Independent Women’s Network Director Julie Gunlock joined Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech on Fox News’s “The Ben Domenech Podcast” to talk about how parents can win back their children’s education from far-left school boards.
In Virginia, Gunlock said, deep-blue school districts are pushing back on newly-inaugurated Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order allowing parents to choose whether their kids wear masks in school.
“The school district in Alexandria, Virginia, where I live, the superintendent, Greg Hutchings, immediately issued a statement — which apparently is not unusual for this region; I’ve now heard the Arlington superintendent did the same and so did Fairfax County — basically saying, ‘We’re continuing to mask, we are going to require kids to mask,’” Gunlock said. “The interesting thing with the Alexandria school district is it went a little bit further. They are now going to be giving out these N95 masks, which personally I find suffocating, and they’re going to be delivering other masks so kids can double mask. So to a lot of parents that I’ve talked to, this is a new turn.”
“It is a way for this school district and this superintendent to not only, you know, snub and thumb his nose at Youngkin; it is a way to convey to parents that they don’t matter. Don’t even try,” Gunlock continued. “So it is a way to convey to parents that we’re done talking, this is the policy.”
Gunlock also explained her decision to pull her children out of the public schools in Alexandria in favor of private and homeschooling, and she encouraged other parents who feel trapped in school districts that have betrayed them.
“Since many people have been working from home for a long time, this is the time to negotiate that, and if you want to approach homeschooling, this is the time to make that a conversation with your employer,” Gunlock said.
“Examine what your children are learning in the public schools — it’s not just looking at the curriculum, although I do suggest you take a deep dive into the curriculum — but maybe have an outside assessment, maybe ask some questions, really talk to your kids and find out how they’re doing in school,” Gunlock urged. “I think a lot of people would be surprised that it’s not as glowing as maybe some of these public schools would have you believe.”
