Litchfield Elementary School District forces through equity plan despite community objections

  • Litchfield Elementary School District - Arizona

Incidents

Issues

On December 8, 2020, The Litchfield Elementary School District (LESD) voted to create a District Equity Statement. The statement notes “We subscribe to author Ibram X. Kendi’s definition: ‘One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of not racist.'”

Two months later, the board’s comprehension equity plan document (“Transformational Equity Work“) was leaked to parents; the plan lays out the groundwork for race-based trainings for all staff, race-based disciplinary actions, race-based curriculums, and race-based hiring practices.

One parent in the district asserts that LESD-created Diversity Empowerment Committee has been working on this “Transformational Equity Work” document since July 2020.

The plan includes trainings through the Arizona Education Foundation’s “Our World, Our Schools” program for teachers and administrators, which “provides a foundational understanding of anti-racism” and “delve[s] deeper into bias and common microaggressions.”

According to Western Journal, at a board meeting on March 16, 2021, board member Jeremy Hoenack, the lone opponent to the plan, articulated parents’ concerns in a back-and-forth discussion with fellow board member Kimberly Moran: “They are kind of appalled our school is going in that direction instead of teaching our kids math, reading, true history, character, how to be good citizens, how to be productive to society, so they can have happy lives, instead of going around whining and complaining.”

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