Although state law bans Texas public school officials from teaching critical race theory, a new video shows administrators from several Dallas-area districts admitting to infusing the curriculum with racist ideology.
During Texas’ last legislative session, Abbott signed into law House Bill 3979, which supposedly prevents teachers from utilizing critical race theory and prohibits teaching that one race or sex is inherently superior to another.
After Abbott called for stricter restrictions on CRT, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 3 and strengthened the measure to protect all areas of learning.
Despite Texas’ prohibition on CRT, a new video from Accuracy in Media depicts several school administrators—including Coppell ISD’s Director of Science Evan Whitfield—promising to ignore the ban.
“The bottom line is, we’ve gotten around it by saying, ‘Well, we’re just not teaching that,’” said Whitfield. “We kind of dance … tap dance around calling it anything. Because … if I were to say Coppell is teaching the NGSS science standards—the national Next Generation Science Standards—If I were to publish that on our website, that’s when we would get a call from TEA [the Texas Education Agency]. But are we still teaching NGSS-ish? Absolutely.”
BREAKING: Dallas school administrators plan to “ignore” critical race theory ban.
Full video: https://t.co/Ll0zZ06Fdg pic.twitter.com/DBe3ORWRhy
— Accuracy In Media (@AccuracyInMedia) May 23, 2023
Tara Nichols, the director of teaching and learning at Mesquite ISD, downplayed parental concerns over explicit materials in school libraries and called former State Rep. Matt Krause’s (R–Haslet) list of more than 800 concerning library books “silly.”
“And it’s stuff so silly that you’re like, ‘Really? Like we read that as children,’ said Nichols.
Nichols also said that Mesquite ISD is ignoring Krause’s letter asking school districts to review their libraries and ensure that all available books are appropriate for children.
Keller ISD’s Advanced Academic Coordinator Donna Hodge said her district renamed its social-emotional learning curriculum to avoid violating the CRT ban.
“It’s kind of embedded. … We had some things called social-emotional, but when CRT came out with all the new laws, they had to change the wording,” said Hodge. “So, now it’s kind of all embedded.”
Another administrator from Plano ISD, Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Brian Lyons, was filmed saying that the district still requires diversity and inclusion training for teachers but uses different wording to evade the law.
“The biggest [thing] is that we can’t require diversity training or mandate it, which is different from previous years. There are ways to get around that. … It doesn’t say anything about, you know, diversity or inclusion, but it says creating a safe and belonging environment. When you start looking at inclusion, equity … it’s rooted in that. … We can embed that into that.”
When the investigative reporter asked Whitfield if teachers can “just close the door and teach what’s right,”—referring to CRT and other radical ideologies—Whitfield implied that his district is allowing educators to illegally infuse CRT into their classrooms.
“That’s what we do. And I think that’s what I told you before. We teach what’s right.”
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