(The Center Square) – Two schools at Martinez Unified School District in Northern California are adopting a costly anti-racism leadership program as ¾ of students at one of the schools fail to meet the state’s basic math proficiency standards. The six figure program, called “Student Leaders’ Anti-Racist Movement,” aims to empower and mobilize” students “as catalysts for change through an anti-racist leadership youth movement,” as first reported by the Daily Wire.
An analysis from The Center Square found the two schools in Martinez piloting the program fall well below state averages in academic performance, with 73.9% of Alhambra Senior High students failing state math standards and 65.2% of Martinez Junior High students failing state math standards compared to a statewide average of 65% failing math.
“It’s unfortunate that the Martinez Unified School Board wants to divert resources from curricula proven to work to activism that promotes racial and ethnic strife,” California Policy Center Vice President of Government Affairs Lance Christensen told The Center Square. “Race hustlers are never out of ideas to trample on the dream of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. What’s worse is they don’t care about academics in our public schools.”
The SLAM program, which will serve up to 60 students at ASH and another 60 at MJH, will “deepen their personal racial understanding and elevate their racial consciousness as they develop the skills and tools to disrupt systemic racism within their schools, communities, and the larger society” and help students “think about the social, cultural, and political aspects of their experiences, with a focus on race” while urging adults to “co-conspire” with the students.
The SLAM program will last 3 years and cost up to $37,000 per year, and is led by Dr. Lori Watson, founder of Race-Work LLC, and a “racial equity consultant and facilitator” who bills her services at $350 per hour. In her self-provided bio, she wrote, “In the spring of 2020, Lori moved into entrepreneurship, and began her own independent consulting company by founding Race-Work, LLC. As the C.E.O. of her own company, she continues to partner with numerous K-12 school districts, universities, non-profit and private companies, in addition to both small and large corporations.”
The California Department of Education and the Martinez Unified superintendent and trustees did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
