Parents and activists in Texas descended on the Fort Worth Independent School District’s (FWISD) school board meeting to protest Critical Race Theory (CRT) on Tuesday.
Prior to the meeting, over 100 people marched to the district’s headquarters, according to Fox 4 News.
A group of about 150 Fort Worth parents and activists gathering at the Fort Worth Police and Firefighters Memorial to speak out against Critical Race Theory; demanding FWISD Superintendent Kent Scribner step down. March to district headquarters starts NOW #FOX4 #CRT #FortWorth pic.twitter.com/vj3VPeEQNw
— Macy Jenkins (@MacyJJenkins) June 22, 2021
7th Street in Fort Worth shut down temporarily for FWISD protestors as they made their way to FWISD….#FOX4 #FortWorth #FWISD pic.twitter.com/iNd6xvWCj6
— Macy Jenkins (@MacyJJenkins) June 22, 2021
Roughly 200 protestors made the mile-long march from a Fort Worth police and fire memorial to the Fort Worth ISD school board while chanting against CRT and demanding FWISD Superintendent Kent Scribner step down from the board. They claim he’s responsible for focusing on ideology over academics.
However, march organizer Carlos Turcios shared a link Wednesday to the FWISD’s Division of Equity and Excellence’s overview of services handbook, writing, “The one’s asking for evidence on how the ISD is implementing CRT. Well here it is.”
The document is featured under the “Equity & Restorative Practices Handbook” on the district’s website.
In a greeting to educators, Sherry Breed, chief of the division, said, “FWISD has started on a courageous journey to dismantle institutional and systemic racism in our district”:
To address these systemic issues, the Division of Equity and Excellence was established. Since being established, the Division has provided a plethora of seminars to provide opportunities to build racial consciousness by first providing opportunities for participants to build their racial equity lens and interrogate their personal biases.
According to the Fox report, protest attendees also argued against a teacher training model titled “Courageous Conversations About Race.”
Meanwhile, page 10 of the handbook is titled “Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Fort Worth ISD: An Introduction”:
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to
- A working understanding of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its central tenets (Counter- storytelling, the permanence of racism, whiteness as property, interest convergence, critique of liberalism)
- An understanding of the endemic nature of racism and white supremacy to US society at its founding and into the present
- The ability to easily and openly discuss issues of race, racism, and settler colonialism
- The ability to read, understand, and apply CRT as an analysis tool in their current roles
Turcios shared photos of Tuesday’s march with citizens carrying American flags:
We marched today! No to CRT. A different approach is encouraged for our students. #Accountability
Posted by Carlos E Turcios on Tuesday, June 22, 2021
He also posted pictures of speakers at the board meeting:
Public comment today at the FWISD Board meeting. Many parents, educators, and stakeholders attended. We want a better…
Posted by Carlos E Turcios on Tuesday, June 22, 2021
“No time for politics, CRT, or rhetoric. It’s time for an approach that truly empowers our students,” Turcios stated.
Although the district reportedly maintained CRT is not in its curriculum, some parents said it is the reason they enrolled their kids in private schools, the Fox article concluded.
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