Tag Archives: Critical Race Theory

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Wit, Wisdom, and Williamson County

If you’re looking for the hotbed of leftist indoctrination in Tennessee, you should look no further than Williamson County, the wealthiest in the state, located just south of Nashville.

I mean, just look at the Williamson County Schools embracing diversity and also promoting seahorse porn.

It’s very troubling.

Williamson Strong has a take on the latest events there:

As a reminder, the national Moms for Liberty organization is making a full court press here in Williamson County against….elementary school books, which they allege are teaching Critical Race Theory You can watch segments on their own YouTube channel for a full deep dive on their Critical Race Theory 101 event that was held a few weeks ago if you have a few hours to kill.

The group’s members and their social media supporters are constantly decrying the supposed indoctrination that’s taking place through the new reading curriculum being used in WCS. Yet curiously, most of the 30 public commenters they had speak out against the Wit & Wisdom curriculum at Monday night’s meeting focused on age appropriateness of the content, not CRT – they even had props and signs to accompany and illustrate many of the examples.

But wait, we haven’t yet mentioned the seahorses because honestly it deserves its own section.

Moms for Liberty has a real issue with a 1st grade book on seahorses, which they call “a soft introduction to Sex Ed” and “switched gender roles”.

We’re not making this up or even slightly exaggerating or taking this out of context. Please watch this part for yourself because it is a very worrisome book.

Read the whole post to get a view of what’s happening in Williamson County.

All the Way Back to 2014

Those of you who have been around for a bit or who are regular readers may remember all the way back to 2014 when Williamson County Schools was labeled a hotbed of leftist indoctrination because of Common Core.

A group of candidates who strongly opposed Common Core were supported by the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity and won a majority on the School Board.

Some of these individuals have expressed support for vouchers and for bringing charter schools to Williamson County. Those are two primary goals of AFP.

Alvey on Education offers a view of what’s happening from a Williamson County parent’s perspective. A recent post there discusses a pending resolution at the School Board level that would denounce Common Core. Of course, it seems increasingly likely that Common Core will die an early death in Tennessee. But, the post offers some insight into what is happening now in one of the best school systems in Tennessee.

It seems that every few years, some outside groups descend on Williamson County and insert some chaos into the regular functioning of the school system. What’s somewhat amusing about this is that in 2014, the fuss was all about Common Core – a curriculum backed by then-Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and the GOP General Assembly. Now, the problem is being caused by Wit and Wisdom, a curriculum backed by Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn. Yes, that very same Penny Schwinn who was appointed by Gov. Bill Lee – you know, the Bill Lee from Williamson County who is pretty conservative, just ask him.

Yes, the very same Bill Lee who signed into law a bill banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory.

But wait, Critical Race Theory is bad but Critical Race Theory is in Wit and Wisdom but Bill Lee is essentially forcing Wit and Wisdom on all school districts.

It’s almost like no one at the TN DOE or in the Gov’s office is paying that much attention?

I wonder how Moms for Liberty feels about Bill Lee who signs bills that ban Critical Race Theory and also supports efforts to enshrine Critical Race Theory in the curriculum? Or, maybe Lee just likes the seahorse porn?

It’s all very confusing.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

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Williamson County Continues Wrestling with Diversity, Inclusion

As tensions heat up in Williamson County over the process of instilling principles of diversity and inclusion in the system’s schools, one parent group continues to highlight the work in the community being done on the issue.

Here’s more from One WillCo regarding some of what happened at this week’s school board meeting:

Last week, One WillCo joined with five other local organizations with a joint statement supporting Superintendent Jason Golden, and Williamson County School’s diversity efforts with “Fostering Healthy Solutions.” Tonight at the school board meeting several parents involved with One WillCo shared their experiences and thoughts during public comment. 

Alanna Truss, a clinical psychologist and parent of a Woodland Middle School and Kenrose Elementary School student, spoke in support of “Fostering Healthy Solutions” and Superintendent Golden. “Recent efforts by some individuals to push back against DEI efforts have included the claim that children are being traumatized by exposure to factual representations of history. In my years serving this community, I have yet to see a child in my practice due to being traumatized by our county’s curriculum choices. I have however, seen several students experiencing trauma due to being discriminated against and bullied within our schools, due to race, religion, gender and sexuality. As a parent and psychologist I am grateful for the ongoing efforts of our school board to make our schools a place where all students feel seen, respected, and safe.”

Trinh Le in District 12 thanked Jason Golden and the School Board for following science to keep students safe this year. She also shared that just this year at school her daughters have had anti-Asian slurs said to them, have heard other students telling Hispanic students to go back to where they came from, and heard anti-gay insults repeatedly shouted in the halls, and that this is why she supports a curriculum that teaches student about the true history of our country. “I have heard people say that teaching these parts of our history is racist or traumatic. But what’s traumatic is Black, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ kids going to schools where they face discrimination and don’t feel safe.” 

Amie Cooke, a mom of 3 elementary school kids in District 5, shared that she was led by Jesus last year to start a group called “Be The Bridge” to connect with friends of color in her community, and in part to learn about the discrimination they have experienced. From her conversations she has learned about some terrible acts of discrimination their kids have experienced starting as early as Kindergarten. Due to the curriculum controversy she has been hearing she asked her daughter, who just finished second grade, what she remembered about Ruby Bridges, and her daughter told her, “People didn’t like Ruby because of her skin color, but her teacher stood up for her and mommy, I would have stood up for her too.” Mrs. Cooke continued by calling the board to continue to equip and support and stand up for all of the children of WCS.  

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Williamson County Group to Make Stand for Diversity & Inclusion

A group known as OneWillCo plans to be in attendance at tonight’s Williamson County School Board meeting to show support for efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the district’s schools.

Here’s more from a press statement provided by the group:

A large group of parents and community members will show up at tonight’s school board meeting to show public support of the efforts by the WCS School Board and “Fostering Healthy Solutions”  to promote diversity and equality in Williamson County Schools.

“We are anticipating a large show of support tonight to further the efforts that Williamson County Schools has already started,” said Jennifer Cortez, one of the founders of OneWillCo. “We are grateful to Superintendent Jason Golden and our school board for taking courageous and necessary steps to address the racial harassment that continues to be a blight on our local schools. Our focus is straightforward. We want reasonable measures put in place to give our students of color the value and support they have needed and deserved for far too long. The responsibility rests on our whole community to support these crucial efforts.”

The move from the group comes as issues around race and diversity are receiving increasing attention in Williamson County and across the state.

In fact, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation that specifically prohibits the teaching of so-called “Critical Race Theory.”

Chalkbeat has more on that move:

Legal scholars are questioning whether a recently passed bill that seeks to restrict Tennessee educators’ teachings about race and racism will pass legal muster given past precedent, including one case that dates back 50 years.

The GOP-backed measure, which passed in the Tennessee House and Senate among partisan lines, would penalize school districts if teachers tie past and present events to white privilege, institutional racism, and unconscious bias.

“This is a poorly written bill that promotes a specific agenda, threatens academic freedom, and suffers from serious overbreadth and vagueness problems,” said Hudson, a law professor at Belmont University who specializes in first amendment issues.

Not surprisingly, state Senator Brian Kelsey and the law firm where he works support the measure:

One organization that supports the bill is the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, a public interest firm where State Senator Brian Kelsey of Germantown serves as a senior attorney. Kelsey supported the Senate version of the bill.

A number of groups across the state are actively encouraging Gov. Bill Lee to veto the measure. These groups include NOAH (Nashville), MICAH (Memphis), and CALEB (Chattanooga) as well as the Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance, the Tennessee Education Association, and the ACLU.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Your support – $5 or more – makes publishing education news possible.