Is Critical Race Theory An Issue For Marietta City Schools?

MARIETTA, OH — The issue of Critical Race Theory being taught at public schools is becoming a more and more pronounced issue. Not just on a national scale, but on state and local levels as well.

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At the last Marietta City Schools School Board meeting, a number of concerned residents spoke out against the teaching Critical Race Theory. One resident said,

“This is not education, this is indoctrination.”

She urged the school board not to get wrapped up in the agenda, claiming it will harm the community.

“It is not about what political party you align yourself with, it’s about doing what’s right for our children.”

Will Hampton is the Superintendent of Marietta City Schools. He says they're completely open to having a dialogue about this matter in September. But some are worried that changes might be made to the curriculum before September. Hampton said that isn’t an issue.

“We aren’t looking to make any changes to our curriculum.”

He said it’s a tough conversation to approach because it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is these residents are exactly opposed to.

“We’re talking about ideologies and it’s really vague.”

He says what the group is opposed to is very abstract, and as such, difficult to address.

So the question is, what exactly constitutes CRT?

Dr. Lasana Kazembe is a professor of Africana Studies at Indiana University in Indianapolis, he says CRT is a set of discourses on critical legal studies that emerged in the 70s. They examine what the relationship between citizenship, law, and race is.

“They are trying to get at why does the society in the political structures, the economic structures, the social structures, what is it, how does it operate, who does it benefit?”

He said they look at how race and racial constructs manifest in the legal realm. He said this is a very specialized field that is not taught or introduced in K-12 education.

“It is a very elite scholarly form of education that takes place at the graduate level.”

So the question is if Critical Race Theory isn’t being taught in K-12 schools, what are people upset about?

Last year the Ohio School Board signed a resolution to offer training for all state employees with the Department of Education to identify their own implicit biases. They also moved to “reexamine the Academic Content Standards and Model Curriculums to make recommendations to the State Board of Education as necessary to eliminate bias and ensure that racism and the struggle for equality are accurately addressed.”

While this doesn’t equate to teaching CRT, there are some people who say it’s teaching some of the basic tenets found in CRT, and is trying to move teachers in that direction.

One of those people is Rachel Citak. She’s an attorney based in Cincinnati who works with parents across the state on this issue. She is studied in black literature and said the problem here is that you won’t see CRT inserted on the syllabus as a bullet point. She said elements of it will leak in from the administrative level whenever teachers are asked to examine their privilege, biases, or microaggressions.

“These terms, along with equity are used to tell teachers how to interact with students, how to go about teaching them.”

She said CRT-related training given to teachers will inform how they react to students based on a certain worldview. She said the discussion of race is a very complex one, but CRT is just a theory and is not the answer.

“Parents want schools to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, and they want them to leave the division to math.”

But Kazembe said what some are calling CRT in K-12 education is actually expanding cultural horizons with which students are taught, to more accurately teach American history and include historically marginalized voices.

“To add a richer context to the education our children are getting.”

He says what many parents are upset about is not CRT training. He says what they’re upset about is that the status quo of what we teach our children is now being questioned.

Superintendent Hampton said the school board is open to understanding the concerns of the community better.

“I’m still trying to understand it, as is everyone in our county. I had a meeting with some other superintendents just a few days ago, we’re all trying to sort through this because it is so vague. It'd be easier to understand if I had a clear example of exactly what we would be doing wrong in their eyes. Or give me some more concrete details.”

He reiterated that the school board remains open to having a lengthy dialogue about this.

The next Marietta City School Board meeting is set for 6:00 PM, Monday, July 26.

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