The Anchorage School District will hold the second of two online townhall meetings on March 30 to address its plan to inject critical race theory throughout area schools. The meeting runs 6-8 p.m.
On March 25, the district conducted a highly controlled Zoom meeting, which excluded phone calls, live chat or the ability to ask questions via phone. Participants were limited to submitting questions online while School Board President Elisa Vakalis selected certain inquiries and called on individual panelists to respond.
Like the first meeting, the second will cover two proposed school board policies. One deals with anti-racism and the other with equity. Panelists included Superintendent Deena Bishop and several district educators and board members.
The proposed policies look to infuse controversial notions about critical race theory, white privilege and systemic racism into most aspects of school life and instructional learning. The ultimate plan, however, reaches far beyond encouraging students to treat others with respect and dignity. The end goal is to permeate the educational system with a philosophy that assumes the vast majority of Americans are racist or bigoted – either consciously or subconsciously.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
When it comes to curriculum and instruction, teachers would be expected to insert ant-racist theory into their classrooms by highlighting “the history of racism in Alaska, America, and around the world and the current structural, explicit, and unconscious biases toward people of different races.”
Additionally, the anti-racism policy indicates that the board is intent on expanding its nondiscrimination efforts to include “other forms of discrimination including those protective classes referenced in BP (board policy).” These include sexual orientation and gender identity, among a litany of other identifiers such as parentage, genetic information, religion and more.
While panelists in the first meeting claimed they wanted to hear from as many people as possible, the format prevented any follow up questions, clarifications or dialogue with participants.
At one point, Superintendent Deena Bishop responded to a question about how the district will measure the success of the policies. She spoke as though they were a forgone conclusion.
“Once the policy is approved, through the board procedures, what will happen next is administrative regulation (AR) will be designed around those to see the outcomes,” she said. “As the ARs come out it will include how do we monitor this, how do we understand this.”
Guiding the philosophy of the proposed changes are several books by Ibram X. Kendi, which are posted on the school districts’ website. Kendi is controversial social justice warrior who claims that America is founded by racists and fundamentally rooted in systemic racism from the roots up. He pushes “white privilege” theory which claims that white people, by the nature of their skin color, enjoy societal privileges that must be leveled. Kendi is also critical of orthodox Christian theology regarding personal salvation through Jesus Christ and he attacks many time honored American values. His approach to addressing social ills downplays clearly identifiable problems such as broken marriages, out of wedlock births, fatherless children, lack of parental involvement and a loss of religious practice, all of which have been shown to contribute to poor academic performance, behavioral problems, poverty, crime and other problems.
At one point in the March 25 meeting, a participant submitted a question to the panel stating, “A lot of content of anti-racism strikes me as hostile to white folks. What steps will ASD take to make sure white students and their heritages are not denigrated or insulted by anti-racist curricula?”
Panelist Sean Prince, the principle at Bartlett High School, dismissed the question outright.
“I wouldn’t worry about it denigrating people or insulting them through curriculum because what has actually been happing is it’s been a denigration and insulting to a lot of other people who were not even included in the history telling,” he retorted.
The second half of the meeting addressed the proposed equity policy, which assumes that disparate academic outcomes among students stem from unfair treatment and barriers that the school system has consciously or subconsciously erected against certain groups. The proposed policy suggests that the district would reallocate resources to benefit “some groups” that they see as being treated unfairly due to broadly construed systemic injustices.
TAKING ACTION
What: School Board Town Hall Meeting
When: Tuesday, March 30, 6-8 p.m.
Where: Virtual Zoom meeting. Click here to join. This link also provides information on how to participate via telephone.
21 Comments
Please bring back the draft! When kids turn 18 make them go in the service for 2 years. That will fix all this crap. No other aristocratic country has this problem. We have allowed too many years of communist teachers to mind screw our youth and now we have adults who think EVERYTHING is racist! Defund public schools NOW!
“Aristocratic” country
I wonder what you mean by that.
That’s because your a dumb ass
Unfortunately, Michael, the military has now been hijacked by the woke crowd. Even the SEALS have a woke commandant.
Gut these communist enemies of our Nation schools . Rip out the NEA and its poisonous communist foot soldiers we call teachers… There has never been a more injurious to a homeland institutionalized indoctrination than these school propaganda centers. This is the final warning as we swirl in the shitter…. do what is right people and reinstitute common sense learning or face the hell of the communist bastards indoctrination. Stop it now!!!!!!!!!@
I sent a lengthy email to the School Board and have since been encouraged to send it to ADN. I will not go quietly into the night; this indoctrination of self-loathing that they are pushing on white children whom lack the cognitive ability to process such mature concepts is sadistic.
I would say teach the Constitution but you are too anti America.
If you are going to suggest that someone is “anti-American”, it would be more appropriate to identify the person(s) in target.
You all live in Alaska
It’s primarily white and from these comments – very bigoted
None of you have to worry about anything.
You think your kids actually pay attention in school anyway?
None of you have any idea what it’s like to be a minority and you never will but god forbid you learn about it in any way
Suddenly it’s communist to know history ?
Give me a break
You’re all scared cause people like Joel make money off you being scared
When in reality
None of you will ever have to deal with with even knowing what a hate crime is
This is a joke
You all whine so much yet call people snowflakes it’s hilarious
But don’t worry keep believing what they tell you
Stay scared of the insanely small amount of people who are different from you
BLUBBERING MESS ,,,,, PRIMARILY WHITE FROM THESE COMMENTS,,, LOL…
Yup, out comes the troll.
Yup.. The racist troll at that.
Are any of you from Alaska ? Have any of you lived in a neighborhood where it was primarily white ?
Give me a break.
You’re a scared of something that’ll never effect alaska
Our kids are bi-racial. We homeschool. The 11 year old knows five coding languages and is studying microprocessors now. The 10 year old runs all our heavy equipment and power tools. We do not follow any correspondence school curricula (deceptively called homeschool by borough officials) so we get zero funding. If you put your kids in government school or follow government curricula, they will be destroyed by the competition from Asia.
Seems like someone here ( he, she, they , them, it) is making money doing exactly what they pretend to be crying foul about.
Adorable the blatantness of the racism spewed.
I’m making money off a comment on the internet? I wish
The social justice police are promoting socialism instead of our US Constitution. It is against parents’ rights and citizen’s individual rights not to be indoctrinated into groupthink teachings. The Marxist leaders of this movement are teachers and professors who are leading away from our Western Civilization Values where every civizen has individual rights including unborn babies. These change agent educatiors will work to isolate and intimidate any who disapprove. The curriculum itself is racist and turns an accusing finger in every direction. All of us will conform to the protected groups or be ostracized and mocked and humiliated in some way. Just remember the Marxist or dictator or Utopian or whatever name is the rage is an atheist and will be doing something wrong and at the same time be accusing us of doing that they are doing. Note: There will be every excuse not to have a good public meeting where protests and testimony will be allowed. That is also Marxist not to have unlimited free speech on the hearings. Former Fairbanks High School Teacher
Where are the lawyers who give advice to the school board and administration and are paid by the city? Are they all social justice robots or are there any who believe in the Rule of Law and the First Amendment Rights? Are there any in Alaska that have a passion for our Individual Rights to think independently.
It is way past time for parents who embrace traditional culture to remove their children from these indoctrination centers. Rush Limbaugh, long ago, began calling them “Screwls”, and for good reason. If you leave your children in this rancid, stinking environment, it is to your own ruin and the ruin of your country. GET THEM OUT, and begin to dispute the use of your tax money to fund them.
Do you even have kids ? Have you been in a classroom in the last ten years ? Or are just blindly follow whatever far right personality tell you?
Most Alaskan teachers are conservative
Use your head
Hey Alberto… Been in Alaska since 1974. I am white, proud of it. I have biracial grandkids and proud of them! Mainly because I taught my kids to take people as they come. If they are decent, that’s what counts! I read all your comments and what bothers me is you seem to berate everyone without knowing Alaskans. You say Alaska is mostly white, but you fail to recognize the natives here and they have been treated so different compared to Lower 48 natives. We have a mix of Chines, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese… all Asian countries as well as a Hmong and Islanders. Also, we have Italian, German, Irish, Scottish, etc. So you are judging this state because of what you perceive as a white’s only elitist group running the state. WRONG! Maybe you should try and visit Alaska and find out what we are truly like before you make uneducated guesses. Your ignorance permeates your opinion.
Hi Ken !
I don’t berate everyone
I loathe hyperbole and polarizing blogs like this to train people to be two things – angry or scared. That’s it.
The majority of Alaska is white according to the census.
I live in Alaska.
I work in the villages.
I’m not judging the entire state of Alaska.
I’m judging this blog. It’s yellow journalism.
I hope this clears things up for you.
When you get a chance google my name.
And with all respect and honesty –
I am happy you teach your kids to treat people as they would like to be treated.
I think that makes you a stand up person.
This blog thinks homosexuality is a mental disease and they’ve written that.
So I wish they had your class.
But they don’t and when they keep pushing poor writing to make people angry or afraid then I’m going to criticize them just as you criticize me.
And that’s fine.
I’m not going to criticize you because you seem from this comment a good person at heart.
Cheers