Well hey, here’s something. The U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office is investigating the Vermont Agency of Education for violating the rights of students by limiting school districts’ authority to enact public health measures during the Covid-19 epidemic and, in the Office’s words, “discriminating against students with disabilities” who were at heightened risk of serious illness.

Yes, that would be the Agency of Education then helmed by the mask-averse Dan French, labeled in this space as the Inspector Clouseau of the Scott administration. I’d suggest that the feds could have assembled quite the dossier simply by reading this blog, but doubtless their investigation has been more thorough than that. And to judge by the reaction of French’s successor Heather Bouchey, I’m guessing the feds have got the goods. In her reply to the feds’ probe, as reported by VTDigger, she didn’t claim there was no discrimination. She simply said the agency had no intention of discriminating.

“The AOE devoted significant effort throughout its COVID-19 pandemic response to ensure the equal educational access of students with disabilities including students with disabilities who are at an elevated risk of severe illness from COVID-19 exposure. If the AOE erred in its responses, guidance or otherwise, it is eager to address the error and make corrections for the benefit of students.”

That word “if” is the giveaway. Bouchey didn’t defend her agency’s performance; she tried to frame any offense as inadvertent, not intentional. And she laid out a glidepath to future surrender by saying the agency was “eager to address” any errors “and make corrections.” And don’t overlook her emphasis on “equal educational access” rather than, say, the health and safety of students. Gotta keep those disabled kids in class so they get “equal access,” you know.

But in case you needed any more evidence that the agency, under French, went too far in pressuring school districts to moderate their public health measures, let’s take a little walk down Memory Lane.

French, you may recall, began his rise through the ranks in the notoriously mask-averse Canaan school district. He moved up the ladder from teacher to Canaan superintendent before moving on to bigger things. In 2018 he was tapped by Gov. Phil Scott to replace the inconvenient Rebecca Holcombe as education secretary.

One of the low points of French’s undistinguished tenure was an October 2021 visit to his old stomping grounds in Canaan which, at the time, was the only public school district in Vermont without a mask mandate. The meeting was not recorded but, according to an attendee, French did not wear a mask. At the time, Scott was resisting calls for a statewide school mask mandate on the grounds that every district save one was already requiring masks, so why butt in? A maskless French certainly set a sterling example.

That was several weeks after his agency had completely biffed the launch of the “Test to Stay” program in which school personnel were responsible for testing students upon arrival and allowing those testing negative to attend classes. The administration didn’t even try to provide additional help for school districts until November.

French started off 2022 in the same vein. In early January he eased requirements for testing and contact tracing — in the middle of an “unprecedented” surge in Covid-19, but never you mind. Six days after that “unprecedented” story was run by CNN, French decided it was a great time to deep-six his agency’s pandemic policies without having new policies ready to go!

His replacement policy was “Test at Home,” so responsibility shifted to parents. But the Agency didn’t provide enough Covid test kits to implement the policy.

At the same tine, the Agency strongly advised against closing schools no matter how many kids got sick.

A couple months later, the Washington Central school district reimposed a mask mandate after a fresh outbreak of illness, based on guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. French’s response: He strongly urged them to ignore the CDC and drop the mandate.

The following September, French kinda-sorta changed course. He issued “guidance” that made a mockery of the word. As VTDigger reported,

After state officials received “several questions” about safety rules, Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French told superintendents on Sept. 1 that “schools may need to implement masking or other mitigation measures as a reasonable accommodation for students who are medically vulnerable.”

Ooh, we seem to be getting at the heart of the feds’ case against the French regime. As I pointed out at the time,

The agency had been actively discouraging mask mandates for months. Now it realizes, after the school year has begun, that educators have a legal responsibility to ensure free access to public education for all students, and that might be in conflict with a blanket policy against mask mandates.

Yeah, so French was retroactively trying to cover his ass.

That’s the publicly disclosed part of how French’s agency found itself in the feds’ crosshairs. Presumably the feds have assembled a more substantial paper trail. But based on Bouchey’s response and French’s own policy shift in September 2022, he knew then and the agency knows now that it screwed the pooch. All that remains is how closely the feds will hold the agency’s feet to the fire and how hot the fire will be. Mmm, toasty.