Critical race theory is divisive issue for districts
Rumors spread quickly this spring as the North Allegheny school board prepared to vote on the first phase of a program that included diversity, inclusion and equity training for administrators, board members, teachers and students.
A group of parents criticized the training for the NA Empower program as an introduction of critical race theory into the school district’s curriculum.
The school board president and a top administrator, however, said the training offered through the Pennsylvania School Boards Association was not focused on the theory and was meant to address accounts of racism in the district brought forward by students, parents and alumni over the past year.
“Our ultimate goal is for students to recognize that respect is incredibly important and that we should value the differences that occur between us rather than make it into a negative topic,”
North Allegheny Superintendent Melissa Friez said during a recent phone interview. “So really, it’s to educate kids on why it’s important to be respectful of others.”
In the end, the school board approved the training, 5-4, with board members who voted against the training saying that it was divisive in the community and would not solve all of the issues that students faced.
The conversation at North Allegheny is similar to those happening across the country, as the decadesold academic framework of critical race theory mostly taught in law school has recently become a hotly debated issue in K-12 school districts. The theory has been an academic tool since the 1970s, used to debate the idea that racial discrimination is embedded in U.S. laws, social constructs and economic policies.
Even though critical race theory has been discussed in graduate schools for decades, the term rose to national consciousness last year when former President Donald Trump derided it as progressive propaganda. He condemned a 2019 New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning report, the “1619 Project,” which cast a critical examination of slavery and quickly gained the attention of history teachers.
Since then, parents and groups have seized on the theory, calling it a racist concept that wrongfully shames white students for events that happened in the past.
But educators and administrators at the K-12 level point out that critical race theory is not a concept they introduce to their students. The Pennsylvania Department of Education said critical race theory “is not a part of or taught through any curriculum in Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools.”
The state Department of Education provides standards that give schools a way to organize content in history, civics and government and other subjects, and describes what students should know in various grades. The standards — last updated in 2002 — say that students at certain levels should be able to analyze and evaluate aspects of government and eventsin history.
Educators have said they fear critical race theory is being used as an umbrella term to push back on just about anything to do with race and racial justice in schools.
“We teach the history standards and the civics and government standards that we’re supposed to teach in Pennsylvania,” said Jeff Hadley, superintendent of the Avonworth School District. “I think some people may confuse elements of the standards as being critical race theory when it’s not. We teach history — that’s what we teach — the history of the country.”
But those who are fighting against critical race theory say it seeps into curricula even if it is not implemented by the state.
Greg Dolan, a history teacher at Aquinas Academy in Hampton, is running for a seat on Fox Chapel’s school board on a platform of eliminating critical race theory from the district’s curriculum. He cited a resolution passed in June 2020 by the Fox Chapel school board on racism, diversity, equity and the educational mission of the district that he opposed as one of the reasons he launched his candidacy.
The resolution supported professional development for district staff to further promote inclusivity and embrace diversity, regular reviews of the processes for hiring and recruiting to encourage inclusivity and embrace diversity, and ongoing dialogue and continuous improvement on the issues of racism, anti-racism strategies, discrimination, equity and inclusion.
The resolution makes no mention of critical race theory. But Mr. Dolan said that even though Fox Chapel might not identify the concept by name — “it’s called all these nice sounding terms” — its influence can be found in the district’s programming and mission.
“The thing about those terms is that they are used misleadingly to bring in the premises of critical race theory because they are words that we should all support at schools and in everyday life,” Mr. Dolan said. “But those words do not mean what they used to mean when they’re used in our schools these days. They’re unfortunately used as cover for critical race theory notions.”
Fiery arguments
Arguments over the teaching of critical race theory have become fiery at some school districts in the nation.
A June school board meeting in Loudoun County, Va., that dealt with critical race theory and transgender students became so unruly that one person was arrested for disorderly conduct and another was cited for trespassing.
Critical race theory is not a part of the Rapid City, S.D., school curriculum, but that didn’t stop candidates from making it a central issue of the campaign.
“I believe with all my heart this is how they are going to slip socialism and Marxism into our schools,” newly elected member Deb Baker said at a campaign event.
The fight over critical race theory has started to arise at some schools in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Sewickley Academy, a private K-12 school in Sewickley, let go of its longtime head of school, director of diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, four other administrators and a
teacher just weeks after a parents group sent a letter to school leaders and members of the community expressing concerns about what it called political and ideological persuasion — including critical race theory — in the academy’s curriculum.
The interim head of school, Ashley Birtwell, said the moves were made after “it became clear that changes in leadership needed to be made and made promptly.” When asked to elaborate on why the employees were let go, Ms. Birtwell said “while I am not able to comment on specifics, it is important to note that these decisions were made to ensure that we are meeting our standards of academic excellence at Sewickley Academy.”
A petition seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory in the Quaker Valley School District that appears to have been created by some district parents had garnered about 90 signatures several weeks after being posted online.
Quaker Valley officials said they were not aware of the petition, and, regardless, critical race theory is not included in its curriculum.
“We have no current plans to change our curriculum to include critical race theory, nor has this been brought to the board for consideration. Curriculum changes are a complex endeavor that takes years of work and research by district educators.”
Most school districts in the region, including the Pittsburgh Public Schools, say critical race theory is not a part of their curriculum.
But the dispute over critical race theory has risen to higher levels of government in the commonwealth.
State Reps. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, and Barb Gleim, R-Cumberland, last month co-sponsored legislation in the House called the Teaching Racial and Universal Equality, or TRUE, Act aimed at banning critical race theory from being taught at schools.
In a news release announcing the measure, the lawmakers repeatedly cite Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, quoting the line, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Mr. Diamond said in a statement: “The manner in which important concepts such as racial and gender equality are taught in our schools could not be more important in defining the type of society we have. Teaching our children they are inferior or inherently bad based on immutable characteristics such as race and sex can be extremely damaging to their emotional and mental well-being.”
According to Education Week, at least 25 states have proposed or passed measures to restrict how teachers discuss racism and sexism. In recent weeks, Florida passed a resolution prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill prohibiting public school teachers from making any critical race theory concepts part of schools curriculum.
Chris Lilienthal, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said educators “are fully capable of teaching students about the American ideals of our founders, while also teaching them about the times our country has not lived up to its promise.”
“Educators, not politicians, know how best to teach their students,” Mr. Lilienthal said in a statement. “They are the experts, and they should decide how to approach the difficult task of designing factually based, age-appropriate lessons for students about our shared history.”
Similarly, the nation’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, have said they will support members who are punished for teaching about race and history in the classroom.
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten pledged union legal defense for any members embroiled in the fallout of the debate. The union is adding $2.5 million to its legal defense fund in anticipation of courtroom battles.
“Mark my words: Our union will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history,” Ms. Weingarten said.
‘On the same page’
Allegheny County Councilwoman Olivia Bennett, who this month sponsored a measure urging schools throughout the county to include critical race theory perspectives in their curricula, said false arguments are being made to distort what the concept is meant to do.
“That is exactly how white supremacy stays in place — by holding up the status quo.” Ms. Bennett said. “And how do you hold up the status quo? You start negative campaigns and counter-narratives when people are trying to actually push against the status quo to bring about equity and true education and inclusiveness of all cultures.”
She believes K-12 schools should teach critical race theory, she said, because there is no time when it is too early to teach children about the history of oppression in America. She noted how many people only recently heard about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre through programming instead of learning about it in school.
“We need to be doing this,” Ms. Bennett said. “We need to be having these real conversations about our real history so that we can really move forward.”
Back at North Allegheny, Ms. Friez said no future initiatives have been planned for the NA Empower program. It was important for the board to approve the training, she said, so that everyone involved in the program could be “on the same page.”
She said she understands that equity programming at schools has become politicized, but she tries to remain objective and keep her focus on creating the best possible atmosphere for students.
“I’m sure that there’s a lot of political opinions out there on both sides,” she said. “That’s not the area that I get myself involved in — It is as a leader, as an educator, am I doing the very best to ensure an inclusive environment for students?”