News/Commentary

‘I’m not going away’: Gov Youngkin promises to investigate Virginia schools’ ‘heinous cover-ups’

January 4, 2023 | | Print Article

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Tuesday that he plans to hold state school boards accountable for scandals involving the cover-up of sexual assaults and the withholding of merit-based awards for students so others wouldn’t get their feelings hurt.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Youngkin bluntly accused the Loudoun County Public Schools of sweeping sexual assaults under the rug, telling Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he intends to shine a bright light on the “heinous cover-ups.”

“I ordered this investigation on day one of our administration and our Attorney Gen. Jason Miyares went to work,” Youngkin commented.

“The Democrats immediately condemned it, saying it’s ‘all political’ when the reality was that the Loudoun County School Board had, in fact, worked to cover this up. These poor young women should’ve never been assaulted, and the superintendent has been fired appropriately and indicted…” he continued.

One of the schools at the top of Youngkin’s to-do list is Fairfax County’s prestigious Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology. The school outrageously failed to notify students of national merit awards until after important college scholarship deadlines had passed.

The Commended Student Awards are given by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to recognize top-performing high school students nationwide.

Youngkin is calling on Attorney General Miyares to open an investigation into the school’s “equity policy” that was allegedly behind the egregious slight, He told Carlson that the school’s “crazy behavior” is not consistent with Virginian or American values.

“We had students who had achieved a real accolade – to be a National Merit Scholar – and they weren’t told because they didn’t want to make the other students feel bad,” the governor angrily noted.

“We need to get to the bottom of what appears to be an egregious, deliberate attempt to disadvantage high-performing students at one of the best schools in the country,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Parents and students deserve answers and Attorney General Miyares will initiate a full investigation. I believe this failure may have caused material harm to those students and their parents, and that this failure may have violated the Virginia Human Rights Act.”

“When you have a superintendent who expresses a desire that all students will have equal outcomes, this is the kind of crazy behavior you get from principals and administrators… we’re going to go to work to make sure we understand all the facts here,” he vowed.

“Since day one, we the parents have identified clearly that this is a war on merit,” stated Asra Nomani, according to ABC8 News. She is a journalist, activist, and former Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology parent who broke the story about the delayed notifications.

Miyares is being tasked with investigating possible federal and state civil rights violations at the school. Youngkin stated that the flaws in the state’s school districts and overall education system are a result of eight years of Democratic leadership and a reluctance to hold school boards accountable for their actions.

“We’re holding them accountable,” Youngkin declared. “It’s almost as if they thought I might go away, but I’m not going away.”

Youngkin asserted earlier in the segment that Virginia intends to “be at ground zero” concerning parental rights and encouraging parents to be active in their children’s lives.

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles