Critical Race Theory - Parents fight back

[TreeFrogTrader]

). The old guidelines do not mention ancient Egypt but propose learning about a wider array of American historical figures and entities such as the Lakota and Pueblo nations, Helen Keller, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez.

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Let's see now. The Lakota.

The Lakota (Sioux) were formerly Great Lakes area natives who - after getting horses from the Spanish- became more warlike and and invasive and went to the Dakotas and took the Black Hills from the Cheyenne and decided they owned it and made their home there.

Yeh, History. It can be an inconvenient thing.

 

[Cuddles]

Sadly, this is where things have evolved to once state-level politicians got involved...

All most parents wanted was for lesson plans in K-12 schools which demean children on the basis of race to be stopped. The right took this as an opportunity to re-make U.S. education to eliminate presenting our full history -- and present a "white-washed" version of it -- along the lines of how things were in the 1950s.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593042993598300160

Virginia primary source info:

• Guiding Principles for History Standards
• Full Draft Standards

Virginia is changing the way it teaches history, social studies. Here’s how.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/11/16/virginia-school-history-standards-youngkin/

Differences: The newguidelines say students should learn about people in ancient Egypt and America who "contributed to their civilizations," a list including Moses, Cleopatra and Tutankhamen (for Egypt) and seven Founding Fathers, such as James Madison, John Adams and Patrick Henry (for America). The old guidelines do not mention ancient Egypt but propose learning about a wider array of American historical figures and entities such as the Lakota and Pueblo nations, Helen Keller, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez.

Again, the guidelines differ on the appropriate list of holidays for student lessons, with the old guidelines listing an array of celebrations, while the new guidelines mention only Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day and "learning patriotic songs such as 'America the Beautiful.' "

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Don't try to weasel away from what you started by buying into made up bullshit conspiracies GWB. Own up to it.

 

[Cuddles]

then:

Now:

 

[gwb-trading]

My summary on feedback about Critical Race Theory can be found here earlier in the thread -
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...parents-fight-back.359357/page-6#post-5401406

Keep in mind that Critical Race Theory is a method of instruction which intentionally inflicts emotional distress on students as part of the lesson plan. This is unacceptable in K-12 schools.

Note that CRT is very different than inclusion & diversity --- and from teaching our full & entire history (warts and all).

 

[Cuddles]

My summary on feedback about Critical Race Theory can be found here earlier in the thread -
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/critical-race-theory-parents-fight-back.359357/page-6#post-5401406

Keep in mind that Critical Race Theory is a method of instruction which intentionally inflicts emotional distress on students as part of the lesson plan. This is unacceptable in K-12 schools.

Note that CRT is very different than inclusion & diversity --- and from teaching our full & entire history (warts and all).

yet you quoted and lectured us with garbage stating the opposite:

We are now seeing lawsuits over CRT and Equity education in schools which include the actual lesson plans being taught in schools. Most of these suits are being launched by teachers who are fed up with this nonsense and have clear access to the materials being used in classes --- including this suit from an elementary school teacher.

It is not clear if any of these suits will be successful. But at minimum they will spotlight conclusively the CRT lessons being taught in K-12 schools -- so no one will be able to deny this is occurring.

Illinois Drama Teacher Asks Judge to Keep Lawsuit Alive Against School’s ‘Critical Race Theory’ Curriculum, ‘Unconscionable Race-Based Programming’
https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/illinois-drama-teacher-asks-judge-to-keep-lawsuit-alive-against-schools-critical-race-theory-curriculum-unconscionable-race-based-programming/
.....
For years now, race-based programming has overtaken District 65 in the name of racial “equity.” What seems like a relatively benign cause—also euphemistically called “social justice,” “diversity and inclusion,” “critical race theory,” and “culturally responsive teaching” — is actually code-speak for a much bigger and more dangerous picture: the practice of conditioning individuals to see each other’s skin color first and foremost, then pitting different racial groups against each other.

The suit then points out what it argues is a stark difference between the concepts of “equity” and “equality.”

Equity is very different than equality, although the two are sometimes confused. Equality is the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the Civil War, and codified into law through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As District 65 itself has recognized, equality is about sameness and treating everyone in an identical manner regardless of their race. Equity is about so-called justice and individuals getting what they “need and deserve.” Said another way, equality strives for equal opportunity while equity strives for equal outcomes.

Court documents further allege that the district has required teachers to undergo “antiracist training.” That training allegedly “requires” teachers:

a. To accept that white individuals are “loud, authoritative . . . [and] controlling.”

b. To understand, “To be less white is to be less racially oppressive.”

c. To acknowledge that “White identity is inherently racist[.]”

d. To denounce “white privilege.”

e. To participate in exercises with individuals of only the same color called “affinity groups”—that is, to racially segregate themselves.

f. To participate in so-called “privilege walks,” a group exercise whereby teachers standing in a line separate from each other in response to the prompt, “because of my race or color . . . .”

Teachers who don’t go along with the plans are branded as “racist,” the lawsuit alleges. It also claims that a decision against the district’s curriculum by the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) was suddenly “suspended” just “days after President [Joe] Biden was inaugurated.”

The 35-page lawsuit makes myriad accusations against the district, including that it created “district-wide employee Affinity Groups” in 2017 that “separated on the basis of race.” It also says the district embedded the following into antiracism curriculum: “[e]ducators must acknowledge White skin privilege and work to develop a deeper understanding of this reality in order to fully examine the cultural implications of Whiteness in schools.”

The school district filed documents on Aug. 30 to ask Judge Robert Michael Dow, Jr., a George W. Bush appointee, to throw the lawsuit out of court. The district argued that the court did not have jurisdiction over it pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and that the plaintiff failed to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). The district argued as follows in a concomitant memorandum of law:

The Board of Education of Evanston/Skokie District 65 (the “District”) serves a diverse, multi-racial community. Despite its commitments to equity and inclusion, it is also a community historically marked by significant gaps in income, access to resources, and educational outcomes between Black students and students of other races. The District is dedicated to closing these gaps and addressing other longstanding inequities by adopting policies, engaging in training and developing curriculum reflective of the needs of the community. This work has engaged District stakeholders at all stages, ensuring that the voices of educators, parents, students, and faith, community and District leaders are included.

The school district also argued in favor of “local control over the operation of schools” and “local autonomy” pursuant to that goal. It elsewhere said the federal court system “is not the forum for resolving disputes about educational curriculum, even when that curriculum addresses politically charged and sensitive matters such as equity, race and racism.”

The district further said that Deemar has “not been required to use” (beyond a “two day” training seminar) many of the materials about which she complains. The district also argued some of the materials were “entirely voluntary” and that the plaintiff, who it called a “part time” staffer, “never attended” several of the sessions connected to the lessons. The district later said Deemar had some of her facts wrong about the district’s use of material authored by “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo and other matters.

School board lawyers also slammed one of Deemar’s attorneys for going on television to talk about the motivation for the lawsuit.

“The lawsuit actually is not so much about discriminating against Ms. Deemar . . . this is not about her,” attorney (and Justice Amy Coney Barrett supporter) Kimberly Hermann of the Southeastern Legal Foundation said in the interview. “This is about the district and how it is segregating students and how it is treating them differently because of their race.”

The school construed the quotes as somewhat of an admission that the named plaintiff lacks an injury redressable by the court and therefore has no standing to sue.

Deemar filed court papers on Wednesday to argue that the case should remain alive.

“For over six years now, Evanston/Skokie School District 65 (“District 65”) has engaged in unconscionable race-based programming that threatens the moral and constitutional fibers of its community,” the plaintiff’s argument begins. “Through its policies, curriculum, and training, the District ascribes personal characteristics to entire racial groups. Put simply, it teaches that white people are oppressors and non-white people are oppressed. It treats Plaintiff — and all individuals in the District — differently based solely on the color of their skin. This violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.”

Deemar’s attorneys then attempted to cast doubt on the district’s assertion that Deemar is an improper plaintiff.

“[T]o suggest that Plaintiff has not been personally harmed by the District’s practices because she did not personally attend every objectionable session, or that the District has not created an environment that is hostile to every teacher and student who sets foot on campus, is plainly wrong,” they wrote. “Each time the District assigns moral characteristics to racial groups wholesale, it deliberately fosters a hostile environment for Plaintiff and all members of the District 65 community.”

The plaintiff’s legal team then skewered the school’s attorneys for suggesting that a “noneconomic injury” — alleged racial segregation — is somehow less important than a purely economic injury.

Devon Horton, the school’s superintendent, attracted other controversy last year by announcing that in-person learning slots would go to “marginalized groups first,” a move he said was “about equity for Black and brown students, for special education students, for our LGBTQ students,” Chicago NBC affiliate WMAQ reported last October in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The superintendent cited an achievement gap among students as his rationale for allowing the aforementioned groups to attend school in person while saying others would be taught remotely.

Read some of the documents in burgeoning case file below:

(Article has multiple documents)

 

[El OchoCinco]

So first Youngkin scares the voters by claiming CRT was in Virginia and he was going to put a stop to it!

There was no CRT in Virginia schools because as discussed we pulled all the information from VA DOE websites and nothing from the DOE or school boards mandated anything about CRT teaching.

Youngkin then steps in and decides that even there was no CRT, he will make some wholesale changes to the way history is taught in Va.....

Now the previous governor had some ideas that involved removing some history of GW and James Madison....that was stupid. But rather than just correct some items, he is going full fucktard... because he was given a blank check by the duped voters.

 

[gwb-trading]

Note that Youngkin had Conservative Think Tanks create the new Virginia K-12 curriculum -- not Educators. Even the Virginia state education board-- where Youngkin appointed a majority -- is leery about approving a draft K-12 curriculum which basically does not mention a single black person -- and includes "historical" information which is completely incorrect.

Youngkin enlists conservative think tanks to rewrite history curriculums
https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2022/11/18/youngkin-history-virginia-standards

Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administrationis pushing to rewrite Virginia's K-12 history curriculum with help from conservative think tanks.

What's happening: So far, it isn't going especially well.

• The Department of Education's first draft has already prompted at least two rounds of corrections and one apology in the week since it was released.

The latest: The Virginia Board of Education declined to advance the proposal following more than eight hours of discussion and debate during its monthly meeting Thursday.

• Even Younkin's five appointees, who control a majority on the board, sounded uncertain about the proposal.

Why it matters: The new standards will dictate how students at every grade level are taught about history for years to come.

Catch up fast: The state is required to revise learning standards every seven years — a process that typically draws little notice.

• Youngkin's superintendent of public instruction, Jillian Balow, pushed the board earlier this year to undertake a rewrite of the new history standards, calling the work that began under former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's administration incomplete and inadequate.

Balow said Thursday the new draft incorporated feedback from voices she said were left out of the first draft.

• It was written over the course of about a month, replacing a prior version that took about 18 months to produce.
• She specifically noted outreach to conservative education think tanks, including the Fordham Institute, which advocates for charter schools, and the National Association of Scholars, which developed a civics curriculum to counter what it sees as a rise of progressive activism in schools.

What they're saying: Opponents lambasted the proposed changes as a revisionist whitewash during a four-hour public comment period.

• The plan drew especially strong criticism from Black, Asian, Sikh and Native American parents, who said the curriculum excluded their stories.
• Board member Anne Holton, a Democrat appointed by Northam, wondered why Ronald Reagan was mentioned five times but the country's first Black president, Barack Obama, wasn't mentioned once.

The other side: At Thursday's meeting, Balow said the initial deletion of references to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth were unintentional errors that had been corrected. And she apologized for language describing Indigenous people as "America's first immigrants" — a rewrite that members of Virginia tribes who spoke Thursday called deeply offensive.

• But she contended that the new draft still represented a major improvement and noted it included the creation of a brand new unit focused on the civil rights movement.
• In response to criticism about specific deletions, she insisted the material could still be included as part of a curriculum framework she said would be developed later.

The bottom line: After eight hours of debate, board members mostly sounded confused, directing Balow to come up with a new draft that incorporates the public comments received Thursday and clearly documents what changes are being made and why.

• "The public is worried about what's in and out," said Youngkin appointee Andy Rotherham. That uncertainty, he said, "is creating a ton of confusion and angst."

 

[El OchoCinco]

This is what VA deserves for being duped by CRT bullshit....it was just a ruse to get into power and re write educational history I guess..

 

[Cuddles]

 

[Cuddles]

https://popular.info/p/how-to-ban-3600-books-from-school
How to ban 3600 books from school libraries

Bruce Friedman speaks at a June 30 meeting of the Clay County School Board
This year, at least 102 books have been removed from the shelves of school libraries in Clay County, Florida. Many of these books were pulled at the request of one man: Bruce Friedman. A conservative activist and longtime resident of New York, Friedman moved to Clay County this May.

And Friedman says he is just getting started. During a November 28 meeting of the Florida Department of Education Library Media Working Group, Friedman said he had compiled "a list of over 3,600 titles that I believe have concerning content," including "porn, critical race theory, social-emotional learning, [and] fluid gender." He said this list proves that "libraries have more than a little poison in them." Friedman demanded that the Department of Education "clean up this mess." If not, Friedman threatened to "perform 3,600 challenges and overwhelm your awful, awful procedures and policies."

One of the books pulled from the shelves of school libraries this year in Clay County is The Girl From The Sea, an award-winning graphic novel. The book is about a 15-year-old girl who develops romantic feelings for another girl. The two girls hold hands and, at one point, share a kiss. There is no sex, no swearing, and no nudity.

In an interview with Popular Information, Friedman described The Girl From The Sea as a book for "slightly post-pubescent little lesbians." Friedman says he objects to the book being available in Clay County libraries because students are "not in school to learn how to be better lesbians." The book exposes students to "a land of girls making out with great illustrations." According to Friedman, students should not be "focused on kissing, or petting or anything else in that general territory."

The Girl From The Sea has been removed from Clay County school libraries because of a new policy, implemented in July, that requires books to be pulled as soon as a challenge has been properly filed. The books remain unavailable to students while the challenge is being considered by a District Curriculum Council.

Friedman has exploited this policy by flooding the district with challenges. Friedman told Popular Information that, since June 30, he has "investigated between 5 and 10 thousand" books available in Clay County school libraries on "a very cursory level."

Popular Information has obtained dozens of Friedman's challenge forms through public information requests. Friedman, and a few others he recruited to assist him, filled out these forms identically. The reason for the request is to "PROTECT CHILDREN," the objectionable material is "INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT," and the impact of a student using the material is "DAMAGED SOULS." The answer to most other questions is "N/A."


Friedman is the president and founder of the Florida chapter of No Left Turn in Education, a right-wing educational group. He continues to play a similar role for the group in New York. No Left Turn in Education was founded in 2020 by Elana Yaron Fishbein. "Public schools are starting to resemble re-education camps and our cities have turned into the killing fields," the group wrote on Facebook. "It's beginning to feel like Pol Pot's Cambodia." Fishbein says there are evil forces focused on "getting to our kids, brainwashing them, indoctrinating them, and making them [a] brownshirt." Friedman said he learned about Fishbein when she appeared on Tucker Carlson's show.

Friedman gained some notoriety himself when he attempted to read aloud a rape scene from the book Lucky by Alice Sebold during a June 30 Clay County school board meeting. His mic was cut off. Friedman told Fox News he wants "his 15-year-old son to be in the public school system and come home unharmed."

Friedman acknowledged that he filed challenges over the summer without reading the challenged books. Initially, Clay County accepted many of these challenges. But Friedman said he has already filed more than 350 challenges. Eventually, Clay County began to reject Friedman's challenges as incomplete because they do not include any real explanation of the objection.

But Friedman is undeterred and, in the hopes of getting more challenges accepted, said he has changed his approach. According to Friedman, he has read "25 books in the last 10 days." Friedman identified books to challenge by "scouring the internet" for lists of books that have been challenged elsewhere, including "a very conservative community" in Texas that "met with their superintendent" about "a couple of hundred books that concern them."

Friedman acknowledged he is not aware of any children who were exposed to objectionable content at a school library and had it negatively impact their lives. But he claims that is irrelevant. "I don't have to know them," Friedman said. "It's all of them. Any poor kid who had the misfortune of coming across this material."

Stephana Ferrell, the co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, blasted Clay County's policy of removing books from the library before any review. Ferrell told Popular Information that the procedure allowed a "singular viewpoint" to "control over what can and cannot be accessed or learned in the library."

Legal confusion
According to Friedman, his challenges to books like The Girl from the Sea, are justified because it violates Florida law for the book to be available in school libraries. The relevant law is HB 1467, which was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) last March.

The revised Clay County Procedures Manual for Library Media Services lays out the legal standard for library books under HB 1467:

● Free of pornography and material prohibited under s. 847.012

● Suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented

● Appropriate for the grade level and age group for which the materials are used or made available

Friedman said he did not believe The Girl From The Sea is pornographic. But, according to Friedman, it should be removed from the school library because it is "in very poor taste" and "sets a terrible example for our children, straight or gay." According to Friedman, the book promotes "promiscuity" and "pre-marital sex" when "we are supposed to be promoting abstinence."

Several of the books challenged by Friedman and others include LGBTQ themes but no sexual content. The Prince And The Dressmaker, for example, is about "a prince who likes to wear dresses." The Prince falls in love with a young woman. The book features one kiss.

Friedman cited the "Parental Rights Act," also known as the "Don't Say Gay" law, to justify these objections. "You don't want little children questioning their budding little bodies." Friedman said. He says that the inclusion of these books is part of an effort by librarians to encourage children to get "surgery and hormones." The Parental Rights Act, however, prohibits classroom instruction of elementary students about sexuality and gender. It does not apply to library books.

In the interview, Friedman said he is comfortable with "gay people" and "recognizes that they exist." Friedman said he lived for years in New York City, and "on very rare occasions, I would meet a sexually aggressive homosexual person and have words with them." But, for the most part, Friedman said he "got along fabulously with everyone."

Friedman said he doesn't have a problem with a book that has "gay characters" but "if the focus of the book is gayness, and it is still nonsexual, then I'd have to take it on a case-by-case basis." He believes the library should carry books that "support sturdy nuclear families."

Friedman also challenged Dear Martin, citing the Parental Rights Act. But Dear Martin does not have any LGBTQ content. Dear Martin is about "the story of an Ivy League-bound African American student named Justyce who becomes a victim of racial profiling." Friedman says the book should be removed because it promotes "the Black Lives Matter movement" and "a sense of white guilt in its musings about 'micro-aggressions' as elsewhere defined in Critical Race Theory."

Friedman may have been referring to the Stop WOKE Act, which prohibits instruction on Critical Race Theory in Florida classrooms. But, like the Parental Rights Act, the Stop WOKE Act applies to classroom instruction, not library books.

Despite this confusion about the legal standard, Friedman and others have already been able to permanently remove dozens of books from Clay County school libraries.

Tightening the screws on school librarians
Julie Miller, the chair of the Clay County Education Association Media Committee, has been the librarian for Ridgeview High School in Clay County for nine years. Miller told Popular Information she did not encounter a single challenge to a library book until November 2021.

Starting this year, groups like No Left Turn in Education began challenging library material en masse. School officials are fearful. Since March, Miller and other Clay County librarians have been prohibited from purchasing any new books or even new copies of books that are already on the shelves. According to Miller, no official explanation has been provided for the purchasing freeze.

Under Clay County's July 2022 policy, any challenge should be reviewed by a District Curriculum Council, a rotating panel of school officials. But when the challenges from Friedman and others started flooding in, the leadership of Clay County schools handled things differently.

Before the District Curriculum Council considered a challenge, Miller and her colleagues were pressured to determine if the books were eligible to be "weeded" or "deselected." Weeding and deselection are the standard processes that librarians use to remove books that are not in use, outdated, damaged, or not appropriate for students. The librarians were also reminded that, under Florida law, they could potentially be held personally liable for making "pornographic" material available to minors.

This process resulted in Clay County librarians agreeing to weed or deselect 52 books from school libraries. These included acclaimed titles like Toni Morrison's Beloved, Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Clay County schools have published a list of filed challenges, including those that librarians agreed to weed/deselect.

But it soon became clear that the challenges from Friedman and other activists were just getting started. As the challenges rolled in, Miller said she wanted to change her mind and put several books she previously agreed to remove back into circulation. Typically, a decision to weed a book is not irreversible. A damaged book, for example, could be replaced by a new copy. But she was told by district officials that challenged books that librarians agreed to remove were permanently banned from all libraries in the district.

In response, Miller and some of her colleagues resolved not to weed out or deselect any additional challenged books in Clay County because they believe the system is being abused.

Thus far, five challenges have been reviewed by a District Curriculum Council. These panels voted to keep four of the books in schools. One panel voted to remove Julian Is A Mermaid from all schools. Julian Is A Mermaid is about a little boy who wants to dress up as a mermaid and go and see a Mermaid Parade. The council wrote that the message of the book is that "you can be whatever you want to be." According to the council, this is a "good message," but they voted to remove the book because it is "maybe not the best way to do it."

The council rejected Friedman's challenge to Dear Martin, voting unanimously to allow the book to remain available in high school libraries. While the book does contain some coarse language, it was "realistic" and appropriate for teenagers.

Friedman has vowed to appeal all rejections to the district superintendent and, if necessary, to the Clay County School Board. He has reason to believe that his appeal may be successful. Friedman says that, during November's election, we "got rid of two people" who opposed his efforts. He was "extremely supportive of two newly elected board members that I think sufficiently leaned towards protecting children."

The goal, according to Friedman, is to use Clay County library to "set a good example for what a clean library looks like" for Florida and the country. If anyone gets in his way, Friedman vowed to "run over them like a dead body."