Chris Lange, FISM News
Progressives aren’t letting up in their aggressive battle against Virginia’s new Republican governor’s efforts to give parents a voice, as they have set to sabotage one of his recent directives.
Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the creation of an email tip line through which parents can report schools and teachers who refuse to abide by his Jan. 15 executive order banning mask requirements for children. Youngkin announced the implementation of the new tip line during a radio interview last week after several schools in the Commonwealth’s most liberal cities refused to lift the mandates.
“It is clear in my mind, and it is clear in so many minds, including all of our advisors and our attorney general, that parents have this fundamental right to make decisions with regards to their children,” Youngkin said during the interview, adding that parents are in the “best position” to make choices regarding their children’s health and well-being.
Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for the governor, said the email address was set up “as a resource for parents, teachers, and students to relay any questions or concerns.” The tip line is also meant to be a place that parents or other concerned citizens can provide tips of schools promoting “divisive practices” or teachers who are “behaving objectionably.”
“We’re asking for folks to send us reports and observations that they have that will help us be aware of things like privilege bingo, be aware of their child being denied their rights that parents have in Virginia. And we’re going to make sure we catalog it all,” said Youngkin.
News of the tip line prompted a flurry of backlash from critics who called on mandate supporters to flood the tip line with spam. Sofia Ongele, a member of progressive-activist TikTok group Gen-Z for Change created a website that automatically generates emails to the address, then embeds an assortment of song lyrics in the email, according to a Washington Examiner report.
FISM previously reported that eight school boards directly defied Youngkin’s executive order leaving the decision to mask children up to parents by sending alerts to parents that masks are still required. Youngkin responded with accusations that school officials continue to ignore parents at their own peril, referring to his surprising upset of gubernatorial rival, Democrat Terry McCauliffe. He further vowed that his administration will “use every resource within the governor’s authority to explore what we can do and will do in order to make sure parents’ rights are protected.”
For the sake of our future generations, we need to recognize the potentially damaging impacts of mask-wearing on some children. Experts suggest masks can hide visual cues, hinder emotion recognition and reduce students’ abilities to hear teachers clearly.https://t.co/fyk5Rl3ezh
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) January 26, 2022
Porter said that “the governor and attorney general are in coordination and are committed to aggressively defending parents’ fundamental right to make decisions with regard to their child’s upbringing, education, and care, as the legal process plays out.”