Laconia School District has Diversity and Inclusion Task Force that promotes equity in the district, including in the K-12 curriculum

Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Laconia School District seeking any guidance on transgender issues. The district did not provide PDE with any transgender guidance. However, the district did provide PDE with a presentation titled “Creating Communities that Promote Belonging” that appeared to be for the district’s “Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.” The presentation promoted the idea of “equity” over “equality.” The presentation also promoted the idea of “implicit bias.”

The presentation included a link to a video titled “Implicit Bias: Peanut Butter, Jelly and Racism” from PBS. In the video, PBS makes the argument that implicit bias is a result of our culture such as entertainment and education and is similar to peanut butter and jelly because the two are associated together. The presentation states that “Black and Hispanic students receive more severe consequences than white students” to promote implicit bias.

The district also provided PDE with a document titled “Anti-Discrimination Plan” that was dated 2021. This document states that the district created a “Diversity and Inclusion Task Force” in February 2020. This task force appeared to have influence over the curriculum taught to students: “Building and student plans, cases of purported discrimination, professional development implementation, and integration into K-12 curriculum.”