After Teachers Told To Teach 'Opposing' Views On Holocaust, School District Apologizes

SOUTHLAKE, TX — Students reading about the murder of nearly 6 million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust should also be given access to “opposing” perspectives, a top administrator at a Texas school district said, setting off a firestorm of criticism and fear among teachers.

Gina Peddy, the executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Carroll Independent School District, made the remarks in a training with teachers last week to determine what books they should have in their classrooms, NBC News reported.

The staff meeting was called after the school board voted to reprimand a fourth-grade teacher who had an anti-racism book in her classroom, the NBC report said.

In an audio recording of the meeting obtained by NBC, Peddy said her recommendation that an opposing perspective be offered would put the school district in compliance with a new Texas law targeting critical race theory.

Peddy said teachers should take care to offer multiple perspectives during classroom lessons on issues that are “widely debated and currently controversial.”

“And,” she said, “make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”

Texas House Bill 3979, which took effect last month, not only requires numerous points of view, it requires they be presented “without giving deference to any one perspective.”

When a teacher asked how an opposing view of the Holocaust could be offered, Peddy responded: “Believe me. That’s come up.”

Lane Ledbetter, the Carroll ISD superintendent, apologized, saying the school district recognizes “there are not two sides of the Holocaust.”

“During the conversations with teachers during last week's meeting, the comments made were in no way to convey that the Holocaust was anything less than a terrible event in history,” Ledbetter said in a statement on Facebook.

The new law, he said, “does not require an opposing viewpoint on historical facts.”

“As a district, we will work to add clarity to our expectations for teachers and once again apologize for any hurt or confusion this has caused.”

Even so, district spokesperson Karen Fitzgerald told NBC the new Texas law puts Texas teachers in a “precarious position.” Teachers who spoke to the network on the condition of anonymity said they’re worried they’ll be reprimanded for the books they have in their classrooms — and the ones they don’t.

“There are no children’s books that how the ‘opposing perspective’ of the Holocaust or the ‘opposing perspective’ of slavery,” one teacher said. “Are we supposed to get rid of all the books on these subjects?”

Bans of the academic discipline known as critical race theory bans are part of a coordinated strategy by red-state legislatures to restrict how teachers talk about the systemic effects of racism on legal and social systems.

"House Bill 3979 is a strong move to abolish critical race theory in Texas, but more must be done," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement last summer announcing a special session to debate it.

Rep. Steve Toth, a Republican from The Woodlands, said the aim of the bill is “teaching racial harmony by telling the truth that we are all equal, both in God’s eyes and our founding documents,” The Texas Tribune reported.

“Do you want our Texas kids to be taught that the system of government in the United States and Texas is nothing but a cover-up for white supremacy?” he asked rhetorically as he introduced the legislation. “Do you want them to be taught a souped-up version of Marxism?”

Democrats pushed back strongly, but couldn’t muster enough support to defeat House Bill 3979.

“We are making very real decisions about access to educational resources without even having a full understanding of what we’re talking about,” said Rep. Mary González, a Democrat from Clint.

González spent 10 years studying critical race theory for a doctorate degree she earned two years ago, and said she has “seen the opposite of what you’re talking about happen, that compassion and love stem from this theory, stem from this research and stem from the academic writings” related to it.

» Read more about this from NBC News.