The Fairfax County School Board in Virginia scrapped a resolution Thursday affirming support for “truthful education” linked to aspects of critical race theory and instead approved a watered-down version that backers said was “less divisive.”
The board was slated to vote on the controversial “Truthful Education in FCPS: Support for Educators and School-Based Administrators Resolution,” which promised to support teachers and district staff who “develop and implement antiracist, equity- and justice- based classroom resources and pedagogy.”
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var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_66295391", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1121208"} }); ","_id":"00000183-f6f1-d791-abd3-fefdf1350000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedIn a turn of events, a majority of the board voted to revise the resolution to omit terms such as “antiracist,” acknowledging the divisions it had caused in the community. The substitute resolution passed after contentious debate among members on whether the revision represented what the Fairfax County Public Schools community needed.
“The substitution that we’re presenting is, I believe, more inclusive of our board member views, and less divisive for our broad community,” board member Elaine Tholen said of the need for the swap.
School board member Ricardy Anderson, who backed the original resolution, said the new version didn’t go far enough.
“There are some essential components that are missing from the version being provided that I just cannot support,” Anderson said. “It’s missing the terms ‘truth’, ‘antiracist.’ It’s missing the terms ‘equity’ and ‘justice,’ and those terms show up in so much more of our work.”
FAIRFAX SCHOOLS IMPLEMENTED ‘EQUITY GRADING’ TO FIGHT ‘BIAS’
The original resolution garnered controversy because of its use of terms like “antiracist” and “equity,” which are commonly associated with critical race theory, an academic theory that says U.S. institutions are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities. To combat this oppression and racism, the theory says, institutions must adopt “antiracist” and “equitable” practices to eliminate racially disparate outcomes.
The board was quick to point out that the resolution is nonbinding and does not actually change district policy, but board member Melanie Meren told WUSA on Thursday that the resolution “signals the intention for … forthcoming policymaking.”
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Conservative parent activist groups criticized the board in the lead-up to the vote. In a statement to the Washington Examiner earlier this week, Parents Defending Education President Nicki Neily said the school district was “doubling down on activism” and noted that “schools are pursuing equity at the expense of excellence.”
The new “inclusive curriculum and instruction” resolution that passed Thursday pledges a commitment to a “more inclusive curriculum related to racism, bias, intolerance, and injustice.”
