RENO, Nev., May 13, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ — Washoe County School District Board of Trustees is pushing radical Critical Race theory curriculum starting in Kindergarten. In addition, they are seeking grants that would allow them to implement policies that will radically change hiring practices and could force the district to stop hiring white teachers. The Washoe County School District’s Equity & Diversity Department had been waiting to present the district Board with its “Equity Action Plan” for some time. When the student activist group “WCSD Students for Change” began showing up to district board meetings in 2020 demanding changes to board policy, curriculum, and district hiring practices, it provided the department just the green light they were looking for. The district Board of Trustees, eager to demonstrate its responsiveness to the impassioned high school students’ demands, voted to implement the Action Plan in February 2021. Since then, the district has revised board policy allowing district teachers to engage in political discussions with their students during valuable instruction time, adopted a new “culturally responsive” curriculum dripping with Critical Race Theory, and mandated all district staff to participate in ongoing “equity training” courses. WCSD Students for Change: “We fight for inclusive curriculum and school policy in Washoe County and the state of Nevada. We’re building a grassroots movement to promote the representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and LGBT+ people in textbooks, curriculum, and policy. Founded on the power of student activism, we work to combat systemic racism, white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and erasure in schools by organizing and amplifying youth voice.” The district’s “Anti-Racism Resolution,” “Equity Task Force,” “Equity Action Plan,” “Equity Training,” and Board Policy 4500 revamp are all being driven by this organized and vocal group of students. Karen England, Executive Director of the pro-family watchdog group Nevada Family Alliance: “Right now, more than ever, WCSD kids need the adults in the room to be the adults and stop this nonsense.” WCSD Students for Change’s “demand” letter to the district superintendent reads:”As the citizens of the United States takes to the streets to protest not just the police murder of George Floyd but also the inequity that people of color experience every day in our country, we ask you to join us in recognizing the systemic nature of racial inequity and the role WCSD could play in building a safer and better world for students of color. “People of color in the Washoe County School District deserve not only an education in history, or science, but an education in the truth of the institutional racism upon which our country was founded. “Similarly, students must be educated about the privilege white Americans inherit from their history. “Students must learn how to resist and dismantle the systems they step into when they leave the WCSD school system, and this requires more than a school system that is not racist: the WCSD must be expressly antiracist: 64,000 students who are not racist cannot close a wage gap or end police violence, but 64,000 anti-racists can.”Karen England, Nevada Family Alliance: “Considering how convenient WCSD Students for Change is for the district’s goals, one can’t help but wonder who exactly the adults are behind this group.” In addition, the Washoe County School District has applied for grant funding mandating the implementation of special hiring practices that will place a finger on the scale for non-white teacher applicants. The grant comes with strings and will help to embed the racial justice agenda into all aspects of district work. “Principal Pipeline” money will be used to ensure only individuals who demonstrate fidelity to the tenets of the Critical Race Theory narrative will be positioned in WCSD schools. Once installed, these principals will demand teachers indoctrinate their young pupils in “anti-racist” critical race theory beliefs or lose their jobs. |