On behalf of every man, looking out for every girl, you are the guide and the weight of her world. So fathers be good to your daughters.
John Mayer (from the song Daughters)
You’d think having wives and daughters would temper how a lifelong educator, attorney general, and former president feel about parents confronting a local school board. But not Scott Ziegler, who had a rightly angered dad arrested, Merrick Garland, who equated “domestic terrorism” to rightly raucous parent protests, or Barack Obama, who mocked rightly angered parents for “fake outrage” over a very real crime.
As a son, husband and father, I’m outraged by Ziegler, Garland and Obama, whose politics has them unable to see good parenting, when TV in Virginia shows parents caring enough to confront their children’s educators: a black mom angered by Covid school closures and mask mandates, Latino mom opposed to race-focused curricula, white dad angered by transgender boys competing against his daughter in track, and Asian dad opposed to the removal of honors classes and merit-based admissions.
Above all, I see apolitical fear and loathing triggered by the contents of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report: the “nation’s report card” ranked Virginia students dead last in reading and math skills, and below “basic” standards. The NAEP results are charted below (arrows point to VA) and beg the question: how can any good man fault Virginia parents for their anger
These dismal scores invited the angry chorus, which was further fueled by anti-racist lesson plans, ending merit-based admissions, and pushing pro-transgender policies in Virginia’s public schools. Rather than understanding – and this is a problem nationwide – parents have been met by arrogant and deceitful school boards, which are demonstrably not of the people or for the people. Events in Loudon County, Virginia, should make your blood boil.
Scott Smith is a plumber and father of a 15-year-old girl, living in Loudon County, an affluent suburb of Washington DC. After his daughter was sexually assaulted at school in a GIRLS bathroom by a dress-wearing boy, Smith went to a June school-board meeting in Loudoun County to oppose a board proposal that would allow use of GIRLS and BOYS bathrooms by self-declared transgenders.
When the proposal was made, many parents objected, prompting school-district superintendent Scott Ziegler’s false claims: “We don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our bathrooms. The predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.”
Scott Smith was there to vent his anger about his daughter’s rape and protest the policy. As he tried to speak, he was taunted by “woke” activists before getting into a shouting match with a woman saying she doubted the rape happened. Sadly, speaking up and defending his daughter got Smith arrested and charged with two misdemeanors, vilified by left-leaning media, and fat-shamed on social media.
Prosecutor Buta Biberaj supports “decarceration” of criminals, but pressed to have Smith imprisoned. And, after she was unable to jail Scott, he was released and the truth came out. First, the Daily Wire reported a teenager had been charged in July with sodomizing Smith’s daughter in Stone Bridge High School on 28 May. Then, earlier this week, a chief judge, Pamela Brooks, ruled that teen “guilty,” and news broke Scott Ziegler had lied in the June meeting.
Turns out Ziegler had notified the school board in a confidential email of Smith’s daughter’s sexual assault the day it happened in May, and the board was aware of the attacker’s transfer to another county school, Broad Run High School, where he allegedly assaulted another girl (now confirmed by press reports). Now, parents want Ziegler’s resignation, and Loudon County children have walked out of schools in protest (Friday).
Sadly, Ziegler refuses to resign, claiming he “misunderstood parents” questions in June and apologizing for failing to provide a “safe” environment. But, this travesty doesn’t end with Ziegler.
Three months after Scott’s arrest, Viola Garcia, the president of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), and interim CEO Chip Slaven worked quietly with the White House to craft the September 29 letter that asked the President and DOJ to crack down on “threats of violence” against school-board members. It likened protesting parents to “domestic terrorists” and suggested Patriot Act counter-terror measures be used against them.
In order to prove protesting parents were “the equivalent of a shape of internal terrorism and hate crimes,” Garcia and Slaven cited the arrest of Smith at the Loudoun school-board meeting. Days later, attorney general Merrick Garland directed the FBI to address “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”
Since then, reporters traced Garland’s words back to the Garcia-Slaven letter, and found the NSBA board had neither approved nor been told of the letter. 17 state attorney generals have warned Garland his memo and FBI mandate violate the 1st amendment. 21 state school board associations have disavowed the letter, 4 (LA, MO, OH and PA) have withdrawn from the NSBA, and the NSBA board has apologized for Garcia’s letter, calling her language “extreme.”
Turns out Garland admitted under oath to Congress no “body of evidence” existed showing an uptick in violence against school boards, and Viola Garcia was recently rewarded by Secretary Cardona with a seat on the NAEP board. Armed with this information, Garland should rescind his memo, but he doubled down this week, inciting Senator Cotton (R-AK) to respond, “Thank God you are not on the Supreme Court.”
Harder to forgive is Barack Obama turning this into an “identity politics” campaign opportunity. I get that he’s a former president with a following (and an ego), but what father of two hears allegations of sexual assault and accuses concerned parents of “fake outrage.” His lack of empathy resulted in calls of “clueless” from Virginia parents. His lack of political instincts invited calls of “tone deaf” from Virginia media.
Regardless of political lean, most Virginians considered President Obama a good parent. Now, by mocking concerned parents, he looks like a hypocritical jerk. One parent put it this way: I doubt his outrage would have been “fake” if Sasha’s classmate had been allegedly sodomized, or that he ever worried about Malia’s safety at Sidwell Friends.
The view here is that Ziegler, Garland and Obama have created a path to victory for Republican Glenn Youngkin to become Virginia’s next governor, and for many GOP candidates in the 2022 mid-terms. Democrats started this damned culture war, so it’s good to see parents fighting for their kids to socialize “in school” and feel “good” about their family heritage. Here’s to a Youngkin victory!