C4 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022BY ERICH HECKEL
AND SAMANTHA AVERETTWhat does it mean, as a teacher,
to love your students?
It means you are often at
school early or late to set up,
work with students, make phone calls,
grade papers, create lesson plans, make
copies for the lesson and engage in a host
of other activities that you could not fit
into your regular e ight hours. It means
you check in on students when they are
absent, sick, missing or seem upset, or just
need a little extra attention. It means you
listen to problems, concerns and celebra-
tions. It means you write recommenda-
tions and nurture their hopes and dreams
as if they were your own. It means youspend time advancing your knowledge
and perfecting your craft so you can be
better, more knowledgeable and diverse
in your instruction.
You do all those things and more so you
can be a better person and help your
students make it to the finish line.
Unfortunately, this year, staff at many
DCPS high schools will not be able to be
there for their students on graduation day.
Like many districts in the area, DCPS has
allowed schools to opt into centralized
graduation sites and ceremonies where
DCPS covers the costs of graduation and
sets the graduation schedule; this year,
most graduations will occur at the Enter-
tainment and Sports Arena in Southeast.
Unlike most districts in the area that have
centralized graduation planning, DCPS isnot suspending classes for schools that
have daytime graduations that run concur-
rently with the school day. This effectively
means that staff members at schools are
not easily able to attend graduation be-
cause there are still students in the school
building.
To have individuals who were not there
on the journey in the same manner make a
decision to exclude you from the finish
line is heartbreaking.
DCPS’s vision statement is that “every
student feels loved, challenged, and pre-
pared to positively influence society and
thrive in life.” There is a reason DCPS
begins its vision for schools with the word
“love.” Anyone who works in a school
building knows that relationships and love
are the cornerstones of a good education.The action of limiting the engagement
of the community, the village and the
support system from the celebration dis-
honors the ceremony and the culture of
love that we have developed. We all re-
member our graduation days from high
school, college and graduate school.
Those moments are memorable because
as we crossed the stage, we were able to
look to our teachers, support systems,
professors and advisers who helped us
along the way. We all remember taking
pictures with those teachers, supporters
and advisers after the ceremony, in the
parking lot, in lobbies and outside of the
venue. We introduced those supporters,
teachers and advisers to our family mem-
bers who all embraced and beamed with
pride at that moment and that day.So, to take all those memories away for
D.C. Public Schools students who have
experienced so much loss physically and
emotionally in the past two years is un-
thinkable and unconscionable.
It’s not too late to correct this for the
graduations that will happen this month.
DCPS still has time to suspend classes on
graduation days so that classmates, facul-
ty members and staff — students’ support
systems — can stand in the space and
celebrate the journey. In this way, schools
can live up to the DCPS vision by making
sure that, on the most important day of
their high school careers, every student
feels loved.The writers a re teachers at Theodore
Roosevelt High School in D.C.D.C. is wrongly excluding teachers from graduationBY BUTA BIBERAJI
n November 2019, the voters of Loudoun
County made history, choosing a new path
for a safer, fairer justice system. The voters
gave me the most votes ever for a common-
wealth’s attorney, electing the first immigrant,
the first woman and first Muslim American as
Loudoun’s top prosecutor.
Not surprisingly, the choice made by Loudoun
County voters left some outside special interests
unhappy.
In July, a Fairfax County-based right-wing
group made the trip west to Leesburg to an-
nounce a recall campaign against me, and began
gathering signatures for that effort. The next
month, a different group, backed by national
Republican operatives and special-interest
money, announced in the New York Times that it
would attempt to recall me.
Fast-forward 11 months, and these operatives
still could not get Loudoun to fall victim to their
antics. Three months ago came a third recall
attempt, as the two groups came together to
announce they were joining forces in an attempt
to meet the signature threshold by this summer.
This coordinated attempt to undo the will of
the voters should outrage every Virginian com-
mitted to democracy and fairness. It is time for
legislators in Richmond to reform the recall
process. It has no deadline for signatures and
enables year-long campaigns of political
s henanigans disguised as “signature gathering.”
This recall attempt is intended to intimidate
me and prevent me from doing the job Loudoun
County voters elected me to do. My promise to
the good people of Loudoun County is that I will
never be intimidated by a bunch of outside
political operatives who don’t represent our
community.
And let’s face it: This is not the only attempt I
have seen attempting to undermine my work.
Since being elected, I have faced numerous
death threats as well as threats from the attor-
ney general to illegally usurp local power out
from under me and deny Loudoun County
residents the representation for which they
voted. An ill-advised, politically charged at-
tempt to recall my position only adds to the list
of unsuccessful attempts to prevent the work
that the people of Loudoun County elected me to
do.
It is time to tone down the rhetoric and focus
on what matters to Loudoun residents: a safer,
fairer justice system. While these outside groups
play political games, I have been hard at work to
serve the people of this county.
For example, over my first year in office,
serious crime decreased by 11 percent in Lou-
doun County, even as the crime rate rose in the
region overall. This includes a drop in rape,
robbery and aggravated assault. For more than
two years, my team in the Commonwealth’s
Attorney’s Office has delivered on the promise of
a safer and fairer community that saves taxpayer
dollars. We have additionally increased protec-
tions for victims of domestic violence, increas-
ing the number of Special Victims Unit attor-
neys handling domestic violence cases from two
to five, and nearly doubled the number of victim
witness managers. We received a competitive
$330,000 grant from the Justice Department
that we’ve deployed to increase education and
prevention of sexual assault offenses. And we
redirected the use of pretrial incarceration away
from nonviolent, low-level offenders, reducing
the daily jail population from 425 in 2020 to
approximately 250 in 2022. This will save Lou-
doun residents millions of dollars every year.
In short, we have built a safer community
with less violent crime and more support for
victims, and have saved millions in taxpayer
dollars. That’s the change that a record number
of Loudoun County voters chose in 2019. And
that’s what we’ve been delivering — and will
continue to deliver. It’s time for outside groups
to end the political shenanigans so we can all
focus on the work ahead.The writer is the Loudoun County commonwealth’s
attorney.The endless,pointless recallsin Virginiam ust stopCounty roads. As one of those 175 (and
someone who has pushed for pedestri-
an-friendly infrastructure), I can attest
to the concerns walkers have about
road safety in downtown Bethesda.
The projects move us toward achiev-
ing the county’s climate action goals.
Shifting people from passenger vehi-
cles to active transportation options
will directly lead to reduced carbon
emissions. The CCT extension will con-
nect existing active transportation net-
works in our area, such as the Rock
Creek Trail and the Metropolitan
Branch Trail. This will achieve the
climate action goal of integrating park
trails into the county’s transportation
system and also realizing the Bicycle
Master Plan. Moreover, these CCT in-
vestments align with the downtown
Silver Spring plan to improve the
amount and quality of parks and open
spaces as well as encourage car-free
options countering environmental
concerns.The projects move us toward transit
equity and accessibility. Extending the
CCT will allow residents of eastern
Montgomery County to walk, run or
cycle to Bethesda, Georgetown and
beyond. This racially and socioeconom-
ically diverse area of the county is one
that, after being overlooked in the past,
deserves enhanced trail connections to
address large blocks, difficult topogra-
phy, and other barriers limiting pedes-
trian and cyclist access. The 2017 plan
for Greater Lyttonsville, a community
that would benefit from trail comple-
tion, calls for “trails and open spaces
that could be expanded with new
greenways and civic greens to benefit
more residents,” which promotes and
encourages physical activity. Consider
how to commute from here to Bethesda
on foot or two wheels now. The most
direct route is East-West Highway, with
very limited alternate routes that are
not sufficient, safe or appropriate for
everyone. Perhaps you are an olderperson, a child or someone like me with
a disability. How would you do it?
The county is also serious about
transit equity connecting communi-
ties. In its application seeking federal
RAISE grants, it argues the tunnel and
extension provide a “high quality and
safe bike, pedestrian and micromobili-
ty connection between a Historically
Disadvantaged Community and Equity
Emphasis Areas elsewhere in Mont-
gomery County and major job centers.”
The requested $25 million in federal
funds would help achieve these goals.
We recognize that with many com-
peting priorities, sustaining commit-
ment and appropriating funds for
these projects will be a perennial chal-
lenge. Residents’ support is crucial to
help us continue preserving, protecting
and improving CCT safety, equity and
access.The writer is a volunteer board member of
the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail.WRITE FOR US
Local Opinions, a place for commentary about
where we live, is looking for submissions of 500
to 700 words on timely local topics. Submissions
must include name, email address, street
address and phone number, and they will be
edited for brevity and clarity. To submit your
article, please email
[email protected].BY DAVID KOSUB“Ding, ding, ding” could be
heard as the Coalition for
the Capital Crescent Trail
handed out free bells re-
cently at Bike to Work Day in Bethesda.
Our nonprofit fosters community and
advocates for the nearby Capital Cres-
cent Trail (CCT). Trail users shared
thoughts with us on conditions, acces-
sibility and electric bikes, known as
e-bikes, but foremost were the Wiscon-
sin Avenue tunnel and Silver Spring
extension.
The CCT is one of the most popular,
widely used and successful trails in the
D.C. area. Upward of 1 million people
use the trail for recreation and com-
muting between Georgetown, Bethes-
da and Silver Spring (albeit with a
circuitous detoured route), with easy
access to Arlington. If the tunnel under
Wisconsin Avenue and the trail exten-
sion to Silver Spring are completed,
even more people could benefit from
the trail.
The fates of these projects are inti-
mately linked to the Purple Line. A
tunnel did exist previously allowing
safe passage under Wisconsin Avenue,
but this changed in 2017 as part of
light-rail construction. Now, the tunnel
is devoted exclusively to light rail, and a
new short tunnel for others has an
uncertain future (especially as costs
climbed to more than $50 million). The
developers and county did promise
CCT users a new, paved extension from
Bethesda to Silver Spring. But Purple
Line delays pushed completion of the
extension to at least 2026. And when
this issue was raised at the Purple Line
open house, I was dismayed to hear
there is limited, if any, thought about
the trail’s extension until trains are
tested.
We echo the sentiments calling for
the extension to be prioritized and the
tunnel to be funded and completed. We
should all move together in supporting
this plan, and here is why.
The projects move us toward Mont-
gomery County’s Vision Zero goal of no
pedestrian traffic fatalities. With the
tunnel closed, pedestrians, runners
and cyclists must navigate through
heavily congested downtown Bethesda
streets, potentially at risk for vehicular
accidents. With the tunnel completed,
trail commuters to and from down-
town Bethesda, Metro and the Purple
Line will have a safe, fast and reliable
route away from congested streets.
This year has seen at least 175 pedestri-
ans and bicyclists hit on MontgomeryMoving together on the Capital Crescent TrailJAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST
The Capital Crescent Trail in September 2017 between Bethesda and Silver Spring.Local OpinionsWASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCALOPINIONS. [email protected]BY BECKY DUMMERMUTH
AND ADAM MACLEODWe Americans have histori-
cally held the right to free
speech dear. We call it to
mind often and pride our-
selves in its robust protections. Few of
us ever think of its companion: the
right to silence. But, as Peter Vlaming
learned, the right to silence is just as
critical to freedom as its noisier
c ounterpart.
Vlaming was a well-loved French
teacher at West Point High School in
West Point, Va. When a transgender
student started identifying as male,
Vlaming used the student’s newly cho-
sen name. But, given his religious
convictions, he avoided either male or
female pronouns in class. Eventually,
the superintendent said Vlaming could
teach only if he would use the student’s
preferred pronouns. Unwilling to com-
promise his beliefs, Vlaming was fired
— not for what he said but for what he
didn’t say.
Claiming, among other things, viola-
tions of his rights to free speech and
freedom of religion under the Virginia
Constitution, Vlaming sued the school
district. After he lost in the trial court,
the Virginia Supreme Court agreed to
hear his appeal. Recently, First Liberty
Institute submitted a friend-of-court
brief on behalf of the Center for
Religion, Culture and Democracy and
18 scholars. The brief argues that theright to silence is fundamental to our
legal system and promotes freedom of
expression and freedom of religion.
One of the most iconic free-speech
cases, 1943’s West Virginia v. Barnette ,
involved school officials compelling
students to recite the Pledge of Alle-
giance. In upholding the right of the
students to remain silent, Justice
R obert H. Jackson eloquently stated,
“If there is any fixed star in our
constitutional constellation, it is that
no official, high or petty, can prescribe
what shall be orthodox in matters of
politics, nationalism, religion, or other
matters of opinion, or force citizens to
confess by word their faith therein.”
This right to silence undergirds not
only the First Amendment’s protection
against compelled speech but many
other rights as well.
Sometimes, the right to silence is
absolute. Examples include the right
against self-incrimination, testimonial
privileges for spouses and clergy, and
the freedom of the press not to disclose
sources.In other instances, the liberty of
silence appears as the absence of a duty
to speak. Think of the doctrine of
caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”),
which provides that a property owner
has no general duty to disclose the
condition of a property to a potential
buyer.
Finally, in some contexts, the law
even recognizes the creation of legal
obligations by silence, for example,
when someone opens his property as a
public accommodation, accepts ten-
dered goods or acts in a way that
implies the authority of another.
Often, the right to silence is rooted
in a concern for the integrity of con-
science, not wanting a person to have
to choose among betraying their
r eligious convictions, speaking false-
hoods or facing sanctions. The right to
silence also protects the right of
the dissenter and nonconformists be-
cause, without the right to silence, a
tyrannical government can crush all
opposition. It also undergirds the
p resumption of innocence, religiousliberty and expectations of privacy.
When in doubt, the law privileges
silence. It takes particular pains to
avoid coercing or motivating people to
communicate propositions they do not
believe to be true. The law frees people
to choose between speech and silence
to save them from the temptation of
choosing between truth and falsehood.
Empowering government-run
school officials to compel a teacher to
use particular pronouns would be
inconsistent with Virginia’s long tradi-
tion of civil liberty. Indeed, it would be
far more consistent with the authori-
tarian zeal of the Star Chamber and the
Puritans who coerced public confes-
sions of alleged spiritual offenses in the
16th century.
Vlaming is not facing imprison-
ment, torture or death, as did those
who refused to speak in medieval
times. But he faces a school district
that seems equally as determined to
crush what it deems to be heresy.
Today, many face the threat of losing
their careers and professional
r eputations for refusing to parrot the
popular orthodoxy. The right to silence
is capable of protecting Americans
from these threats, just as it has
protected minority views and opinions
for centuries.Becky Dummermuth is counsel for First
Liberty Institute. Adam MacLeod is a
research fellow at the Center for Religion,
Culture and Democracy.A test in Virginia of the right to remain silentOften, the right to silence is rooted in a concern for theintegrity of conscience, not wanting a person to haveto choose among betraying their religious convictions,speaking falsehood or facing sanctions.