Peninsula School Board gets wires crossed trying to defuse critical race theory bomb
Across the country, public school board meetings have turned into cauldrons of conspiracy, intolerance and disorder. With the pandemic winding down, reopened board rooms have become ground zero in the culture wars and an embarrassment for students whose best interests these officials are elected to represent.
From California to Virginia, Arizona to Michigan, shouting matches have raged, board members have been verbally abused, activists arrested, rooms cleared and meetings suspended.
In Vancouver, Washington, misinformation and profanity spewed by public commenters at a recent school board meeting led YouTube to remove video of the meeting for violating company standards.
The stage was set for a similar ugly scene in Gig Harbor Thursday. It’s a credit to parents, community members and Peninsula School District officials that the tone of the board meeting was respectful and the room stayed under control. At one point, they even stopped for 15 seconds of silence, at the request of a PSD parent who’s also an Episcopal priest.
Still, the five-member School Board didn’t walk away unscathed. They didn’t explain why they felt compelled to adopt a resolution pledging not to teach critical race theory, which a new state law doesn’t tell them to teach.
They didn’t explain why they borrowed hot-button language used by conservatives who fear CRT is an anti-white indoctrination tool — for instance, that nobody “should be taught that they are an oppressor or victim based on their race.”
Before the board passed the resolution unanimously, President David Olson didn’t open it for board discussion, and no members said a word.
They missed a chance to avert confusion and avoid a manufactured controversy. Before a standing-room-only crowd of over 60 people, they failed to vocally reaffirm their support for diversity, equity and inclusion, and most importantly, to declare their trust in teachers to do what’s best for students.
One parent and former PSD student summed it up well during an hour of public comment after the resolution was adopted.
“I trust our teachers to handle this content,” Tim Gates told the board, “and you should, too.”
That Thursday’s meeting remained civil was something of a minor miracle. Conditions were ripe for a replay of the chaos that’s erupted elsewhere.
The Board chose a midsummer evening to put three explosive issues on the agenda: mask mandates, the state’s new sex-education curriculum and critical race theory. Might as well try to defuse three bombs at once, right?
Anti-CRT momentum has gained steam in Gig Harbor since the Legislature passed a bill this year to dismantle institutional racism in public schools. It’s created inflammatory fodder for local school board elections.
Also notable: One of America’s foremost CRT critics, Christopher Rufo, moved to Gig Harbor last year, bringing his stir-the-pot message that children are being taught to hate their country.
Just last week, Olson was jeered at a gathering of local conservatives; many dismissed the district’s responsibility to give kids a thorough education through diverse lenses, suspecting it’s a Trojan Horse for a broader CRT agenda.
Never mind that the theory isn’t as scary as critics want you to believe, that Peninsula schools don’t teach it and that the new state law doesn’t prescribe it. (SB5044 simply requires teachers and administrators to take a day of equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism training.)
Some criticism is well mannered, some small minded. At last week’s local forum, one woman blasted an elementary grade level unit on indigenous cultures, saying it would emphasize “a lot of basket weaving” at the expense of lessons on Abraham Lincoln.
Such nonsense is all too common but will not stand. Certainly not in a community built on Native soil. Certainly not in a district whose newest elementary school (where the board met Thursday) is named Swift Water, in honor of Gig Harbor’s original inhabitants.
Olson told the TNT’s opinion editor after the meeting that the resolution disavowing CRT went through several board member revisions and a legal review. He said it was a compromise intended both to disarm CRT critics and to support teachers; he pointed to the last sentence: “The District will continue to teach a complete and accurate history that is inclusive and without bias.”
On the first count, they apparently succeeded. Not a single CRT opponent spoke, grumbled or groaned at the meeting, though many were in attendance.
What Olson didn’t anticipate was a backlash from the other side.
“My concerns are about why this resolution is being brought at all,” said Jim Albrecht, a Gig Harbor parent and Pacific Lutheran University English professor. “Parts of the resolution seem intended to mollify the misguided view that teaching diversity and inclusion, or teaching about the history of racial injustice in the United States, is divisive.”
He joined nearly a dozen people, including current and former PSD staff, who confronted the board for not adequately explaining its actions, trusting teachers or defending a well-rounded education.
“I think people saw this in a different way than it was meant to be,” board member Chuck West said at the end of the meeting, after most of the crowd left.
Crossed wires are never helpful when trying to defuse a bomb, of course.
Now it’s critical that elected school leaders take the perceptions to heart.
Preventing shouting matches, arrests and hostility at school board meetings is a good outcome in these tense times. But it’s not enough to preserve the confidence and goodwill of a community.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; and Jim Walton, community representative. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. For questions about the board or our editorials, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 3:00 PM.