Success Story: Clear Creek ISD adds to its ‘Controversial Issues’ policy to ban ‘race or sex scapegoating’

Incidents


On Nov. 9, 2020, Clear Creek Independent School District, outside Houston, Tex., announced it was hiring controversial Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Eric Williams, immediately drawing criticism because of Williams work hiring expensive consultants to bring critical race theory to his school district in Northern Virginia.

Local Texas parents raised questions in public meetings at which Williams was introduced to the community, and the controversy over Williams’ hiring became headline news.

As a result of the protests, the Clear Creek Independent School District passed language at its Jan. 25, 2021, school board meeting to revamp its “Controversial Issues” policy so that this language was added: “District resources for student instruction, employee training and professional learning shall not promote or endorse race or sex stereotyping or race or sex scapegoating.”

It continued: “Race or sex stereotyping is defined as ascribing character traits, values, moral and ethical codes, privileges, status, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of his or her race or sex. Race or sex scapegoating is defined as assigning fault, blame, or bias to a race or sex, or to members of a race or sex because of their race or sex.”

The “Controversial Issues” policy in school districts is one defense against political and ideological indoctrination. While Clear Creek Independent School District beefed up its policy to address worries of parents, other school districts, such as Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia, have been working to revise their policy to allow for more indoctrination by teachers, raising alarm bells among community members.

The local Community Impact Newspaper reported, “A modification to local policy was first introduced Dec. 14, during former Superintendent Greg Smith’s last board of trustees meeting, and was approved on its second of two readings at the Jan. 25 meeting, a week after Williams had taken over. Board members did not discuss the policy amendment at either meeting.”

References

“Clear Creek ISD modifies policy to address concerns surrounding critical race theory,” Community Impact Newspaper, Feb. 4, 2021.