Clark County School District agrees to pay Anti-Defamation League $75,000 to train students and staff

A member of the parental rights organization “For The Children of CCSD” provided Parents Defending Education with a contract between the Clark County School District and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The school district is paying ADL a total $75,000 for three years of services from August 12, 2022, to May 30, 2025. The purpose is to provide “comprehensive, anti-bias professional learning for students and staff.” The contract further explains: “Participants will learn to recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society; improve intercultural engagement; and combat racism, antisemitism, prejudice, and bigotry.”

The ADL will “provide the selected District schools a student-centered and guided framework to build inclusive and safe communities through the No Place for Hate program.” The organization will also “provide a detailed structure of the research-based program, A World of Difference for the development of the necessary knowledge and skills to support students in becoming leaders in system-level efforts to create respectful, inclusive schools and communities.” The ADL will additionally “comply with District Policies and Regulations to increase awareness and understanding of diversity; including, without limitation, race, ethnicity, geographic origin, residency status, language, socioeconomic status, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, spirituality, age, physical appearance and disability.”

The contract is also listed in the school district’s budget for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2023.

The Anti-Defamation League is a notorious political organization known for pushing to implement its “No Place for Hate” program into schools throughout the country. In a document for the “No Place for Hate” project, the ADL states that “although learning how to demonstrate kindness is an important part of a child’s psychological and social development, ADL highly encourages schools to move beyond kindness to social justice.” One section of the document is titled “Let’s Get It Right: Using Correct Pronouns and Names.” In this section, the document encourages teachers to use the preferred pronouns of students:

From an early age, many were taught that pronouns should follow specific rules along the gender binary: ‘she, her and hers’ for girls and women and ‘he, him and his’ for boys and men. However, as our society has progressed in understanding gender identity, our language must also be updated. It should be accurate and convey understanding and respect for all people, especially for those who are transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary.

The document then encourages teachers to implement “LGBTQ” topics into classroom discussions:

Using the lesson below, lead a discussion about the ways in which LGBTQ people, events and issues have been less visible or made invisible in mainstream accounts of history. Explore the impact of invisibility on people and how different groups have been historically marginalized in society. Then, engage students in a discussion about people who may feel invisible in their school. Be sure to focus on general identity characteristics (e.g., sexual orientation, immigration status, gender identity, etc.) rather than specific individuals. Based on this discussion, ask students to sign up to be interviewed if they feel like an aspect of their identity needs more visibility.

The “No Place for Hate” document also features a “Pyramid of Hate.” The ADL uses the document to explain that “while every biased attitude or act does not lead to genocide, each genocide has been built on the acceptance of attitudes and actions described at the lower levels of the Pyramid.” The pyramid intends to show that actions such as using “non-inclusive language” and committing “microaggressions” will possibly lead to “the act or intent to deliberately and systematically annihilate an entire people.”

The ADL’s website has a page dedicated to its “A World of Difference Institute.” The ADL explains: “Through the development and delivery of its programs and resources, the Institute seeks to help participants recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society; explore the value of diversity; improve intergroup relations; and challenge racism, antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and bias.” Several programs are offered to schools, including “Educator Training,” “Becoming an Ally,” and “Anti-Bias Curriculum Training.”