Activists and parents with varying priorities gathered for a rally in Leesburg, Va. to chart the movement’s course.
Leesburg, Va. — Glenn Youngkin is Virginia’s governor now, but the parents’ revolt continues.
On Tuesday in Loudoun County, a relatively small group of community members and activists gathered for an “Empower Parents Rally” held by the Herzog Foundation, a charitable organization whose mission is to “catalyze and accelerate the development of quality Christ-centered K–12 education so that families and culture flourish.”
Each of the invited speakers brought their own perspective to the issues that were bubbling under the surface of the American educational system for a long time before Youngkin’s campaign brought them front and center in 2021.
While some, including Ian Prior — a political operative and Loudoun County parent who founded the political action committee Fight for Schools — brought a reformer’s voice to the table, others advocated detachment from the public-school system altogether, a vision more in line with the rally host’s perspective.
Prior took to the podium to decry the behavior of the Loudoun County school board last year, referring to both its mishandling and cover-up of a sexual-assault case, and its derision of conservative community members in a private Facebook group. Last year, Fight for Schools led the charge in gathering the needed signatures to recall most of the board, but Prior arrived at the rally with a message focused on the work yet to be done.
“We had a change in leadership in Richmond across all levels — governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, the House of Delegates — and we’re now starting to see the fruits of that change with somebody that’s actually standing up for parents in Richmond as opposed to standing against parents,” said Prior before acknowledging that “with that, though, there comes a little bit of complacency.”
Prior warned against falling victim to stagnation, emphasizing the “need to continue to dig into what is happening in our school system in school systems across America.” For Prior, the mission is less ideological and more about being responsive to parents’ concerns. He spoke in general terms about corruption, “educational excellence,” and the “glorious cause” of education reform.
Similarly, Brandon Michon, an average Loudoun County father turned viral-video subject — he blasted the Loudoun County school board as “a bunch of cowards” for keeping schools closed during a January 2021 meeting — turned congressional candidate, stayed away from culture-war issues during the rally, speaking instead about the importance of improving literacy and financial literacy, and investing resources in pursuit of those goals rather than in the amorphous idea of “equity.”
Prior and Michon were joined on Tuesday by parents who struck a more combative pose in their comments.
Erin Roselle-Poe, a Loudoun County mother and the cofounder of Army of Parents, railed against “the brainwashing and reprogramming” occurring in public schools, as well as the fact that “children are being told that being a Christian, white male, heterosexual, coming from a home with two parents, even being thin means you’re privileged.”
Roselle-Poe was followed by fellow Army of Parents organizer Elicia Brand, who delivered an impassioned speech comparing the challenges of parents today to that of GIs in the Second World War. “This is our Normandy,” she declared.
“We must be lions,” said Brand, “we must use our faith in God to help our children know that no matter what comes their way, they can do and be anything they want to if they work hard at it. If our schools are not going to provide that opportunity for our kids, we must find alternative solutions.”
Brand is sending her kids to a private Christian school after wrestling with the failures of the public-school system. Defections like hers were a central theme of the evening. The emcee for the event was radio host Chris Stigall, who with his wife is launching a Herzog Foundation–sponsored podcast about moving their children from the public to the private educational sphere.
The varied approaches articulated during the event raised a question: What does the parents’ revolt hope to accomplish?
Is it about building lifeboats for students whose parents want them off of the sinking public school ship? Is is about excising race and gender theory from K-12 public schools? Both, neither, or something else entirely?
But while the rally in Leesburg highlighted many of the divisions in the well-established education reform movement, it also demonstrated that concerned citizens are stepping up to fix what they see as a broken system.
Among the attendees was a Dr. Kari LaBell, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and educator for about a half-century. LaBell retired five years ago after suffering from a heart attack, but has been tutoring ever since. Her experience working one-on-one with students has inspired her to run for the Loudoun County school board, where all of her grandkids graduated from but none of her great-grandchildren are presently enrolled.
“When I was working here, we were considered the finest school system not only in the state of Virginia, but in the United States. We had people from all over the country coming to our school system to see what we were doing and to try to see if they can institute it their own school systems,” remembered LaBell. Now, she says, she fields calls from friends who call the happening there a disgrace.
Even before the publicizing of the aforementioned sexual assault, LaBell had been planning on throwing her hat in the ring.
“I was angry even before that,” she said, citing stories of teachers’ lethargy.
“I worked with this one young lady. I said, ‘so how are things in school?'” ‘Oh, fine.’ ‘Well, what are you doing in English?’ ‘Oh, nothing.’ ‘What are you doing in math?’ Nothing. Every week, it was nothing.”
LaBell emphasized a back-to-basics approach that raises instead of lowering the bar, and expressed her support for free expression and exploration of ideas without “push[ing] pornography.” Of the movement as a whole, she explained “I don’t think of it as a parents’ revolt. I think of it as parents working to try to make change. They have to have a voice.”