Norwin School Board approves policy that guides teaching of controversial issues

Norwin School Board on Monday approved guidelines for instructing students on controversial issues, including race relations, by employing what the district termed a balanced approach to presenting those issues, without inserting opinions or indoctrinating students to a particular viewpoint.

The initiative to develop a policy on teaching controversial issues such as race comes after three months of debate over whether critical race theory has crept into Norwin’s curriculum, a claim by a board member who said CRT was part of a high school lesson.

Under the policy, teachers will be allowed to instruct students on contemporary issues that are controversial as long as the lesson does not indoctrinate or persuade students to a specific point of view.

Teachers can’t present their own view as the only acceptable one. Teachers also must make an effort to present materials and references from a variety of viewpoints students can find in the library or class, according to the policy.

In terms of addressing race relations, teachers can tell students about historical eras or events when a race was oppressed. They can talk about systemic racism, but the issue must be presented from varied points of view. Students will not be required to share information about their own privilege or oppression, but they will be allowed to discuss their own experiences and beliefs under the new policy.

Two directors, Patrick Lynn and William Essay, voted against the policy.

Essay, a retired Franklin Regional teacher, questioned who will decide what is a controversial issue because that “is very subjective.”

“I feel we are tying the hands of our teachers … to the detriment of our students,” Essay said.

Superintendent Jeff Taylor said the only controversial issue is critical race theory. Issues that might be considered controversial could be addressed among the administration, teachers and school board members.

Lynn, a math teacher at Woodland Hills School District, said he guarantees there will be another controversy that arises, likely from a parent objecting to some instruction, in addition to the topic of critical race theory.

By setting such guidelines, “teachers will be walking on eggshells,” Lynn said. With these guidelines, Lynn contends, prospective teachers “will be petrified to come to this district.”

Like other meetings over the past three months, some residents brought up critical race theory.

Bruce Leonatti of North Huntingdon, who said he is an ordained minister, called CRT “a partisan, sectarian piece of indoctrination.” In public schools, Leonatti said, “CRT is the Antichrist.”

Joanne Garing of North Huntingdon said she is distressed by the actions of the school board, which she claimed was “bullying our teachers … which is not the stated goal of our school board.”

Speaking of racism addressed in the policy, Garing said “we have systemic racism in our country,” in the judicial system, health care and policing.

The board also adopted an anti-bullying policy that Kimberly Law, who said her son had been the target of bullies, applauded as being “awesome.”

“Take back the power from the bullies,” said Law, who told the board she had to remove her son from the school because of his fear of being bullied.