Rally Message To School Board Members: 'We Are Coming After You'

LEESBURG, VA — A crowd gathered outside the Loudoun County Government Center Monday evening to call on officials to return the county’s school system to in-person instruction five days a week and force teachers back into the classroom.

The rally included parents and Republican political candidates from across the state who accused school officials in Loudoun County of preventing students from getting a proper education by delaying a return to full-time in-person instruction. The rally came a week before Loudoun County Public Schools are scheduled to reopen classrooms to students.

After two months of virtual classes, Loudoun County Public Schools will resume the implementation of its hybrid in-person learning model by Feb. 16, with all grade levels set to be back in the classroom part-time by March 3.

Monday's rally occurred prior to Loudoun County Public Schools officials presenting a budget request to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors later in the evening.

Pete Snyder, a technology entrepreneur and former Fox News contributor who is running for governor as a Republican, issued a warning to school officials in Loudoun County and elsewhere in Northern Virginia who do not approve a return to full-time classroom instruction.

“I have a plan. It’s very simple. Five days a week, every week, with a teacher in the classroom,” Snyder told the crowd.

“The fight is right now,” he said. “We have a message to obstructionist school board members in Loudoun County, in Fairfax County, in Prince William County, all over the commonwealth. If you are standing in the way of our kids getting back into the classroom, we are coming after you.”

Snyder said he and his wife have contributed "six figures" to help fund these "open movements" across the state and is organizing recall campaigns of school board members.

Patti Hidalgo Menders, president of the Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club, said one of her sons, who is in high school, is struggling in school this year. “Six hours in front of the screen? It’s ridiculous," she said. "Our children need to be back in school five days a week. It is imperative.”

Hidalgo Mender faulted Democrats on the Loudoun County School Board for her son’s academic struggles. “I blame leadership at the top. We are controlled by Democrats,” she said. “And we need to make a change. We need to put our kids back in school.”

Russell Laird, a parent of an Arlington Public Schools student, traveled to Leesburg for the event. In his speech, Laird accused his county's school system of conducting a “crazy experiment” by forcing young people into virtual learning “months on end” instead of allowing them to attend school in the classroom over the past 10 months.

Laird has filed a lawsuit against the Arlington School Board and its superintendent on behalf of his daughter, claiming the school district has violated the Virginia State Constitution by not providing in-person learning options to families.

Laird called the Arlington County School Board “cowards” for choosing to hold their meetings virtually during the pandemic and recounted for the crowd how he heckled teachers last November when members of the local teachers' union gathered for a news conference to call for virtual learning as a way to protect themselves from getting COVID-19.

Currently, the Loudoun County School district has 33 staff members quarantining from COVID exposure and 15 active COVID-19 cases among staff members, according to the Loudoun County Public School's website.

The CDC uses core indicators to represent the risk levels of different areas. Loudoun County is currently considered "highest risk" for transmission in schools by two CDC core indicators. The core indicators use the number of new cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period and the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests reported by the area.

Teachers and their unions have been on the receiving end of scathing attacks from parents and politicians. At last week's meeting of the Loudoun County School Board, a parent blamed teachers and the school board for problems facing schoolchildren during the pandemic.

"Blood is dripping from the hands of LEA [Loudoun Education Association President] Sandy Sullivan, these indifferent school board members and the teachers who couldn't care less about the cost of physical isolation to these students," Loudoun County resident Brian Davison said during the public comment period at the Feb. 2 meeting.

Davison attributed student suicides in the current school year to difficulties from virtual learning.

Del. Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), a former Virginia House Speaker who is running for governor, agreed with the other speakers. “We need to open — and this is the key — five days a week right now.”

By waiting any longer to return to in-person instruction, Cox said, the state will be “losing an entire generation.”