Development of New “Anti-Racism Curriculum” in Fairfax County

Introduction

The theme of the 2020-21 Leadership Kickoff Session for Fairfax County Public Schools (“FCPS”) on August 6, 2020 was “With Equity at the Center.”  The school Superintendent, Scott Braband, spoke at length to school principals and administrators, declaring that now was “a defining moment” for “racial and social justice” in the school system.  He decried “white privilege,” “systemic racism” and a “racial crisis.”  He said that henceforth “equity” would be “at the center of everything we do.”  From now on, he said, “equity” will not be “a thing” to be focused on; it would be “the thing.”

Braband’s remarks were followed by those of Assistant Supervisor Nardos King, who displayed Ibram Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist and suggested that the academic performance of black students in predominantly black schools should be measured by different criteria than are used to measure white students in predominantly white schools.  Also, quoting Kendi, King asked, “What if we measured intelligence by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environment?”

King’s comments were followed by those of a minority student leader, who stated that whereas the former goal of education was “equality,” now the talk must shift to “equity.”  This was followed by Ibram Kendi’s $20,000 video presentation entitled “Cultivating an Anti-Racist School Community.”  (We have not been able to see that video yet, but we have filed suit under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to get access to it.)

Superintendent Braband was quite serious when he said that “equity” would henceforth be “the thing.”  Since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, there has been a major emphasis on addressing what the school leaders perceive as injustices in education.

Development of the New Policies

Since 2020, huge amounts of time and energy have been spent pursuing the Superintendent’s goals.  Among other things:

• Numerous seminars have been conducted to instruct teachers about “privilege,” “social justice” and the like.
• Teams have been formed to scour and root out educational resources containing material they deemed “implicitly biased.”
• A process has been undertaken to revise the school system’s “Controversial Issues Policy” (which currently requires teachers to deal with sensitive issues impartially and objectively), so as to make it easier for teachers to become advocates.
• Steps have been taken to produce “equity” in student discipline.
• Consultants have been hired to assist in revising the school curricula to emphasize issues of bias, privilege and power.

Revision of the content and goals of the social studies curriculum has been a major focus.  Some efforts were already underway before the 2020-21 kickoff session, and they intensified thereafter.  Educators in Fairfax County have collaborated with their counterparts in five other jurisdictions (Albemarle County, the City of Charlottesville, Virginia Beach City, Madison County and Powhatan County) to create an “anti-racist, culturally responsive” curriculum.  The guiding principles of this effort included a desire to examine “materials, events and institutions” of “power, position and bias” in our history and governmental institutions.  Another goal was to create a curriculum that would increase opportunities for students to become activists in pursuing the program’s transformational goals.

One seminar conducted during this revision process was entitled “Curriculum for Equity.”  The materials for this session declared that “only a transformative pedagogy, founded on racial justice, will allow us to realize our ideas of diversity and social justice.”  Through such a pedagogy, “we create citizens who understand the value of these ideas — and who embody them through social justice.”

Potential Hurdle: The School System’s Controversial Issues Policy

At a September 15, 2020 all-day School Board meeting to review the proposed “Curriculum for Equity,” Fairfax County educators recognized that one barrier to the activist curriculum being contemplated was the County’s Controversial Issues Policy, which states that when there are substantial differences of opinion about an issue, teachers must address them “as impartially and objectively as possible” and must “encourage critical thinking by offering multiple perspectives.”  A copy of the Policy can be found here. Controversial Issues Policy

The proposed curriculum would implicate this policy, because there are substantial, intense differences of opinion about the existence and extent of “white privilege” and “systemic racism,” about whether it is a good idea to teach minority students that the deck is stacked against them, about the goal of “equity” vs. equality of opportunity, about the use of certain measures the attain equality of outcome (e.g., eliminating standardized testing), etc.

The “transformative pedagogy” being contemplated is not intended to be impartial on controversial issues.  Nor is it a goal to encourage students to become activists on both sides of the controversial issues.  Therefore, it was proposed that the Controversial Issues Policy should be reviewed and probably revised.  As one speaker stated, “Teachers feel hamstrung by current policy.”

The School Board hired a consultant to assist in this review.  The chosen consultant, The Leadership Academy, specializes in developing “equity” programs for schools.  (See leadershipacademy.org).  In May 2021 the School Board circulated a questionnaire prepared by the Leadership Academy, seeking input from school personnel, students and citizens.

The questionnaire itself was controversial.  Critics argued that it was structured to produce a predetermined result.  (See, e.g., “Fairfax, Va. Schools Pay New York Consultants for Critical Race Theory Curricula,” https://thefederalist.com/2021/05/07/fairfax-va-schools-pay-new-york-consultants-for-critical-race-theory-curricula/).

Since then, no specific revisions of the Controversial Issues Policy have been publicly announced, and it is not clear whether the School Board will actually implement any changes.  However, the process of implementing the new curriculum has gone forward at full speed without stopping to decide whether it violates existing policy.

Implementation of the New Curricula

New curricula for social studies courses have taken effect for the 2021-2022 school year.  The emphasis in them on “bias, privilege and power” is dramatic.  The course outlines indicate that instead of making racism and other injustices in our history “a thing” to be covered, they have become “the thing.”

Each of the new curricula deserves careful review, so I will not prolong this post by doing so here.  Look for additional posts soon.

Observations

No person of good will wants the history and government courses in our schools to be biased against minorities.  If there have been flaws in the curricula, they should fixed.  By the same token, however, most citizens of Fairfax County, regardless of political party, race and ethnicity, don’t want our children to be indoctrinated with slanted, divisive ideology.

Yes, children should be taught about the awful history of slavery and subsequent discrimination.  But they should also be taught about the many efforts to change our laws, institutions and attitudes to address past injustices.

Has the Fairfax County School Board struck the proper balance?  That’s what we should ask as we review the social studies curricula.

One area of concern is the status of the Controversial Issues Policy.  School administrators recognized that the curricula they were developing would violate the policy.  The policy requires neutrality and objectivity in teaching controversial issues, but the administrators admittedly contemplated an activist, advocacy approach.  What has happened since last May to the review of the Policy?  One likely possibility is that the School Board has concluded that a firestorm of criticism would occur if they proposed specific changes, so they have decided instead to implement their proposed curricula while sweeping under the rug the conflicts with existing policy.  We will see ….