It's hard to pinpoint when exactly the questions started coming in. Angelyn Nichols, an administrator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, thinks it was sometime in early 2021.
What she does know is that no one really expected them in the first place, and no one expected them to keep coming – week after week, and now, year after year.
That's because the questions involved a decades-old teaching concept many educators thought was settled, uncontroversial territory: the idea that, in order to learn, students need to know how to manage themselves and get along with others.
"Principals were being asked, 'Can you talk to me about how you use social-emotional learning in your school? Are there connections to critical race theory?" says Nichols, who coordinates professional learning for the district. "Families were asking at a PTA meeting. Parents were asking their child's classroom teacher."
But one of the most visible places these concerns emerged was at the school board meetings.
TVNL Comment: Ignorance is taking over all aspects of life in America. This is just one frightening example of such ignorance engendering more ignorance.