May 25, 2021
Mrs. Maribel Saimre
Director, Office of Student Services
101 N. 14th Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 225-2818
maribel.saimre@doe.virginia.gov
cc: James F. Lane
Superintendent of Public Instruction
101 N. 14th Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 225-2057
Dear Mrs. Saimre,
I am a Senior Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, a national public-interest law firm. Among other issues, we litigate education-law and free-speech cases across the country.
I write to express my deep concern about Virginia’s draft Social and Emotional Learning Standards (SEL), which create serious legal and constitutional issues by wholesale incorporating critical theory into our schools. The draft explained that “Virginia’s vision for SEL is intended to center equity in this work.” SEL Draft at 7. It reiterates this with a statement from Superintendent Lane, who explains that through these new standards “Virginia is redesigning our vision for the education of its students by providing equity…”
This new ‘equity’ framework may seem benign at first glance. But when equity is perverted into an agenda that relies on and advances a critical theory framework, it becomes a stalking horse for much more dangerous notions.
Equity, when leveraged this way, becomes a cover for curricular and educational practices that eviscerate guarantees of equal treatment and equal protection under Federal and Commonwealth law.
In short, adopting critical theory into our local public schools poses a variety of legal problems which all underline one central truth: both the substance and practice of critical theory presuppose a vision of society fundamentally at odds with long-standing American values and principles. Thus, not only because of the potential for litigation exposure, but more importantly because of its negative impact on our students, the Department should withdraw its statement and adopt a better, more inclusive and respectful approach to education grounded in the values of this nation. Otherwise Liberty Justice Center stands ready to represent any teacher, taxpayer, or student who is compelled to violate their beliefs or endure racial discrimination.
A better path is to remember this truth: “In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American.” Adarand Constructors v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200, 239 (1995) (Scalia, J., concurring).
Very truly yours,
Daniel R. Suhr
Senior Attorney
Liberty Justice Center