The Virginia Board of Education has postponed a review of new history and social science standards proposed by Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration to January after a nearly eight-hour meeting on Thursday.

The Board directed Superintendent Gillian Barrow to revise the latest standards, which were finalized on November 10, to include content from previous drafts introduced in August. Staff were also instructed to incorporate public feedback and create a “crosswalk” document comparing the drafts, correcting all errors, omissions and inaccuracies.

“Right now, we are so far removed from our established processes that, frankly as a board, I fear we are lost in terms of dictating what is happening. said Daniel Gecker, Managing Director. , former Governor Terry McAuliffe’s appointee.

Amid hours of criticism, dozens of speakers urged school boards to vote against the Youngkin administration’s new historical standards. Some called on the board to adopt a draft submitted in August, based on two years of public input from museums, organizations, parents and staff.

Former Governor Ralph Northam’s appointee, Ann Holton, said the November draft was a “disaster.”

She singled out a preface to the new draft stating that the criteria “seek to restore excellence, curiosity and excitement.”

“Over the past two years, I have seen the work put into this document by hundreds of historians, educators, DOE staff, and others, and I am absolutely certain that this was not intentional. I hope it wasn’t intentional, but it’s disrespectful to them to say, ‘We need to restore excellence,'” Holton said. We have excellence and we are trying to make it even better.”

Mr. Barrow previously urged the Board to delay its initial review of the August draft to give it extra time to correct errors, reorder the guidance and allow additional experts to participate. but faced criticism on a variety of issues, including references to indigenous peoples as immigrants. .

“I am not an immigrant,” the speaker said during a public comment period.

Balow apologized for the error in front of members of the media.

Several other parts of the Nov. 10 draft that sparked widespread criticism, such as the exclusion of Martin Luther King Jr. and Juneteenth from the base standard, were quietly amended before Thursday’s meeting. It was

Balow sought to allay some commenters’ concerns about subjects and ideas left out of the standard by noting that many aspects have moved into the curriculum framework.

“A standard document is a broad set of learning objectives for what students should be able to learn and demonstrate,” says Balow. “And the curriculum is the steps to actually get there. [teacher] Teach.

Balow said the framework, whose new version has not yet been published, was split from the standard because the combined documentation led to “vague and confusing information that the general public cannot access.”

The superintendent said the November standards will focus on the treatment of slavery, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, the civil rights movement, and the impact of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on other states. provided several improvements over the draft. Country.