How a School District Got Caught in Virginia's Political Maelstrom

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. I urge DUers to find a way around the paywall and read this article.

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Later, {in a late June school board meeting,} at the back of the room, Scott Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after getting into a scuffle. He had been upset because his 15-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted in a high school restroom by a 14-year-old student, identified by Mr. Smith as a “boy wearing a skirt.”

The incident played into the fears of some parents about the new transgender bathroom policy. ... Conservative media outlets zeroed in on the transgender angle; Fox News aired 88 segments in just over three weeks, according to an analysis by Media Matters.

The events turned out to be different than originally cast. ... At a juvenile court hearing, it was revealed that the two students had an ongoing sexual relationship and had arranged to meet in the bathroom. The crime, which took place before the transgender policy went into effect, was not a random assault. ... But the narrative had been set.

By September, with the governor’s election in the final stretch, Mr. Prior’s group had raised nearly $300,000 from around the country. Among the major donations was $10,000 from 1776 Action, an anti-critical race theory organization formed in March.

In September, at a Save Our Schools rally in Loudoun County, Mr. Youngkin repeated his vow to abolish critical race theory in Virginia. The phrase, which originated decades ago as an academic concept, has become a conservative rallying cry, used to broadly criticize educational and social efforts to address racial inequalities in education.

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A debate in September further inflamed many parents, when Mr. McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor, said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

That same month, {Beth Barts, a former board member}, was surprised to see her photograph in a television ad attacking Loudoun schools and broadcast during the Washington Football Team’s season opener.

It was paid for by the “Free to Learn Coalition,” which is tied to Leonard Leo, a prolific fund-raiser and confidant of President Trump. Mr. Leo serves as co-chairman of the conservative Federalist Society.

{snip}

Sophie Kasakove contributed reporting from New York. Kitty Bennett contributed research.

Stephanie Saul
Stephanie Saul covers national politics. Since joining The New York Times in 2005, she has also written about the pharmaceutical industry, education and the illicit foreign money fueling Manhattan’s real estate boom. Previously she worked at Newsday, where she won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.