Tensions Rise in Virginia Schools Over Racial Issues

In January 2022, on his first day in office, Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, showed race antagonists the schoolhouse door.

During the campaign, Youngkin had promised voters he would end what he called the “Inherently Divisive Policies, Programs, Training, and Curricula” centered on race. Conservative parents had been protesting ideologically charged “antiracism” training in schools across the state.

A year later, the conflicts born of “Critical Race Theory” are still playing out in Virginia schools. But it isn’t just students and their parents who have complained about race-based curricula in the Commonwealth. Teachers, school staff, and administrators have been among those made anxious and uncomfortable by programs they perceive as racially divisive.