A ban on teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the state of Florida has been approved by the Florida Board of Education (BOE) Thursday. The legislation was initiated by the state’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, which specified American history in public schools is to be based on “universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.”
The proposed rule stated teachers were to be barred from attempting “…to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view” but did not mention CRT specifically, reports Just the News. However, during the hearing at Florida State College’s downtown Jacksonville campus, the BOE voted to adopt an amended rule which added the specific ban of “critical race theory.”
The amendment sponsored by board member Tom Grady in a split voice vote of the seven-member BOE prohibits “fiction or theory masquerading as facts, such as critical race theory.” The amended rule was subsequently adopted unanimously.
The Florida Education Association (FEA), the state’s largest teachers union, was among critics arguing that the word “indoctrinate” in the rule can be interpreted by partisan ideologues any way they want and called on the BOE to expand the definition of “significant historical events” beyond the lone cited example, the Holocaust.
“Let’s be clear, the word ‘indoctrination’ is a political term used for political purposes,” FEA President Andrew Spar told the board. “And that’s what this rule is all about.”
The word “indoctrinate” was not removed but Grady’s amendment adds language specifically addressing teaching the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement and other “hard truths” of history.
Spar argued the rule is unnecessary because CRT is not taught in Florida schools but DeSantis refuted that claim in a Thursday news release citing three alleged instances of “attempts to teach CRT” in Palm Beach and Sarasota counties and at Jacksonville’s Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where two school cultural meetings separating students based on race were canceled amid backlash.
Before the vote took place, Governor DeSantis tweeted “Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. It is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools. The woke class wants to teach kids to hate each other, rather than teaching them how to read, but we will not let them bring nonsense ideology into Florida’s schools” he continued. “I find it unthinkable that there are other people in positions of leadership in the federal government who believe that we should teach kids to hate our country.”
Principal Schemes to Silence “Whacko” Parents Who Reject Critical Race Theory Curriculum
A principal has been caught referring to parents who don’t want their children to be taught the critical race theory curriculum “whackos.” The Young American’s Foundation reported on the occurrence at the Desert Valley Elementary School in Arizona, where parents spoke out against the CRT curriculum at a school board meeting in December.
Reacting to the parents, Principal Tonja Neve sent emails referring to these parents as “whackos” and was trying to find ways to silence the “pushy voices” from being able to speak out against the curriculum.
Copies of the emails were obtained by the Young American’s Foundation (YAF) via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Neve wrote in one email, “that board meeting was ridiculous. I’m sick of us giving these whackos a platform to spread propaganda without making any correction statements.”
Neve emailed Jennifer Mundy who helped create the race-based curriculum for the school’s students, saying she was looking into ways to silence the “pushy voices.” When the YAF contacted the School District, they said they were unaware of any attempt to silence parents over curriculum.
Chief Communications Officer Danielle Airey told YAF in a statement, “we do not support the name-calling you’re referencing in this email and have follow-up accordingly with this staff member once this was brought to our attention.” The spokesman also noted Neve has “taken a position outside of our district for next school year and will no longer be serving our district.”
RedState states this is “another drop in the bucket of examples on how our public school system has been invaded by hard-left radicals that wish to brainwash your children into believing racist concepts that paint America in a horrible light.”
Texas School Board Overwhelmingly Votes In Opponents of ‘Critical Race Theory’
A Texas school board of Southlake won a huge victory for those who oppose ‘critical race theory.’ In an election over the weekend, voters “sent a resounding message against the plan at the weekend election – with the two school board positions as well as mayor and city council seats going to opponents of the ‘cultural competence,’ with each getting almost 70 percent of the vote” reports The New York Post.
The Southlake Families PAC that supported the winning candidates in the suburb 30 miles northwest of Dallas Tweeted “Critical Race Theory ain’t coming here.” The group also stated of the victory, “this is what happens when good people stand up and say, not in my town, not on my watch.”
The New York Post reports:
The elections in Southlake on Saturday were so divisive that backers of the new anti-racism measures called on the Department of Justice to intervene — and even pop star Demi Lovato ripped opponents of the plan.
“It is horrifying to see how some of the parents … are literally FIGHTING to uphold white supremacy and are resisting the anti-racism work that is so needed,” she tweeted in January, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram noted.
Opponents, however, told a series of heated meetings for the Carroll school district that the plan created “diversity police” — and was effectively “reverse racism” pushing a “left-wing agenda,” the Dallas Morning News previously reported.
They even went to court and won a temporary restraining order to stop implementation, the paper noted.
Lawyer Hannah Smith is one of the newly elected board members who called it “a referendum on those who put personal politics and divisive philosophies ahead of…students and families and their common American heritage and Texas values.”
In a statement to NBC, Smith said “the voters have come together in record-breaking numbers to restore unity.”
Source: NYPost.com
