This document fails to define cultural competency and provides vague guidance on how to implement this so-called “training” mandate. As a result, you will have some school divisions (like Isle of Wight County) making their own interpretations and going above and beyond any defined requirements by spending hundreds of thousands of our children’s school funding (tax dollars) on critical race based ideological principles. Across Virginia we’ve seen student academic performances decline, yet the VDOE continues to focus on equity and social emotional learning rather than academics. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the root of the problems. Rather than focusing on categorizing and labeling children by their demographics, we should look at ‘how” instruction is being delivered. Is technology helping or hindering student performance? Are we focusing so much on new electronic instructional materials/methods that we’ve forced (some) parents from being involved and removed teachers’ latitude to actually ‘teach’? In other words, do teachers spend more time facilitating digital media and applications that teaching their students academics? Hardcopy text books appear to be in the rear view mirror, but let us not lose focus on academic skills.
Most importantly: keep critical race based equity initiatives out of schools! Equality, not equity!!