Critical Race Theory - Parents fight back

[gwb-trading]

"Equity programs" which divide children on the basis of race in schools are quickly being eliminated after being ruled against in court. Does anyone really think segregating children on the basis of race in school is a good idea?

Massachusetts School Settles Discrimination Suit, Suspends Race-Specific ‘Affinity Groups’
https://www.nationalreview.com/news...-suit-suspends-race-specific-affinity-groups/

Wellesley Public Schools has settled a discrimination lawsuit launched by non-profit Parents Defending Education on behalf of parents in the district, agreeing to end the use of racial “affinity groups” and any school-sponsored activities that exclude students on the basis of race.

In holding three affinity-based group sessions — one for black and brown students, one for Asian American and Pacific Islander students, and a third for the Black, Indigenous, and people of color community — WPS engaged in racial discrimination, the parent coalition alleged. WPS superintendent Dr. David Lussier had also implemented a racially biased process for responding to complaints of discrimination, the plaintiffs alleged.

After the organization requested a preliminary injunction, Lussier revised the procedure in November and then pledged that he would open all affinity-based listening sessions to students of all races beginning in December. Once WPS granted these concessions, the plaintiffs dismissed their prejudice complaint, PDE announced Tuesday. The superintendent also rescinded the bias procedure totally, promising to never reinstate it.

All future advertisements for affinity-based meetings will include a disclaimer declaring that all are welcome: “This event is open to all students regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.”

The Wellesley victory is an example of grassroots parents joining forces with an organization with resources and a platform to expose critical race theory in practice and counter it with legal action. While the plaintiffs were successful in this town, PDE has identified similar”affinity groups” gaining traction in school districts across the country.

For example, Piedmont Unified School District in California, Newton Public Schools in Massachusetts, and Seattle Public Schools in Washington all hosted similar activities as part of an “anti-racist” curriculum in which students were separated by race, PDE reported.

WPS parents initially raised alarms after the school encouraged students and staff to file complaints against one another for telling rude jokes “that mock a protected group,” referring to the “China virus,” and committing micro-aggressions or other “incidents of bias,” National Review previously reported.

The school system had defined an incident of bias as “any biased conduct, speech or expression that has an impact but may not involve criminal action, but demonstrates conscious or unconscious bias that targets individuals or groups that are part of a federally protected class.”

 

[Cuddles]

"Equity programs" which divide children on the basis of race in schools are quickly being eliminated after being ruled against in court. Does anyone really think segregating children on the basis of race in school is a good idea?

Massachusetts School Settles Discrimination Suit, Suspends Race-Specific ‘Affinity Groups’
https://www.nationalreview.com/news...-suit-suspends-race-specific-affinity-groups/

Wellesley Public Schools has settled a discrimination lawsuit launched by non-profit Parents Defending Education on behalf of parents in the district, agreeing to end the use of racial “affinity groups” and any school-sponsored activities that exclude students on the basis of race.

In holding three affinity-based group sessions — one for black and brown students, one for Asian American and Pacific Islander students, and a third for the Black, Indigenous, and people of color community — WPS engaged in racial discrimination, the parent coalition alleged. WPS superintendent Dr. David Lussier had also implemented a racially biased process for responding to complaints of discrimination, the plaintiffs alleged.

After the organization requested a preliminary injunction, Lussier revised the procedure in November and then pledged that he would open all affinity-based listening sessions to students of all races beginning in December. Once WPS granted these concessions, the plaintiffs dismissed their prejudice complaint, PDE announced Tuesday. The superintendent also rescinded the bias procedure totally, promising to never reinstate it.

All future advertisements for affinity-based meetings will include a disclaimer declaring that all are welcome: “This event is open to all students regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.”

The Wellesley victory is an example of grassroots parents joining forces with an organization with resources and a platform to expose critical race theory in practice and counter it with legal action. While the plaintiffs were successful in this town, PDE has identified similar”affinity groups” gaining traction in school districts across the country.

For example, Piedmont Unified School District in California, Newton Public Schools in Massachusetts, and Seattle Public Schools in Washington all hosted similar activities as part of an “anti-racist” curriculum in which students were separated by race, PDE reported.

WPS parents initially raised alarms after the school encouraged students and staff to file complaints against one another for telling rude jokes “that mock a protected group,” referring to the “China virus,” and committing micro-aggressions or other “incidents of bias,” National Review previously reported.

The school system had defined an incident of bias as “any biased conduct, speech or expression that has an impact but may not involve criminal action, but demonstrates conscious or unconscious bias that targets individuals or groups that are part of a federally protected class.”

MAGGATS:. I want to yell at kids "China virus, CCP virus, Wuhan Virus"
Also MAGGATS:. How dare you exclude my kids from Asian counseling programs

Brb, schools sets up counseling program for Asian kids being bullied as a result of the pandemic.

White Karens:. "I DON'T THINK SO!"

Wellesley’s “affinity groups” had held events aimed at specific races. School officials claimed no students or staff were excluded, but the families argued that isn’t what their children were told. The complaint quoted an email where a middle-school teacher said a specific “healing space” was “for our Asian/Asian-American and Students of Color, *not* for students who identify only as White.”

 

[gwb-trading]

Brb, schools sets up counseling program for Asian kids being bullied over bullying as a result of pandemic.

White Karens:. "I DON'T THINK SO!"

Wellesley’s “affinity groups” had held events aimed at specific races. School officials claimed no students or staff were excluded, but the families argued that isn’t what their children were told. The complaint quoted an email where a middle-school teacher said a specific “healing space” was “for our Asian/Asian-American and Students of Color, *not* for students who identify only as White.”

You do realize that separating children on the basis of race at school violates federal law. Even setting up an activity that appears to separate children on the basis of race in regards to its name or purpose violates federal law. This includes any classroom, in-school or extra-curricular activity associated with the school.

Do you really think that segregating children on the basis of race at a K-12 school is a good idea? Do you actually think this aligns with law or common sense?

 

[Cuddles]

You do realize that separating children on the basis of race at school violates federal law. Even setting up an activity that appears to separate children on the basis of race in regards to its name or purpose violates federal law. This includes any classroom, in-school or extra-curricular activity associated with the school.

Do you really think that segregating children on the basis of race at a K-12 school is a good idea? Do you actually think this aligns with law or common sense?

Except the schools were clear it was open to all but they likely settled because a teacher fucked up sending an email saying otherwise. Hell, probably one of these "Parents Defending Education" moles sabotaging shit

 

[gwb-trading]

Except the schools were clear it was open to all but they likely settled because a teacher fucked up sending an email saying otherwise. Hell, probably one of these "Parents Defending Education" moles sabotaging shit

Well according to you hosting the "Confederate Heritage club" is just fine. How about an Aryan club while we are at it. If you allow clubs on the basis of race or interest -- then certainly you would find these acceptable at K-12 schools. Remember the part of federal law about "by name or purpose" with regards with an intent to exclude on the basis of race.

 

[Cuddles]

Well according to you hosting the "Confederate Heritage club" is just fine. How about an Aryan club while we are at it. If you allow clubs on the basis of race or interest -- then certainly you would find these acceptable at K-12 schools. Remember the part of federal law about "by name or purpose" with regards with an intent to exclude on the basis of race.

Oh I'm sorry, were kkk card carrying kids in these schools the targets of bullying, mass shootings, etc... In need of counseling?

Brb, sorry kids, you can't have that Holocaust memorial next week.

 

[El OchoCinco]

It is kind of funny how whites excluded everyone for years and when the excluded look for a safe space.. whitey suddenly gets offended.

I dont know if you should have school services sectioned off for specific races but rather clubs or support groups like in colleges, but I love how racism was ok for so long but now it is horrible because it happens to whitey...

 

[Cuddles]

It is kind of funny how whites excluded everyone for years and when the excluded look for a safe space.. whitey suddenly gets offended.

I dont know if you should have school services sectioned off for specific races but rather clubs or support groups like in colleges, but I love how racism was ok for so long but now it is horrible because it happens to whitey...

Black history month cancelled because big gov is pushing it

 

[Cuddles]

Take heed OP boomer, you're becoming Joe Rogan:

 

[Cuddles]

You better take a look at how the independent voters in Virginia who are parents voted in the recent election -- a huge majority voting for Youngkin. Nearly all of them had previously voted for Biden & Obama. The trend you saw in Virginia will occur in every competitive race in 2022 -- unless Democrats quickly change their tune about CRT in education.

Also, who could've seen this coming?:

the problem is cons are conning other cons of their dollars with non-issue that sells them on private education. Public service sabotage for privatization is a story as old as time. For reference look at DeJoy & USPS

Don't get it twisted, only one side is passing bills to remove history of racism in our public education. It strikes me as sabotage of public education in order to push private education:


https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/09/texas-critical-race-theory-schools-legislation/
Texas Senate bill seeks to strip required lessons on people of color and women from “critical race theory” law
The bill would also remove a requirement to teach that white supremacy is "morally wrong." One Democratic lawmaker said the bill’s attempts could lead to a “frightening dystopian future.”

Texas lawmakers have filed at least three bills targeting how racism, current events and the country’s founding principles are taught in K-12 schools — including a senate bill that would strip out upcoming requirements that students learn white supremacy is “morally wrong” and study particular writings by women and people of color.

Senate Bill 3 features more changes than two House bills that have been filed for the special legislative session that began Thursday. The legislation comes after Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill from this year’s regular legislative session that restricts how current events and America’s history of racism can be taught in Texas schools. It’s been commonly referred to as the “critical race theory” bill, though the term “critical race theory” never appears in it. In signing it, Abbott said “more must be done” to “abolish critical race theory in Texas” and later put the issue on the special session agenda.

Teachers and experts say that critical race theory, an academic framework used to examine structural causes of racial inequity, is not being taught in K-12 schools — and that the phrase is being used as a catch-all for any mention of racism, which is an integral part of teaching history truthfully. Critical race theory itself critiques the focus on individual blame in contemporary discussions of racism, and shifts the focus to legal and social systems that perpetuate inequity.

The law that already passed lists documents, figures and events that must be included in the social studies curriculum. But SB 3, filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes on Friday, strips out most mentions of women and people of color in that section — more than two dozen requirements that include Native American history, work by civil rights activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, historical documents related to the Chicano movement and women’s suffrage, and writings by Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.

It also removes the requirement to teach “the history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong.”

Hughes, a Mineola Republican, did not respond to a request for comment this week. Many of the items his bill would strip were added by House Democrats during the regular legislative session — but were not part of the bill when the Senate originally passed the legislation earlier this year. In his agenda for the special session, Abbott said he wanted legislation that resembled that earlier Senate version.

Keven Ellis, the chair of the State Board of Education, wrote in an email to The Texas Tribune that most of the items in this section of the new law are already included in the state education standards, which are referred to as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. But Ellis said some of the items the new law would require — and that SB 3 seeks to walk back — aren’t currently required in schools.

“Some of the items that are not currently included in our TEKS are the writings of Ona Judge and Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, as well as the Ninth Circuit decision in Mendez v. Westminster,” he wrote.

State Rep. James Talarico, who was a major opponent of the bill already signed into law and had successfully blocked the Senate’s original version of the earlier bill from passing, expressed “dismay” over that version now being revived.

“The amendments the House added were essential to ensure that we were teaching students all of American history — the good, the bad and the ugly,” the Round Rock Democrat said. “They were put in place to ensure that teachers wouldn't be punished for telling their students the truth. And if we were to strip them, I could see teachers across the state of Texas being silenced.”

“It's a frightening dystopian future that starts to come into focus,” he added.

State Rep. Steve Toth, who authored the regular session’s “critical race theory” bill, said lawmakers wanted to strip those provisions because they “wanted the list to be smaller and a little bit more truncated.”

“The mission was to get back to the original list, which was more along the lines of America’s founding documents, and to make it a manageable list,” he said.

He said that the bill presents a “minimum list of things that have to be read,” and it’s not an “exhaustive list.”

“If it's not in the list, it's not like a teacher can't bring it up,” he said.

State Rep. Carl Sherman, another House Democrat who added amendments, said that the removal of people of color amounted to them being “whitewashed from our history.”

“If I had put in an amendment that Sam Houston should be included, I'm sure there would be no opposition to that,” said the DeSoto Democrat.

Hector Bojorquez is the director of operations and educational practice for the Intercultural Development Research Association and a member of the Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition. He said the materials SB 3 seeks to cut could give teachers some protection, and “a sigh of relief that they could address” things like white supremacy explicitly. He said the rest of the bill creates an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, making it harder for teachers to teach about racism truthfully.

“If it’s not explicitly stated that we can talk about [white supremacy] with our students, then we're bound to repeat it, especially when you have too many people out there saying that there is no such thing as white supremacy,” he said.

Even though the bill wouldn’t ban any teachings, specifically omitting writings from and lessons on women and people of color “plainly sends a message” to students, Bojorquez said.

“It basically says, we don't care about you or your histories,” he said. “It tells our students that they're not important, and it sends our teachers even further into uncertainty.”

Meanwhile, the special session’s House Bill 178 walks back a couple of the more controversial aspects of the new law.

The original bill said that social studies teachers can’t “be compelled” to discuss “current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs.” It says if they do, they need to “explore the topic from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.”

HB 178 would let districts require teachers to discuss current events. But it would leave in place the requirement that no one perspective be given “deference.”

It also expands that requirement from social studies teachers to all instructors. And HB 178 would also extend to all K-12 teachers prohibitions on requiring or incentivizing students’ political activism and teaching that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.”

HB 178 also removes a provision that teachers can’t require an understanding of the 1619 Project, a series by the New York Times that examines how racism has shaped U.S. history.

Toth said that he removed that explicit ban because the new law already prohibits certain aspects he attributes to that work, such as the idea that “the advent of slavery in the territory that is now the United States constituted the true founding of the United States.”

One provision in the new law prohibits teaching that “slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality.” Toth said that should counter accusations that “we're whitewashing history, or that we're not talking about history, or we're not addressing history and the wrongs of history, the evils of our past,” since the bill actually “encourages us to look at history.”

The bill also would require teachers to disclose all of their teaching materials and activities online every month.

“If you’re gonna teach something, just let parents know about it,” Toth said.

State Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, filed House Bill 216, which would remove the ban on requiring or incentivizing students’ political activism and policy advocacy. But Toth said he expects the legislation that ends up passing during the special session will look more like his bill.