'Fake News', 'Disinformation' Fuels Fears, Teacher's Union Says

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Amid the start of early voting in school board elections and recent curriculum controversies, the state's largest union on Thursday released the partial results of its annual poll on education in Illinois.

The Illinois Education Association's 2023 State of Education report asked respondents about their views on contentious school board meetings, which subjects to teach and potential book bans.

The IEA represents about 135,000 members, including primary and secondary teachers outside of Chicago, educational support staff and other faculty.

“The vitriol that is infiltrating public education at all levels is like nothing we’ve ever seen in Illinois,” IEA President Kathi Griffin said in a statement. “Fake news and disinformation are fueling fears and that’s pitting school communities against one another, often over something that isn’t even true.”

According to the results of the poll, 20 percent of residents said there has been "fighting, yelling or other contention" at a school board meeting in their community.

Asked for their thoughts on such meetings, 11 percent strongly favored it, 14 percent somewhat favored it, 17 percent somewhat opposed it and 49 percent strongly opposed it.

Griffin said disruptions at school board meetings distract school officials from providing the best education to students. She encouraged voters to back candidates who support public education and support students.

“School board elections are right around the corner, and there are candidates of chaos on the ballot in Illinois," Griffin said. "They are fueled and funded by dark money groups. These candidates are looking to further disrupt and dismantle public education at all levels."

The poll also asked respondents for their level of support of four specific policies — a state law banning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools, teaching high school students about slavery in the U.S., teaching students about racism in the U.S. and banning books from Illinois school libraries.

Book bans had the least support of any of the policies, with 60 percent strongly opposed and 15 percent somewhat opposed.

Teaching about American slavery and racism had broad support, with 77 percent strongly or somewhat in favor of teaching about slavery and 72 percent favoring teaching about the effects of racism.

Respondents were more divided when it came to the question about critical race theory, or CRT.

Overall, 50 percent of people strongly or somewhat opposed a state law banning the teaching of critical race theory in Illinois public schools, while 42 percent favored a ban and 9 percent were unsure.

The theory, grounded in critical theory and emerging from critical legal studies, holds that systemic racism leads U.S. institutions to function in a way that maintains the privileged position of white people.

While there is scant evidence that CRT is being taught to students before they enter college, some of its central ideas are, such as the long-term effects of slavery, according to the Associated Press.

“The people of Illinois have made it very clear they support an honest education for all of our students,” Griffin said.

“They believe our students should have access to LGBTQ+ books. All of our students should know the truth about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. They should know the truth about racism as a structure in United States society, history and culture," she added. "It is through the understanding of our history that we will be able to move forward successfully and not repeat the mistakes that were made in the past.”

The IEA State of Education poll was conducted by Normington-Petts and Next Generation Strategies between Jan. 19 and Jan. 24. It surveyed 1,000 Illinois resident and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Union representatives said they planned to release the full report and polling tabulations at a news conference early next month. A release of the answers to eight poll questions indicates there were more than 20 other questions asked. Results of the poll from past years are available online.

Related: Banned Books: What Titles Have Been Removed From Some Illinois School Districts

The question of how to teach about slavery, racism and African American studies in high school has in recent weeks become increasingly prominent politically after Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida and a putative presidential candidate, rejected the pilot program of the College Board's Advanced Placement African American studies program.

This week, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton led a march to the Florida Capitol to protest the governor's move.

DeSantis, who asserted the course had a left-wing bias, has also pushed for a ban on critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state colleges.

Kamasi Hill is one of the few high school teachers among the more than a dozen educators who took part on the development committee for the pilot AP African American studies course.

Hill, a history and social science teacher at Evanston Township High School, addressed the new curriculum at a school board meeting earlier this month.

"It has been a long, tedious process," Hill said. "We were told early that there would be some controversy, because African American studies has historically been a course that has been a challenge just to be accepted as a part of colleges and universities — much less a high school"

Hill had eight students in the course this year at ETHS, one of 60 high schools taking part in the pilot, but said he expects to have as many as two class in the fall ahead of the first AP exams in the subject in the spring of 2024. The pilot program is scheduled to expand to at least 55 more schools next year before opening up nationwide in the 2024-25 school year.

Unlike most other AP courses, the final grade is not solely determined by the results of an exam at the end of the year. Instead, the grade of a final project comprises 20 percent of the grade, Hill explained.

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Several ETHS school board members told the teacher they were never exposed — even as history majors in college or as teachers in Chicago Public Schools — to the level of African American studies provided in the pilot program.

Hill said he has been aware of the pushback against the teaching of African American history from a young age, recalling that his college professor father helped launch such a program.

"It's always been a fight. When you are trying to tell the story, particularly to tell the story of resistance and struggle and love and hope and all that stuff from a people who have been historically excluded from not just college curriculum, but high school," Hill said.

"Many of you have said, 'I didn't learn this stuff in college,' which means you definitely didn't learn it in high school," he told board members.

The new AP curriculum does not solely focus on oppression, doom and gloom, but on the uniqueness of the African American experience, the teacher said. He also noted there are at least 300 African American scholars represented in the course.

"It's about the contributions, it's about the love, it's about the joy, it's about the hopes, it is a curriculum that spans several centuries that really roots and grounds the studies from the scholarship from the communities that are being studied," Hill said.

"I look forward to AP African American studies being taught here — and other schools in the North Shore as well," he added cheekily, to audible laughs from the room.