Ahead of the 2021 Virginia governor’s race, Democratic Virginia House of Delegates candidate Jessica Anderson made a video critical of parents
After an 18-month-old video resurfaced of a Democratic Virginia House of Delegates candidate saying parents should not dictate what their children learn in schools, the politician doubled down, reinforcing her previous sentiments.
Prior to the 2021 Virginia governor’s race, Jessica Anderson made a video about “some of the parents that live in Virginia” saying that they should “not be dictating what [their] daughter and son’s curriculums look like.” On Thursday, Anderson posted a response to the 2021 video, saying she still stands by her previous statements and that while she advocates for parents “asking questions” they have “no business writing curriculum.” (RELATED: Biden Says ‘There’s No Such Thing As Someone Else’s Child’ While Honoring National Teacher Of The Year)
“I advocate for families being involved in their student’s education, every day,” Anderson said in her Thursday video. “And despite me working in the front office of a school for the last five years and having a front-seat view of how education is functioning, I realize I am not intellectually sound to be writing the curriculum that is taught to my children. Now, I absolutely support myself and other parents being involved, asking about books, asking about the curriculum, having parent-teacher conferences, attending PTA meetings, going to the school board meetings. This is important, I want you to take an active role in your child’s education, but again, you shouldn’t be writing the curriculum, and that’s what the video was about.”
Anderson criticized Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin for sending his kids to a private institution in her Thursday video.
“You know who didn’t have children in public education when I made that video and still doesn’t to this day? That would be Gov. Glenn Youngkin,” Anderson said. “See, if he tanks our public education system, defunds it, forces teachers out of the field, it doesn’t hurt him and his family because they are safely tucked away at a private institution. So he has no vested interest in our public education system being successful. Which is why I made this video, because I am clearly pointing out that despite his language about caring about families and public schools, he doesn’t.”
Upon taking office in January 2022, Youngkin issued an executive order banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) from the state’s schools. In September 2022, the Youngkin administration proposed an education policy that would require educators to use student pronouns that correspond with the sex on their official records, unless given parental consent to do otherwise.
The proposed education policy would additionally require students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their biological sex rather than their gender identity.
“Yet again, left liberal progressives are making it clear that they don’t want parents to have a say in their child’s education. … Virginians across the Commonwealth continue to reject candidates that seek to shut parents out, indoctrinate our kids, and lower expectations of our students,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve seen some of the parents that live in Virginia,” Anderson said in a 2021 video posted to Twitter on Thursday. “You should not … be dictating what your daughter and son’s curriculums look like. If you want to do that, there is a thing called homeschool. Indoctrinate them there but not in my kids’ public schools.”
Anderson told the DCNF she “absolutely” believes “we should be able to question our students’ education, push back if necessary, and have an active role in the education process.”
“My point with those videos, then and now, has been and will always be, we can’t let singular parents dictate the entire structure of the curricula, that all students are being taught.”
Throughout the country, parents are pushing to have a say in their child’s education; parents protested a Maryland school board that reversed its policy and refused to let children be opted out of lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation. In Florida, a school district canceled a survey that asked 10-year-olds about their sexual activity after parents brought it to the administration’s attention.
This article has been updated with comment from Jessica Anderson and the office of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
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