Penna Dexter

Parents across America are getting wise to the indoctrination that’s been taking place in their neighborhood schools through the teaching of critical race theory. Many schools have adopted the “1619 Project” which portrays America as a fundamentally racist nation and makes slavery the central story of American history. As of January 2021, this curriculum was being taught in 4500 classrooms nationwide. Most parents aren’t happy when they learn their children are being taught that America is evil. It’s disturbing when your seventh-grade daughter tells you, “I don’t want to be white.” And no parent wants their child encouraged to see himself as a victim because of his skin color. When parents in Texas’s Carroll ISD learned their Board of Trustees had adopted a Cultural Competency Action Plan that incorporated these ideas, a group of conservatives got organized, sued to get the program stopped, and in the recent May election, replaced two school board members, two city council members, and the mayor. Other districts are following suit. Among them: Loudoun County, Va., Greenwich, Ct., and Rapid City, S.D. Seventy percent of school board members participating in a Heritage Foundation survey said they do not want schools to use instructional material that places slavery at the center of our national narrative. But obviously some do, and voters need to find out who they are. Heritage’s Education Policy Director, Lindsey Burke, points out that, “Informed citizens know a great deal about the candidates at the top of the federal ticket.” But, she says, “At the bottom of the knowledge base, come elected school board members.” There are about 14,000 school boards across the nation and about 100,000 school board members. School board members represent the largest group of elected officials in the country. School boards are responsible for deciding on curricula and textbooks. In well-heeled, influential communities, the anti-American Left is targeting them to get to students. We need to take their elections seriously.