Local radio host (and former City Council member) Rob Schilling is patrolling classrooms of 'government schools' once more--now in Albemarle County. 'Patrolling' is used here figuratively--to our knowledge he has not actually been in the classroom of which he complains, and has only photos from the classroom for his leap to denunciation.

A few years ago, he had a problem with a second-grade mural at Charlottesville's Venable School which included a red X through a photo of then-president George W. Bush. “Where I’m from, in L.A., gangs use red X’s to indicate they’re going to kill somebody,” said Schilling. According to a school administrator, Venable tried to get Republican material for their library display, but the party didn’t provide any.

Jeff Rossman, parent of a Venable student, was outraged by what he saw as Schilling's disrespectful behavior. He wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Progress (copied to this website), and went before the City Council complaining of what he saw as a violation of First Amendment rights.

The school took the mural down after Schilling's initial complaint, then thought better of it and remounted it. A City Schools administrator said at the time that it was a student work and not disruptive, and therefore they had decided it complied with policy on displays within the school.

"Sarah Palin Mocked--'Globalist' Indoctrination Promoted"

Now it is Mrs Shepherd's 8th grade Civics students at Henley Middle School who are to be defended from what Schilling sees as the indoctrination of captive students. On his blog Schilling complains that her "classroom is rife with 'ecological,' 'United Nations,' and 'pacifist/peace' propaganda, all posted with no counterbalancing counsel for pupils’ perusal."

The offending materials are bumper stickers on a battered filing cabinet in the classroom. There is also a copy of a 'Sarah Palin Bingo' sheet, which includes, in the free space, a photo of the governor with the caption 'Air Space.' Shepherd tells us that it's "a printout my student teacher put up with [other] political cartoons."

Schilling rounds out his argument thusly:

So, who might (or should) be bothered by this bid to brainwash tomorrow’s adult Americans?

Christian families who teach their child(ren) of man’s God-given dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26) may take great umbrage with Gaia-like intimation in Mrs. Shepherd’s bumper sticker that proclaims “we belong to the earth.”

Patriotic American families who instruct their child(ren) in the Founders’ principles of American sovereignty may dispute the displayed pro-United Nations / One World proselytism as seen in stickers, photographs and posters in Mrs. Shepherd’s classroom.

Those whose families have been liberated by, have served in, or have great reverence for the American military may decidedly dispute the manifestation that “War is not the answer” (because sometimes it is) and the proliferation of pacifist messages in Henley’s classroom number 47.

In a thoughtful and obviously heartfelt response posted to the Schilling blog, a former Henley student writes that "it never felt like she was trying to impress her views on us. It felt like she respected us for having different views....she encouraged us to exercise our right to think and express what we thought without concern about persecution."

Albemarle Schools' policy and state Standards of Learning for civics classes require students to analyze materials to be able to 'distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information.' They are expected to learn to 'separate fact from opinion.' The principal of Henley, Patrick McLaughlin, says that administrators have reviewed the displays in Mrs Shepherds' classroom and that they do not violate these objectives.

A Larger Arena

Schilling was a guest on Fox television this morning to publicize his complaint. The blogosphere (including this site) is lighting up with opinion of all shades. And so, the policy of employing these displays to generate thoughtful distinctions between the relevant and the irrelevant is playing out in a larger arena.

(Dave Sagarin, June 3, 2009)