EdNews Virginia | March 21, 2026
ARLINGTON, VA — As Northern Virginia remains the focus of national debates over education, Advocates Protecting Children (APC) attended the March 7 school choice event to equip traditional-minded families with a toolkit for the modern world.
Staffed by co-founder Maria Keffler — an Arlington-based author with a background in educational psychology — APC’s informational table included literature geared toward navigating the challenging issues families often contend with today.
Raising Kids With Confidence
In recent years, Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun have drawn intense controversy over changes in Family Life Education and overall school culture that many have found jarring. For local families, these ideologically-driven shifts have often resulted in a fundamental tension between the classroom and the home.
APC’s mission is to bridge that divide by re-centering the role of family in a child’s life. On March 7, Keffler shared her most recent work, Time-Tested Parenting, which offers strategies for raising kids with confidence in a hostile cultural environment. She also sold copies of Desist, Detrans & Detox, written for families managing the challenges of gender ideology.
The Need for a Moral Foundation
During the March 7 roundtable, Keffler drew on her 20-plus years in education to address the root cause of the friction currently felt in Virginia districts: the lack of a shared philosophical center in the classroom.
“Without an agreed-upon moral foundation, everybody becomes the high priest of their own religion,” Keffler said.
Her remarks highlighted a central driver of today’s “Parent Revolution” — the desire for more wholesome learning environments that respect family values while offering a stable foundation for growth.
Community-Focused Resources
Beyond its literature for individuals, APC offers the God Created Them Male & Female curriculum. Designed for faith-based settings and youth groups, the program strongly affirms biological reality while fostering a sense of comfort and security in kids’ own bodies.
Why School Choice Matters
The presence of APC on March 7 illustrates why educational freedom has become a “need,” not just a “want,” for so many Virginia families. The movement is no longer just about core academic issues; it’s increasingly about the right of families to choose schools that reinforce, rather than undermine, their kids’ moral welfare.