Campaign against “critical race theory” comes to South Kitsap district. Here’s how it went
After spirited opposition from teachers and students, the South Kitsap School Board on Wednesday rejected a resolution from a conservative board member condemning “critical race theory.”
The proposal momentarily thrust the Port Orchard-based district into a national debate over what students should be taught about race and history.
The resolution was offered by John Berg, a retired realtor who is one of five board members governing the district, which has 17 public schools that serve 9,958 students.
Berg’s resolution proposed to condemn the idea, among others, that “America is a racist country with white supremacists maintaining power through law, culture and institutional practices.”
It also sought to refute the idea that “there is a hierarchy of power with straight white males at the top,” and that oppressed groups identified by race, gender or religion “are victims who are not responsible for their condition.”
It condemned the notion that “those at the top should feel guilty for the sins of their ancestors that gave them their privilege.”
The resolution failed, 3-2 after Superintendent Tim Winter pointed out that critical race theory is not taught in the district anyway, and that the Legislative bill which seemed to animate Berg did not call for it to be taught.
“There is no curriculum for critical race theory in the South Kitsap school district,” Winter said. “We need to separate out what’s been manufactured out of this bill and what is reality.”
In the preamble to his resolution, Berg singled out Senate Bill 5044, a piece of legislation recently signed by Governor Jay Inslee. The bill requires school districts to train their staffs in “diversity, inclusion and anti-racism.”
“This bill is not a race bill. This is a diversity, cultural competency, and inclusion bill,” Winter said. “Nowhere does it say critical race theory.” He said the controversy was a “manufactured” one.
Once obscure, now a wedge issue
Critical race theory (CRT) is a once-obscure academic movement of civil rights scholars and academics who seek to critically examine the law as it intersects with issues of race and to challenge mainstream liberal approaches to racial justice.
Typically taught in graduate level courses, it has become a target of conservative groups who have used it to rally their base and raise the alarm that children are being taught to be ashamed of their country. Actually, no K-12 district in the country has critical race theory in their curriculum.
Defenders of CRT say critics have muddled the term to include almost any factual historical discussions of race, racism, or inequality, and teachers say they fear being forbidden to teach historical facts.
At the in-person meeting in the theater at South Kitsap High School, the board heard from a variety of teachers opposed to the resolution.
John Richardson, president of the South Kitsap Education Association, the teacher’s union, said that the resolution was “very racist” and said the board was being “duped” into thinking there was some new controversy.
“We have been doing equity and diversity and inclusion for a long time,” Richardson said. “This is a manufactured controversy being put out by talk radio people.”
Teachers in opposition
Amy Masten, a social studies teacher, said no one should think the factual teaching of historical inequalities would in any way shame white students or create division.
“They see their new knowledge as a path to understanding,” Masten said. She read testimonials from students in her class who gave examples of how they gained greater understanding from people of different backgrounds.
Jordan Carte, an elementary teacher who said she is part of the South Kitsap equity team, said that when she first came to the community she heard people yelling the n-word out their windows at her, and once had difficulty buying a house.
“My experience with housing discrimination is what I consider an example of institutional racism,” Carte said. “It had the potential to limit my life.”
When Carte ran out of her allotted time, another teacher, Courtney Nichols, finished reading her comment before adding her own.
“It is important to teach my students to be accepting and loving citizens,” Nichols said.
Kirsten Otterby, an English teacher, said the resolution would prohibit teachers from discussing historical inequalities.
“There are some huge holes in logic in the resolution,” Otterby said. “As an 11-year veteran of this district, I am embarrassed.”
Jesse Lacross-Lambert, a junior and AP US history student at South Kitsap High School, said students know that “inequity and racism and discrimination exist, and is very present in our district and in the rest of the nation.”
“I have seen it in my classrooms from my peers, from my administration, from my teachers,” Lacross-Lambert said. “And that’s as a white person; imagine being a student of color.”
Lacross-Lambert says lessons about history were not meant to make anyone feel bad about themselves, but meant to make sure the horrors of the past were not repeated in the present.
‘Something is happening’
Berg acknowledged that what he called CRT wasn’t actually being taught, but argued the board should pass the resolution anyway.
“The intent is not to handcuff the teachers in teaching correct history. We want history taught correctly. We want to teach about the Ku Klux Klan, we want to teach about the Trail of Tears,” Berg said. “But we need to teach our history accurately and fairly.”
Berg told The Gateway on Thursday that he got his information about CRT from Fox News videos on YouTube and the far-right publication The Epoch Times, which has been criticized for spreading conspiracy theories and banned multiple times from social media sites for misinformation.
Berg drew support from only one other school board member, Jeff Daily, who said he’s heard of people who have recordings of teachers in classrooms that he says demonstrated “something is happening.”
The board president, Eric Gattenby, and two other board members, declined to go along.
After hearing the superintendent, board member Liz Sebren said all questions had been answered and that the matter should be put to bed.
“I think that should be the end of the conversation,” Sebren said. “I will not be supporting that resolution.”
Board member Rebecca Diehl said the resolution would subvert the process and dictate what teachers are allowed to teach.
“We have a process,” Diehl said. “I am opposed to this resolution.”
In the end, Berg attempted to postpone a vote until August, but was defeated, 4-1. The 3-2 vote to defeat the resolution followed.
Berg said he’d be back if there was any evidence of “elements of critical race theory being taught.”
In an email on Thursday, Superintendent Winter expressed his support for teachers.
“We have great trust in our teachers that they know the curriculum and they know their students. That doesn’t change,” Winter said. “Director Berg is speaking solely for himself.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
