Even before all the Fort Worth school trustees could take their seats, the chants of “No CRT!” echoed in the room only to be countered by a woman shouting out: “Stop whitewashing history!”
Parents, pastors, teachers and recent graduates packed a routine meeting that quickly transformed into one of the first major conflicts since Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law aimed at keeping “critical race theory” out of classrooms.
Many of those gathered Tuesday night decried the concept, which has become a political lightning rod for conservatives. Others, however, implored trustees to push for honest conversations about America’s often painful past and present.
“Keep steadfast on this racial equity work,” parent Martina Van Norden urged the FWISD trustees.
The debate is far from over and will likely continue dominating Texas’ boardrooms. Abbott still wants legislators to do more to “abolish” critical race theory in schools — though he hasn’t yet outlined specific steps he wants taken in an upcoming special session.
Fort Worth trustees heard from parents concerned that schools are wading into divisive politics with their children as well as from many families who urged the district to take steps to make education more equitable for students of color.
The term “critical race theory” — a decades-old academic framework that explores how racism is embedded in U.S. policies and systems — recently has been co-opted by conservative pundits.
Opponents often conflate it with districts’ broader diversity and inclusion efforts, anti-racism training or multicultural curricula. In doing so, school district boardrooms have become a central battleground in this culture war even as the central issue is often misunderstood.
Some parents threatened to leave the district over this fight. They accused the district of indoctrinating students and making students feel like they are “oppressed or oppressors” based on their skin color.
“We are teaching our students that they are labeled by the color of their skin,” one speaker told the board.
Critical race theory is not taught in Fort Worth ISD, said spokesman Clint Bond. Texas educators across the state repeatedly insist that it’s not part of K-12 curriculums.
Still, dozens of people joined together for a march ahead of the meeting, saying they came out to protest “CRT” in schools, which they argue is harmful to children and is divisive. At the same time, many others gathered in support of ongoing work to reduce racial disparities in student achievement and expressed confusion about why this academic framework was the focus of the meeting.
The vast majority of Fort Worth ISD’s roughly 83,000 students — about 85% — are Black or Hispanic.
“We know that when racial equity is not consciously addressed, racial inequality is often unconsciously replicated,” Kimberly Williams, an African American educator, told the board.
FWISD created a racial equity committee in 2016, with the goal of dismantling institutional racism within the school system.
Trustees passed a resolution last year, following the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer, calling on leaders to speak up against racism, prejudice and intolerance. Across the country, some education leaders were turning inward, reevaluating everything from how they teach history to the ways in which they discipline students of color, who are overrepresented in the harshest punishments.
Dallas ISD, for example, is expected to ban most suspensions after years of data showed that the punishment was disproportionately meted out to Black children. Other districts brought elements of The New York Times’ 1619 Project — an award-winning series of essays seeking to reframe American history around slavery’s consequences and the contributions of Black people — into their classrooms.
The backlash, in many places, was swift.
Several states — including Texas — have taken steps aimed at banning their interpretation of critical race theory from classrooms. Abbott last week signed a bill that educators fear will make it harder for them to talk about race and racism in the classroom.
Abbott followed up the next day by announcing that lawmakers will revisit critical race theory during a special session. The new law “is a strong move to abolish critical race theory in Texas, but more must be done,” the Republican governor wrote in a statement. Abbott said a special session will begin July 8.
Tuesday’s meeting makes clear the fight will continue dominating school district boardrooms and parents’ attention.
At a recent NAACP Dallas panel, a State Board of Education member prepped audience members to speak out against legislative interference in social studies classrooms.
Aicha Davis, a Dallas-area Democrat, said she is getting ready to “rally the troops” to Austin. She joined several other high-profile education officials in opposing the bill, which was passionately decried by educators, business leaders and civic organizations.
The new law is full of vague language with a laundry list of ideas teachers should not talk about. It’s reminiscent of former President Donald Trump’s since-rescinded executive order targeting diversity training.
Teachers can’t be “compelled to discuss a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs,” according to the new law.
Within social studies classrooms, educators can’t teach a variety of ideas, including that a person is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, either consciously or unconsciously. School districts are also prohibited from requiring training that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of race or sex.
This comes as many districts are working on exploring how teachers’ unconscious bias — the stereotypes people may not be aware they have — can negatively affect students of color.
Josiah Gaiter, program manager for the conservative organization FreedomWorks, said at Tuesday’s march the final decision-maker for a child’s education should be their parents, not school districts.
“When you have board members who support ideologies that suggest that you’re an oppressor, or you’re oppressed based on your skin color, the problem is they’re acting more like politicians than parents,” he said.
Many academics have spoken out against the way critical race theory is being discussed, saying it’s misunderstood.
“At a fundamental level, it exposes the racism and oppression in our contemporary society,” said Jonathan Chism, a history professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, a co-editor of Critical Race Studies Across Disciplines. “It endeavors to resist it.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
