Emails demanded from Youngkin's education tip line show COVID mandates big parent concern

 A deal between the office of Virginia GOP Gov. Glen Youngkin and a group of news organizations that demanded to see emails from his administration's education tip line shows Virginians used the setup to submit concerns about such issues as curriculum, remote learning, books, mask policies and teacher salaries.

The group filed a suit in April alleging Youngkin was violating the public records law. The sides reached a settlement agreement last month in which the state's Education Department produced about 350 documents including emails sent to the tip line.

The majority of emails expressed anger or frustration with teachers, administrators and school policies, particularly with COVID-19 protocols, according to the Associated Press, which was among the news organization involved in the suit.

However, the wire service did not disclose its involvement in the suit in a story in published Thursday about the emails. 

A parent wrote to the principal of her child’s school, copying in the tip line address, asking her to provide lesson plans and lesson objective sheets from her child’s 7th-grade teachers. The parent reportedly wanted to ensure their child wasn’t being taught "divisive concepts ... with overly-sexualized lesson content.”

Youngkin, who won the governor on a campaign that focused in part on the promises to give parents input into their children’s curriculums, and more transparency from school administrators, introduced the tip line soon after he was inaugurated in January.

The setup was criticized some critics as divisive, authoritarian and unfairly targeting educators, the wire service also reports.