WAVY: Lt. Governor candidate Reid has throwback ideas for schools, daycare

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — School uniforms and using older neighbors for daycare are on the mind of John Reid, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.

He says Virginia classrooms have become too chaotic.

“The teachers no longer rule the school,” Reid said in a Friday morning interview with WAVY. “The principals no longer are in charge. By and large, the kids know that no one can put a hand on them. My friends who’ve been teachers are leaving because they feel physically threatened.I think it’s time to back the teachers up when they discipline students.”

Born and raised in Richmond and a product of Henrico County Schools, Reid likes the idea of universal school uniforms.

“Uniforms, I think, would eliminate a lot of the behavioral problems,” Reid said. “It takes out the fashion show element. It takes out some of the bullying element where rich kids have certain clothes, and kids who don’t have the same means have a different set of clothes.”

Reid has a throwback solution for working parents when it comes to affordable daycare.

“I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and there was a lady down the street who was a little older than my parents who kept four or five kids a couple hours a day,” Reid said. “That’s the solution, rather than funneling money through a government bureaucracy.”

Reid’s stance on transgender sports defies the norms of identity politics.

“There’s this new woke mindset that somehow you can think that you have changed gender,” he said. “As a gay man, it’s a sensitive subject. I’ve made a lot of people mad because I’m not standing up for what’s perceived to be this group of people, but I have to be honest.”