Oppose Fairfax County Public Schools Change to Controversial Issues Policy, Hiring of Consultant and Plan to Bring Critical Race Theory to Students

6/1/21 UPDATE: This campaign has closed. 207 Fairfax County residents submitted comments to the FCPS board & officials. Thank you to everyone who participated!

On May 6, 2021, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand shocked local parents and community members by sending out a biased and unscientific sham of a survey, stating that he plans to issue a new “Anti-Racism, Anti-Bias Curriculum Policy” and revise the “Controversial Issues Policy” that makes certain that teachers are fair and impartial when they discuss controversial issues in the classroom. 

The goal of the survey was predetermined. Many parents have refused to complete the survey in protest. The survey was co-written by the high-priced Leadership Academy, a New York-based consulting company with whom Fairfax County inked a four-year contract on March 11, 2021. Parents Defending Education has learned through a Freedom of Information Act request that Fairfax County paid Leadership Academy $49,600 to do the survey. The survey and the contract are infused with the controversial and divisive ideology of critical race theory. There is no place for respondents to say that they reject this scheme.

Parents Defending Education is supporting local parents and community members in a campaign to express their views to school board members and school officials. They have created a new Parents Defending Education portal through which parents and community can send their messages of protest to school board members and school officials.

For additional information, read our reports in Newsweek and Real Clear Education.

Parents and community members demand three actions: 

• Fairfax County must keep the current Controversial Issues Policy. It protects children from indoctrination and biased teaching regarding topics that are foreseeably controversial and about which students have differing opinions. The School Board has not engaged the public in their plan to eliminate this long-standing protection for children. How can a School Board that operates this way be trusted?
• Superintendent Scott Braband must throw out the sham “Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias” survey co-written by a New York-based consulting company with a vested interest in the outcome of the survey. The School Board must direct the development of an independent, legitimate and unbiased survey that seeks authentic parental and community input. Parents and community members should be provided the opportunity to comment on whether topics driven by critical race theory should be embedded in curriculum and the professional development of teachers and staff.
• The Fairfax County School Board owes parents answers. In the midst of a failure to develop a Return to School Plan for all students more than a year after the start of the pandemic, the School Board must explain how the public’s money is now being used to spend on an “Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias” initiative. We need a complete inventory on contracts and the contract bidding process.

The Fairfax County School Board must focus on the needs of our children, focus on academics, and it must be trustworthy in communicating with parents and community members. We must defend our country’s children and their education. Our students deserve better, much better than what Fairfax County Public Schools has planned for them. They deserve high-quality education — not indoctrination.

We must act now to oppose these policy changes.