has each communicated with F2S and confirmed that they have not seen the budget the majority is planning to put forward.
This is not uncommon behavior for Phelps and Taylor. But given the magnitude of the decision about to be made, this behavior is not beyond reckless.
It raises serious questions about the extent to which Taylor and the majority board members are working to keep the minority board members in the dark.
Are Taylor and company trying to keep whatever information they’re hiding out of the public eye - potentially so as to drive down attendance at Monday night’s meeting - so they can do whatever damage they plan in a dark corner where the antiseptic of public sunlight can’t expose their plans and lead to people demanding an accounting of their actions?
Time will tell.
Mounting external pressure
Public outrage against Taylor’s hiring, supporting book-banners, desiring to eliminate libraries, and incorrect reading of NAEP data hasn’t, to this point, been enough to stop Taylor and the four majority members. In fact, their disdain for dissenting opinion is clear in the chaotic meetings that Lisa Phelps runs.
But another development on Friday surely is making these five a bit more nervous.
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Virginia sent a letter to the Spotsylvania County School Board in care of Lisa Phelps, and challenged head-on Taylor’s interpretation of state law and his ability to remove books from school libraries.
From the letter (The full version appears at the end of this article):
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (“ACLU-VA”) writes to express our concerns regarding the recent “Memo Regarding 14 Book Challenges” that was circulated by Superintendent Mark Taylor on March 29 indicating that Spotsylvania County Public Schools (“SCPS”) will be banning any books that receive complaints from parents. Contrary to the representations made in the Memo, the removal of these 14 books and adoption of the proposed policy is neither required by nor consistent with the stated intent of Virginia Code section 22.1-16.8 (“the Law”). Senate Bill 656, which codified the Law, contained an enactment clause clarifying “[t]hat the provisions of this act shall not be construed as requiring or providing for the censoring of books in public elementary and secondary schools.”1 The automatic removal of challenged library books from circulation, preventing any student’s access, is censorship that contradicts the Law’s express limitations. Superintendent Taylor has manufactured a crisis by reading the term “instructional material” to include all books even passively available to students in the library rather than, as its plain meaning would suggest, material presented to students during their instruction in class.
Interestingly, Taylor defended his ability to remove these books on Washington 180 on Friday by presumably referencing this law.
The ACLU letter addresses how extreme Taylor’s reading of this law is by following it to its logical conclusion. Again, from the letter:
The Virginia Administrative Code requires schools to maintain a library that contains “hard copy, electronic technological resources, materials, and equipment that are sufficient to meet research, inquiry, and reading requirements of the instructional program and general student interest.”4 Taken to its logical extreme, the superintendent’s proposed policy with no review mechanism whatsoever could lead to very large number – hypothetically even all – of the books in the SCPS libraries being challenged and automatically removed, undermining its above obligation.
How far the ACLU intends to pursue this matter remains to be seen, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that if Taylor continues on this path the ACLU will sue in an effort to stop him.
Taylor, by going on a national broadcast and defending his arguably illegal moves in removing books, and falsely describing NAEP results, shows he is going to continue to push the boundaries of what this school board can get away with.
And if they do, will the ACLU prove the check on this board’s ongoing bad behavior?
November is coming, none too soon for many in Spotsylvania - both liberal and conservative - who have tired of watching this board majority and Taylor take actions that appear designed to wreck this public school system.
But if the worst is to be prevented, it will likely take the aid and assistance of an organization like the ACLU to put Taylor in check.
Buck up, Spotsylvania. What has been a horrible situation is about to get much, much worse. Taylor signaled as much today. And Monday may prove the full flowering.
If this proves true, let’s hope the ACLU is ready to bring legal pressure to bear on them to cease the destruction they’ve wrought.
And let’s hope the voters of Spotsylvania have learned from the horrendous mistake they made in the last election by giving four highly unqualified people - who then selected the uniquely unqualified Taylor - power over a school board they neither care for, nor care about, as their votes and their twisting of laws and their misrepresentation of data for political gain continues to show. As it has since January 2022.
No. 2 - June 8
COMMENTARY: Spotsy’s poorly educated school board and unqualified superintendent need to do some summer reading
We recommend Be Free or Die
by Martin Davis
To hear white evangelical Christians and hyper-partisan Republicans tell it, America’s schools and school boards are dominated by “woke,” leftist, Democratic (read “socialist” by their definition) ideologues. Works well for cheap campaign slogans - but it fails to reflect reality.
A 2017 study by the Brookings Institute that surveyed more than 5,000 democratically elected school board members across 49 states showed just the opposite.
Almost half of school board members were moderate or nonpartisan. Just 19% were liberal, and 31% were conservative.
There is no comparable study to show where we are today, but given the current revolt against classical education, it’s not hard to imagine that the portion of conservative school board members has grown. (That may well be changing, however, as the passions that pushed them into power in 2022 are waning, and they are beginning to lose local races.)
There’s no doubt where Spotsylvania’s school board sits - somewhere just to the right of Mussolini.
As I noted in the May 23 issue, while issues around sexuality are what energized voters to put Lisa Phelps, April Gillespie, Kirk Twigg, and Rahbi Abuismail in power, their Supreme Leader Mark Taylor is now threatening to expand the battle lines.
“The inclusion of sexually explicit content is not the only basis upon which materials may be contested,” he recently wrote. “We must clarify, modernize and maintain other pathways for challenges in our policy.”
Critical Race Theory and a white-washing of American history are almost sure to be among the other topics that Taylor wants to use to take still more books off bookshelves.
After all, ensuring white history dominates students’ educations is at the center of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s push to Make Virginia White Again.
Ever the optimist, I believe we could cut this issue off at the pass - as all those white cowboys did in the movies of old - with just a bit of education. To wit, a summer reading recommendation for the school board and Taylor.
Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero
Illiterate, enslaved, and fearful his wife and child would be sold away, South Carolinian Robet Smalls did what the confederates couldn’t have imagined. He took control of a steam boat, sailed through Charleston Harbor, the reached the Union blockade to deliver the ship to the Union army.
That his scheme as not discovered, or stopped by any of several sentries who were in position to sound an alarm that something was off, or was blown out of the water by confederate canons and then by Union canons which didn’t immediately recognize Smalls are friend is the stuff of legend.
His life was the stuff of American Dreams, and the harsh reality of slavery in America.
Despite serving in the South Carolina house of representatives and senate, and then five terms in the U.S. Congress. Despite founding the Republican Party in South Carolina. Despite being a leading advocate for bringing Black Americans into the Union Army. Despite providing the Union navy not only with a valuable ship and its canons but valuable information as well that led to an assault on Charleston.
Despite all this and so much more, Smalls lived his life as a second-class citizen, always aware at any moment violence could end his life, and that economic opportunities he should of had were denied him.
This book, however, paints no juvenile picture of slavery. Among the Union soldiers and Northern politicians Smalls moved among and worked for, some were as dismissive of him and any white Southern planter.
When news of Smalls’ feat with the Planter (the ship Smalls stole) hit the New York papers, there was expressed doubt that a black man could have masterminded such a daring operation.
When he should have earned a princely sum in prize money for turning a confederate vessel over to the Union, politicians conspired to significantly short-change him.
And too often, he was addressed in patronizing terms. Even by President Lincoln.
The history of slavery in America is complex, multilayered, and very poorly understood by most Americans. (It will be even less-well understood under the new history and social studies standards Gov. Youngkin pushed through.)
Smalls’ story reflects that complexity. And it doesn’t take much to see from his story how the systemic and orchestrated effort to deprive Smalls his due - as well as what was due every other hard working formerly enslaved person - crippled Blacks’ ability to build wealth throughout the late 19th century, and well into the 20th century.
One wonders how reading this book would make any white student feel “guilty.”
This is the hard reality of the country that we are now entrusted with caring for and advancing to the next generation.
There’s nothing “exceptional” about a governing system that destroyed an entire group of people for nothing more than their skin having a deeper pigmentation.
There is, however, something exceptional about a country that can face that past and grow stronger from it. (To see what an exceptional country does when confronting the genuine horrors of its past, look to Germany. In this arena, Americans are in no wise “exceptional.”)
Be Free or Die helps us all do that.
But only if we allow people to read it, and dare open our minds to the truth of our past.
This school board and Taylor could do that. But they aren’t likely to do so.
And why? The answers lie in understanding why those who surrounded Smalls couldn’t treat him as an equal or learn from him, either. They couldn’t tolerate the thought that someone not like them - whether by race or world view or culture - could embody the ideals of exceptionalism better than they.
And that reason is precisely why Taylor, the four majority members of the school board, and no one less than the governor himself, are committed to making sure your young adults never learn it, either.
No. 1 - March 28
COMMENTARY: Iago, Svengali, and the Death of Learning in Spotsylvania
by: Martin Davis
For more than a year, I’ve been writing about and reporting on the Spotsylvania School Board’s Tea Party-fueled majority. My efforts to talk with them, to give them substantial space in the pages of the Free Lance-Star, to elicit responses via email, were mostly met with silence.
And for more than a year, I’ve taken a measured approach to what I have written about what this board is doing. I spent considerable time with Albert King, who financed all four of the majority board members, as he explained his concerns about excess spending in the school district and how these people’s elections were all about restoring fiscal responsibility to the district.
I gave ink to people who believed that it was possible to befriend and work with the majority.
When I finally spoke with one of the majority members, I gave three hours of my day to Rabih Abuismail, only to hear not a thoughtful critique or plan for the future, but an embarrassing tantrum about how ugly politics can be.
Despite his own significant role in fueling the “ugly politics,” I wrote a piece encouraging him to do the right thing and appoint Lorita Daniels as board chair. Far more qualified and reasoned than Lisa Phelps, he nonetheless acted as those of us who have watched this board knew he would. He put Phelps in charge.
As a journalist, I live by a simple mantra. “Take people at their word, until they give you reason not to trust them.”
I’ve taken them at their word. I’ve given them every opportunity to be heard. And I’ve worked hard to see the world through their eyes.
But tonight - Monday, March 27, 2023 - I’ve reached a conclusion that I’ve sensed for some time, but hesitated to write. The majority board members and Mark Taylor are not to be trusted.
Don’t Blame Me
Before knowing what the county’s Board of Supervisors are going to give to the school district. Before knowing what the state is going to give to the school district. Mark Taylor took it upon himself to sound a three-alarm fire and announce potential Draconian cuts.
The budget reductions under consideration are not done for the benefit of students. They are nothing short of a declaration of war against public education.
Libraries: Eliminated
Governor’s School: Eliminated
International Baccalaureate Program: Eliminated
60 Teachers: Eliminated
It should not surprise.
We have seen across the country - especially in Florida and Texas - a concerted effort to eliminate any book, any academic idea, any training that goes against the ideals of a movement known as Christian Nationalism. A movement that according to Joseph Williams:
… insist(s) that the United States was established as an explicitly Christian nation, and they believe that this close relationship between Christianity and the state needs to be protected—and in many respects restored—in order for the U.S. to fulfill its God-given destiny. Recent scholarship underscores the extent to which these efforts to secure a privileged position for Christianity in the public square often coincide with efforts to preserve the historical status quo on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. And the practical ramifications of such views involve everything from support for laws that codify specific interpretations of Christian morality, to the defense of religious displays on public property, to nativist reactions to non-white, non-Christian immigrants.
These cuts reflect Christian Nationalist ideals.
There are few absolutes in education, but the connection between reading and academic achievement is well-established.
To put libraries on the chopping block first is simply an acknowledgement of what the year-long struggle over books in the county school libraries has long suggested - the majority board members do not believe in books. In reading. In allowing young people to read and explore the world through books before facing it head-on after graduation.
Contrary to what Second Amendment advocates claim, oppressive governments don’t come first for people’s guns. They come for people’s books.
This board’s hatred of learning extends to developing academically superior students. How else to explain cutting the two programs (Governor’s School and I.B.) that have a long history of preparing our top students for some of the best schools in America.
Taylor repeatedly said he doesn’t like the cuts. He cannot be believed. In his first attempt to find a way forward in a tight budget year, he went straight for the jugular.
Budgets are not fiscal documents, they are moral documents.
Taylor’s actions tonight put his blatantly immoral position on education on display for all to see.
Board Member Nicole Cole and Dawn Shelley repeatedly called attention in their comments to how brazen an attack on children and learning this proposed cut is.
Cole excoriated Taylor for exceptionally poor judgment. Shelley asked him directly if he has a problem with smart students.
Knowing their culpability, Taylor and the board majority did what autocrats do - deflect. They blamed staff for putting the items on the cut list. They blamed educational leaders. They blamed finance staff. They blamed the board of supervisors.
But Taylor is the superintendent. Every slide. Every cut. Every proposal to destroy this school system required his final approval. He, and he alone, is responsible.
Still, the majority board members sat there and provided Taylor cover. Claiming to hate the cuts, they joined Taylor is blaming everyone but the one person in the room responsible - Taylor; an overpaid, underprepared, ill-informed ideologue being paid handsomely to destroy the school system.
The Bottom Line
There is no middle ground to be had here. The board majority and Taylor have no interest in compromise. In doing what is right for this county’s children. In preparing our students for the world they’re going to face.
This is not a problem for Republicans or Democrats. It’s a problem for everyone who understands the power of learning and the values it instills in young minds: curiosity, respect, and humility.
Tonight - the game changed.
Iago sits in the board chair. Svengali casts the spell.
And soon nary a book or library will be found in Spotsylvania schools to explain those literary references to students, and just how awful their leaders are.
Congratulations on your 100th and thank you for being a primary source of information and the breath of fresh air we so sorely need in Spotsylvania County. I wish you continuing and expanding circulation and participation and look forward to the next 100... 200... 2000!