A Maryland school district has been condemned for spending $450,000 in taxpayers' money on a 'claptrap' anti-racism audit....
A Maryland school district has been condemned for spending $450,000 in taxpayers' money on a 'claptrap' anti-racism audit.
Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in Maryland, approved the $454,000 'anti-racist system audit' in November 2020.
On Wednesday, Conservative activist group Judicial Watch released nearly 700 pages of records related to the audit and critical race theory classes.
The documents gave a closer look at specific curriculum and lesson plans students were learning about, which included the topics of white privilege and intersectionality.
Students at Thomas Pyle Middle School in Bethesda, are being taught in their social justice classes that Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' slogan is an example of 'covert white supremacy,' as well as the 'denial of White privilege,' 'celebration of Columbus Day,' 'colorblindness' and the idea that 'we're just one human family,' documents showed.
The district hired The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium to conduct the audit, which list it's mission as promoting 'excellence and equity in education to achieve social justice'
Students in Thomas Pyle Middle School's social justice classes were taught that 'Make America Great Again' is an example of 'covert white supremacy
A slide presented to students read: 'Dominant narratives about race (family, media, society) coupled with racialized structural arrangements and differential outcomes by race all prime us to believe that people of color are inferior to white people.'
Also uncovered by the Judicial Review, was a class slide titled 'Implicit Bias, Structural Racism' that states: 'Race is created to justify enslaving people from Africa (economic engine of country).'
The students were asked 'What is White Privilege?' and were instructed that white privilege includes having 'a positive relationship with the police, generally;', 'soaking in media blatantly biased toward my race;' and 'living ignorant of the dire state of racism today,' Judicial Watch documents revealed.
In another slide titled 'What is Intersectionality?' the students were told it is defined as: 'Exposing one's multiple identities can help clarify the ways in which a person can simultaneously experience privilege and oppression.'
Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in Maryland, approved the $454,000 'anti-racist system audit' in November 2020
Students at Thomas Pyle Middle School (pictured) in Bethesda are being taught critical race theory
The curriculum is facing some backlash and being labeled 'dangerous.'
'The racist, revolutionary claptrap in these documents should be nowhere near a school classroom.' Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said.
'These documents show that extremists have access to our schools and are willing to abuse this access to children in order to advance a dangerous, divisive, and likely illegal agenda,' he added.
But there are some who defend the teaching of critical race theory in schools.
'In every aspect of our lives, we encounter race,' Jane Bolgatz, the associate dean for academic affairs at Fordham University Graduate School of Education told ABC News.
'If we aren't talking about race, we aren't noticing the ways in which society pushes white people forward. And so then we're not noticing the fact that these winds are not only pushing them forward but pushing people of color backward.' she added.
Nearly a dozen states-including Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Arizona- are considering legislation to ban critical race theory in public schools.
In September 2020, former president Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop funding training on topics including 'critical race theory' and 'white privilege' with taxpayer dollars.
President Joe Biden revoked the order.
The district hired The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium to conduct the audit, which list it's mission as promoting 'excellence and equity in education to achieve social justice.'
'The Anti-racist System Audit will provide an opportunity to examine the district's systems, practices, and policies that do not create access, opportunities, and equitable outcomes for every student's academic and social emotional well-being,' it added.
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