RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office has deactivated the email address associated with an education tip line he launched after taking office.
Back in January, the Governor’s Office said the email, helpeducation@governor.virginia.gov, was for parents to report violations of his first two Executive Orders, which allow parents to opt their students out of school masking requirements and bans the teaching of “inherently divisive topics” — including critical race theory, which is not currently part of the Virginia Department of Education's curriculum standards.
Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said it was deactivated in September "as it had received little to no volume during that time."
WTVR CBS 6 learned of the deactivation after the Attorney General's office reached a settlement agreement with a variety of media outlets and agreed to send a sample of the emails that came into the tip line.
Problem Solver Melissa Hipolit read through all 350 of them on Thursday, and found many of them were repeat copies of the same email, and a majority of them were from a local special education advocate, Kandise Lucas.
A handful were from a woman who said she was going to use the tip line to send daily praise of various teachers.
However, of the small number from parents and students, they included emails that raised concerns about their school's masking policies.
Some were for masking, others were against masking, and others raised concerns about how their children were treated after they opted to go maskless.
One parent complained about accelerated math options not being offered at their child's school.
Another parent expressed anger after requesting lesson plans for various subjects at their kids' school, and seemingly not getting them.
That parent said "your school and the teachers work for us as parents."
One email author raised concerns about the use of the term "equity" in Chesterfield County Schools.
A high school student in one school division expressed contempt that their teacher taught the book "Beowulf" as "sexist."
One email author expressed concerns about banning the teaching of "critical race theory."
And, another author shared their concerns over a school system teaching about "gender identity."
In a statement, Macaulay Porter said, "we are pleased that the attorney general’s settlement with the representatives of several media outlets preserves the principle that a constituent’s communication with a Governor is protected under the law and exempt from FOIA. The Governor wants constituents to be able to reach out to him without fear that their communications will not be kept confidential."
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
