The School Culture Wars: ‘You Have Brought Division to Us’

From mask mandates to critical race theory and gender identity, educators are besieged. “You are just trying to keep everything from collapsing,” one official said.

July and August are supposed to be the quietest months of the school year. But not this time. In Williamson County, Tenn., protesters outside a packed, hourslong school board meeting last week shouted, “No more masks, no more masks.” In Loudoun County, Va., a debate over transgender rights brought raucous crowds to school board meetings this summer, culminating last week with dueling parking lot rallies. The board approved a policy that allows transgender students to join sports teams that match their gender identity and requires teachers to use transgender students’ pronouns.