Norwin director claims assignment on racism was critical race theory teaching

A Norwin school board member claims that a high school social studies teacher gave students an assignment on systemic racism in America, which was an example of critical race theory instruction, despite the school administration’s previous assertion that it was not being taught in the district.

Director Shawna Ilagan contended the use of a story headlined “Two Americas” — on inequality in five areas of American life — was an example of CRT that is “political indoctrination.” In the assignment, students were limited to using just the news story in answering a question on whether systemic racism exists in America, Ilagan said.

The story appeared in the Oct. 12, 2020, edition of Upfront, a magazine geared for use in high school classrooms that The New York Times publishes in partnership with Scholastic Inc.

The teacher was not identified.

“CRT is ideological poison. CRT is a false and dangerous narrative, which promotes an ideology that sees people as either the oppressed or the oppressor,” Ilagan said during this week’s board meeting.

It was an assignment by a teacher and not part of any CRT curriculum, school board president Darlene Ciocca said.

Critical race theory is a way of thinking about American history using the lens of racism. It centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

The article defined systemic racism as “laws, customs and practices built into society over time that have disadvantaged people of color,” further noting: “Even though many of these laws have changed, their effects can still be felt.”

Ilagan called the article “one sided.”

Director Alex Detschelt said he wants the board to take up the issue of opposing CRT in the district. The issue would be discussed in a policy committee, which consists of four board members and administrators.

Detschelt, who ran on a slate of Norwin4Change with Christine Baverso and Ilagan, came under fire from former board member Dennis Rittenhouse, for what he termed as Detschelt’s political actions on the school board.

Board members should “vote their conscience, not their political leanings,” Rittenhouse said.

Detschelt said that he has been fulfilling campaign promises, which he said included opposing CRT teaching in the classroom.

Another of Detschelt’s initiatives was fulfilled last week when the board voted 5-4 to ban CNN 10, a brief news broadcast geared for students, from being shown to middle schoolers. Classroom televisions are to be turned off, unless there is a teacher-, student- or administrator-driven reason to show a broadcast or play patriotic videos. Several board members criticized the broadcast because it is linked to CNN, which conservatives have criticized for what they claim is the network’s bias in its presentation of the news.

Detschelt said the district should not show any single source of news, even if it were produced by the conservative Fox News Network. On Friday, he and Baverso appeared in a four-minute segment on “Fox & Friends First,” where they defended the board’s decision to ban CNN 10. Detschelt also noted that the slate ran on promises to keep CRT out of Norwin classrooms, to not increase taxes and to stand against any mask mandates.

“We’re at the point now where we need to start fulfilling some of the campaign promises,” he told host Carley Shimkus.