(The Center Square) – Education group Defending Education says that tax dollars are meant to fund public schools to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, as the group also reported that a Virginia public school works an “equity and anti-racism framework” into school curriculum, staff training and more. The school district in question, Albemarle County Public Schools, said much of Defending Education’s report is inaccurate.
Senior director of Strategic Initiatives at Defending Education Paul Runko told The Center Square: “Parents send their children to school to learn fundamental skills like reading, writing, and math.”
“Taxpayers who fund public schools with their hard-earned money expect the same focus,” Runko said.
“Instruction on topics such as the ‘dynamics between race, power, and privilege’ not only takes time away from core academics, but can also encourage students to view issues primarily through the lens of race,” Runko said.
“This risks creating division within the student body rather than fostering unity,” Runko said.
Runko told The Center Square that “parents and concerned citizens have several ways to address extremely ideological content in schools.”
“They can speak at school board meetings, share information with others in their community, and stay engaged in local education decisions, including school board elections,” Runko said.
“When so-called ‘anti-racism’ policies cross legal boundaries, any member of the community can file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights,” Runko said.
The Virginia public school in question – Albemarle County Public Schools – told The Center Square that Defending Education’s report “fails to present factual information” and that “the number of false claims and mischaracterizations in the ‘report’ are extensive.”
In its report, Defending Education states that “Albemarle County Public Schools emphasizes equity, diversity, and anti-racism through its curriculum, teacher training, and policies, requiring students to engage with concepts like race, power, and privilege while promoting inclusive values.”
For instance, an Albemarle brochure for the system’s Career Learning Communities shows eight “core competencies” that Albemarle upholds, these competencies being “focus areas that we develop in students over the course of their time with us from kindergarten through graduation.”
One of these competencies is Anti-racism, under which it is stated students should “possess increased awareness of the dynamics between race, power, and privilege.”
Another competency is Social Justice and Inclusion, where it’s stated that students should “uphold a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, and the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities,” as well as “promote equitable participation of all groups while seeking to address and acknowledge issues of oppression, privilege, and power.”
Albemarle County Public Schools also has a webpage entitled “Anti-Racism Policy Orientation Completion Directory” where it is stated: “We are pleased to provide this update on the schools and departments with a 100% rate of completing the Anti-Racism policy orientation training.”
An anti-racism policy was adopted by the Albemarle school board in 2019, according to Defending Education, which prompted a lawsuit from several of the system’s families with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom.
Anti-racism has been embedded over the years into various parts of Albemarle, such as when 17 educators “met for a discussion on ‘Letting Go of Literary Whiteness’ with the goal of ‘implementing anti-racist literature,’” in 2020.
Additionally, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a social studies initiative began with a goal to “develop anti-racist and culturally responsive curricula for grades 6-12.”
Defending Education stated in its report that “part of the requirement for Albemarle County educators is following the “Culturally Responsive & Anti-Racist Curriculum Assessment Tool’” created by the system.
“This tool consists of three ‘CRT Characteristics,’” Defending Education’s report said, with the second characteristic stating: “Culturally Responsive Teachers teach to and through culture as they plan curriculum and instruction that is differentiated, rigorous, and relevant,” according to documents obtained by Defending Education.
Another requirement is the ‘“Critical Lens” in which educators are asked: “Are students encouraged to examine materials, events, and institutions critically, through their and others’ cultural lenses, attending to power, privilege, and bias?” Defending Education’s report said.
Albemarle additionally has an equity-based grading system, according to documents obtained by Defending Education.
Albemarle also teamed up with the Albemarle County Office of Equity & Inclusion to create the “21-Day Equity Challenge” which is “an initiative ‘designed to bring awareness to the challenges and opportunities of equity for groups within our community,’” as stated by Defending Education.
Currently, the 21-Day webpage features a digital wheel one can spin to discover which LGBT resource to read or watch
