Glenn Youngkin’s First Day
Glenn Youngkin was sworn in as governor over the weekend, and right away he signed nine executive orders. Number one is entitled “Ending the Use of Inherently Divisive Concepts, Including Critical Race Theory, and Restoring Excellence in K-12 Education in the Commonwealth.” Though educators say that critical race theory, an advanced conceptual framework for discussing the interactions between race and law, is not part of the curriculum in K-12 classrooms anywhere in Virginia, Youngkin used the term as a bogeyman throughout his campaign.
“Political indoctrination has no place in our classrooms,” reads the executive order in which a politician attempts to dictate what can and cannot be taught in Virginia’s classrooms.
Youngkin’s second executive order states that “parents should have the ability to decide whether their child should wear masks for the duration of the school day.” Already, the order has drawn pushback from school districts around the state, including here in Charlottesville. On Monday morning, both Charlottesville and Albemarle public schools released statements confirming that the districts will keep mask mandates in place. “We are following Virginia Senate Bill 1303, which requires schools to follow the mitigation recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ‘to the maximum extent practicable,’” reads the Charlottesville City Schools bulletin.
Below is a brief summary of the Youngkin administration’s nine first-day executive orders. Opponents of the Republican have questioned whether all of these edicts will stand up to greater legal scrutiny in the coming weeks.
EO 1: Directs the state superintendent of public instruction to remove “inherently divisive concepts” from school curriculums.
EO 2: Allows parents to determine whether their children wear masks in school.
EO 3: Adds five new members to the Parole Board, which had become more lenient during the Northam administration, and orders a review of the board by the attorney general.
EO 4: Orders an attorney general investigation into sexual assault at Loudoun County Public Schools.
EO 5: Creates a chief transportation officer to review the performance of the DMV and the Virginia Employment Commission.
EO 6: Orders a review of state-mandated COVID safety practices for businesses.
EO 7: Creates a commission to fight human trafficking, through increased enforcement and penalties for perpetrators.
EO 8: Creates a commission of governor appointees “to study antisemitism in the Commonwealth, propose actions to combat antisemitism and reduce the number of antisemitic incidents.”
EO 9: Ends Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an 11-state cooperative program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In brief
Provost off to Penn
UVA Provost Liz Magill is leaving for a job as the next president of the University of Pennsylvania. Magill has headed UVA’s academics since 2019, after serving as the dean of Stanford Law and a UVA School of Law professor. She starts her new job on June 1, replacing outgoing Penn President Amy Gutmann, who headed the Ivy League university for 17 years. Ian Baucom, currently the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be UVA’s next provost.
Fool me once
The winter storm earlier this month left thousands of area residents without power for as many as five or six days. Naturally, news of a second snowfall found central Virginians checking the batteries in their flashlights and in some cases preemptively booking hotel rooms. Though some snow fell, real disaster never struck—on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the snow began to come down, PowerOutage.US reported just 12 Dominion Energy customers without power in Charlottesville and Albemarle combined.
Kessler won’t go away
Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler has filed a motion challenging the decision in Sines v. Kessler, a month-long trial that late last year determined he owed $500,000 in punitive damages for his role in setting up the deadly 2017 rally. James Kolenich, attorney for Kessler, argued that the damages were “unconstitutionally excessive,” reports The Daily Progress.
Former mayor is anti-snow day
When Charlottesville City Schools announced a snow day on Tuesday, former mayor Mike Signer took to Twitter to call for remote instruction during inclement weather. “Gov’ts largest agency is dark. While other systems have more progressive snow day policies,” the current WillowTree exec wrote. Our 2 cents? Get out there and make a snowman, Mike. Live a little.