ANALYSIS: It Ends Where It Began ... With Books

The question is, why?

By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Of all the questions that have emerged over the chaos that has surrounded the Spotsylvania County School Board over the past five years, perhaps none is more perplexing than this: “Why did books become the flashpoint?”

As a cultural medium of influence, books are faring poorly. In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts released “Reading at Risk,” in which then-NEA Chair Dana Gioia reported:

This comprehensive survey of American literary reading presents a detailed but bleak assessment of the decline of reading’s role in the nation’s culture. For the first time in modern history, less than half of the adult population now reads literature, and these trends reflect a larger decline in other sorts of reading. Anyone who loves literature or values the cultural, intellectual, and political importance of active and engaged literacy in American society will respond to this report with grave concern.

The matter did not improve when Gallup reported in 2022 that “Americans say they read an average of 12.6 books during the past year, a smaller number than Gallup has measured in any prior survey dating back to 1990.”

Books are reaching fewer people, and people’s ability to wrestle with the complex ideas books trade in is also in decline.

If one’s concern is shaping young minds, books would not appear to be a fruitful battleground on which to wage war. Kids and adults care less about reading them now than at any point in recent memory. Even if you successfully ban the books you want, who are you influencing?

The answer? No one.

Were former Board members Kirk Twigg and Rabih Abuismail, current members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie, and former Superintendent Mark Taylor seriously concerned about the intellectual development of children and improving learning outcomes, there are an abundance of other targets they could have tackled, and built a coalition to support them. Each of the following has organizations behind them from across the political spectrum:

• Teacher certification and recertification - There has been a sustained challenge to how teachers are trained and placed into the classroom, notably led by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

• Standardized Testing - A growing number of policy groups are working to significantly reform the excessive reliance on standardized testing. Leading that fight is The National Center for Fair and & Open Testing.

• School Choice - A wide range of organizations nationwide are working to change the level of choice that students have in their educations. Among the better-known groups leading this charge is Center for Education Reform.

Each of these groups is led by intellectually serious individuals who know and understand education and education policy. They are coalition builders and committed to improving learning and opportunities for learning. The list could be a lot longer, but the point is made.

National bipartisan coalitions working to burn or ban books are small and noninfluential, if they exist at all. (Indeed, Americans overwhelmingly reject book bans.) Instead, as the Washington Post showed last year, 60% of all book bans come from a small number of serial filers who account for 60% of all book challenges.

The Board’s assault on books, in short, was never a serious component in an effort to improve education for students and their families.

Rather, books were likely little more than a simpleton’s — or a malicious one’s — tool for ginning up public anger to achieve another end.

Destroying Public Schools

At the May 20 Board meeting, Phelps complained from the dais that “it’s a bit unfortunate that some people don’t even want to take a chance to get to know me.” At that prompt, I extended an invitation to do just that by having her sit for an interview.

It’s far from the first time that I have extended such an invitation over the years. (In fact, on April 9 I extended an invitation to Phelps and Gillespie to write opinion pieces for the Advance, and assured them that their “piece, like every piece done by a guest writer, would be edited and then returned to you for final review before publication.”) This time, however, it drew a response. The answer was straight-forward: No.

In addition to complaining about my “bias,” Phelps made the following statement:

“Do you honestly believe I am here to destroy public schools? Where would a peer of mine formulate such an opinion? I never stated it publicly or privately.”

The statement brought to mind former New York Giants football coach Bill Parcels, who famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” One write-up described the quote this way:

The point is that you can't reason distance between you and what you accomplish (or don't accomplish.) Results speak for themselves.

And what Phelps’ and Gillespie’s records say over the past several years is clear.

Books were never the point. Rather, the complete remaking of the public school system in Phelps’ and her cohorts’ image was most likely the goal. And that remaking could only be undertaken by destroying the public school system as it currently exists.

The Record

Show Up

The job of publicly elected School Board officials is to work in the interest of the public school system and the students, teachers, and administrators for whom the system exists.

The lowest bar for proving that one is interested in doing this is actually showing up for work.

As we reported in late March, however, neither Phelps nor Gillespie has shown the ability to do that. From our report:

Spotsylvania School Board members April Gillespie, Berkeley district representative, and Lisa Phelps, Lee Hill district representative, have either been absent or left early from nine out of the 10 meetings the School Board has held so far this year.

That trend has continued, as School Board meetings have taken on a regular rhythm that includes Phelps’ and Gillespie’s disruptions followed by their vanishing, leaving the remaining Board members to work.

When Phelps held the majority, the minority were guilty of many flaws. What they did not do was abandon their post and disenfranchise the people who elected them. They understood and took seriously the charge before them — to work in the best interest of the school system.

Phelps and Gillespie choose to walk away from their responsibilities, and abandon those who elected them to office.

Choosing to stay away is not simply a childish reaction to a very adult problem — learning to work with those you disagree. It’s strategic, as well.

As we reported in May (“Attorneys Looking for a Reason to Fire Taylor? No”):

Spotsylvania School Board member April Gillespie alleged at a work session last week that the school division’s attorneys are still looking for cause for terminating former superintendent Mark Taylor’s contract.

Why didn’t Gillespie and Phelps know why Taylor was fired? Again from our report:

Gillespie, who represents the Berkeley district on the School Board, and Lee Hill representative Lisa Phelps did not attend the March 12 closed session at which the Board voted to proceed with the dismissal of the superintendent with cause.

When Board members choose not to attend meetings — especially one as critical as the firing of a superintendent — then they lose their right to complain about the way the Board is working.

Stand up. Make a case. Represent your constituents. That’s what Board members do who are concerned about the system they are charged to oversee.

Secrecy

Virginia has some of the weakest FOIA laws in the nation. The most-abused loophole in these laws is the “working papers” exemption, which allows the government to withhold documents it considers to fall in this category.

Phelps doesn’t even bother to invoke that clause.

In the ongoing saga of the Riverbend Swim Team, a debate has emerged over emails and text messages that both Phelps and Gillespie supposedly have but refuse to turn over.

Those emails and text messages were at the center of a recent mandamus filing by Theo Marcus, who has pursued these documents. The court dismissed Marcus’ petition on a technical point, which is now being challenged.

Phelps’ and Gillespie’s efforts to hide from the public the information they have — and the role they potentially played — about an incident that shattered a successful program, distressed student-athletes, ended two coaches’ careers, and upset numerous families, is an inexcusable violation of the trust the voters have placed in them to care for the school system they are sworn to protect.

Given these actions, can we realistically believe that their primary concern is books? No.

And Taylor, Too …

Earlier this month, former Superintendent Mark Taylor filed a lawsuit in the Eastern Court of Virginia. The subject of the suit? His firing. The culprit, he claims? Books. Or, more specifically, retaliation for bringing Kirk Cameron, a spokesperson for evangelical book publisher SkyTree Books, to an event that Taylor organized on school grounds to promote said books.

But again, the books are likely just a front for another goal.

As we reported just over three weeks ago:

Taylor alleges in the lawsuit that his firing amounted to “retaliation” for hosting the December 2, 2023, SkyTree Book Fair, which the suit states he did as “a private citizen” using “his personal funds.”

There are several problems with this argument.

First, Taylor’s own filing includes a letter that outlines the School Board’s reasons for firing Taylor. As we reported earlier this month, that letter states he was dismissed for, among other things:

Potential violations of state law and school division policy related to the hiring of “unlicensed and unqualified” employees and the unauthorized disposal of school property ….

What wasn’t listed as a reason for his dismissal? Again from our report: “The SkyTree Book Fair is not one of the reasons provided by the School Board’s counsel for Taylor’s termination, according to the letter.”

What angle Taylor plans to work is unclear.

Filing in a federal court is certainly an unusual move.

In a text message to the Advance, Taylor said that he brought the suit because:

“The school board violated my contract and my constitutional rights. They retaliated against me for associating myself with Kirk Cameron.”

Asked if he has direct evidence to prove retaliation, he responded:

“Looking forward to getting it in front of a jury.”

It is up to the court to decide if Taylor does or doesn’t have a case.

But building his case around the Kirk Cameron — a former child actor and prominent voice in the extreme wings of the evangelical world — incident raises questions.

Will Taylor make this about “religious freedom,” something the evangelical movement has become quite expert in? Could he appeal on those grounds, should he lose in the Eastern District, to the United States Supreme Court where a conservative majority has shown a propensity for favoring religious rights over the individual rights of others (a woman’s right to make her own health-care decisions, for example)?

Is there evidence of retaliation that hasn’t yet been exposed?

Time will tell.

What does seem probable, again however, is that books really aren’t the issue here.

It’s All About Remaking Schools

In every instance, books are a key to unlock a more-ambitious project. Turning public schools into bastions of evangelical thought? Ending public schools in favor of charter schools? Ending funding for public education and offering vouchers to parents to attend religious schools or other private institutions?

Those details are unknown.

What is known is this. From the takeover of the Board until now, however, books are the throughway to whatever goal Phelps and Gillespie and — before he was fired — Taylor wanted to implement.

So it’s appropriate that this chaotic saga in Spotsylvania began and ends with books.

But the desire to destroy public education remains. And it will return.

And next time, books may not be the tool of choice.

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