At the same time Youngkin was denouncing the requirement for Virginia’s public-school students to wear masks, his children were attending exclusive private schools where masks were required.
Youngkin’s children attend the National Cathedral School and St. Alban’s School, twin private all-girl and all-boy schools in D.C; both schools are under the auspices of the Episcopal Church.
At the same time Youngkin was falsely attacking Virginia’s public schools for teaching “critical race theory”, his children’s schools taught a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) curriculum that consisted of anti-racism teachings and required readings.
DEI has been a priority at National Cathedral for many years. The school has an extensive staff devoted to the initiative, as well as programming that includes diversity forums, an equity board, an intersectionality council, and a student diversity leadership conference. Governor Youngkin served on the Board of Trustees of the schools as the DEI curriculum was developed.
Both schools made time in their schedules for “critical conversations around topics of race, anti-racism, social justice, and inclusion”; added courses such as “Black Lives in Literature” and “Courageous Dialogues”; developed new hiring protocols “as a result of our anti-bias work” and required diversity training for all staff members.
Students’ required reading included: Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism”; “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction”; Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s “Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy and the Rise of Jim Crow”; and Ibram X. Kendi’s “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.”