Schilling: Albemarle schools show bias

A Charlottesville conservative commentator will appear this morning on a Fox News show to discuss what he believes is anti-conservative bias in an Albemarle County middle school classroom.

Rob Schilling, a former city councilor turned talk show host on WINA-AM, said he is slated to appear on “Fox and Friends” at 8:45 a.m. Schilling recently posted a story on his blog and discussed on his talk show what he believes is “a partisan political display” of anti-Republican Party posters arrayed with pro-ecology and “pacifist/peace propaganda” in a Henley Middle School classroom.

School officials who have looked into Schilling’s comments say the bumper stickers and political cartoons in the teacher’s classroom are in keeping with school policy and with state-mandated Standards of Learning for eighth-grade civics classes.

Schilling said a student with a conservative political ideology could feel uncomfortable in the classroom because of several posters supporting “liberal causes” such as fighting world hunger combined with anti-Republican political commentary.

He noted a Bingo-style card featuring Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who ran as the Republican vice presidential candidate with John McCain, in the “free space” position. Instead, the space over Palin was labeled “air space.”

“I’d heard comments about these types of posters in the classroom and I wanted to see for myself,” Schilling said. “Over the years, I’ve become someone parents feel they can trust in addressing this kind of bias. Many [parents] are afraid to confront school officials for liberal displays or ideas because they fear retribution on their children.”

School officials disagree with Schilling’s characterization. They say the materials fit with Standards of Learning for civic classes.

According to state documents, the standards require students to “analyze political cartoons, political advertisements, pictures, and other graphic media” in order to “distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information” and “review information for accuracy, separating fact from opinion.”

They note that the Palin Bingo card was akin to a political cartoon.

“One of the tenets of education is to be able to look at that type of material and determine what’s fact, what’s opinion, what’s political and what’s objective,” said Patrick McLaughlin, Henley’s principal. “The object is to teach kids to analyze speech to determine what’s a factual presentation and what’s not.”

Schilling said the materials violate school policies that promote “an atmosphere of freedom from bias and prejudice” to “form and express opinions on controversial issues without jeopardizing [a student’s] position with the school.”

McLaughlin disagrees. He said administrators have reviewed the poster, the procedures and the policies and determined that no violation has occurred.

Maury Brown, a school district spokeswoman, said the teacher, Margie Shepherd, has more than 30 years of experience and is nationally certified. She said Shepherd also gave students classroom credit recently for attending a largely conservative tax protest called a “tea party” on the Downtown Mall.

Schilling said his invitation to discuss the issue on the Fox News program came from his regular commentary and willingness to check into complaints from conservative residents.

“People in this community recognize that the governments and schools have political ideologies and that makes them hesitant to speak up in protest,” he said. “I’m always trying to bring up things for people to think about, bring things to light, so that people know what’s going on.”