Brevard School Board: training accused of critical race theory has nothing to do with race
Although faced with anger from a group of conservative parents over what they claim is racist training, Brevard Public School officials show no sign so far of reconsidering a summer program to teach staff about social and emotional learning.
Members of conservative parent group Moms for Liberty at Tuesday's School Board meeting criticized a contract to buy 53 tickets for the Conscious Discipline Institute, a summer program teaching school staff to implement social and emotional learning (SEL) in classrooms, at a cost of $79,500.
SEL techniques teach students interpersonal skills and self-awareness to help them deal with emotions and resolve conflicts. But Moms for Liberty parents at the meeting criticized a 2020 blog post on the website titled, “Raising Antiracist Kids: 9 Steps from Ibram X. Kendi.”
Kendi is an anti-racism activist, author and the director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. The organization linked to a free online seminar during which Kendi spoke.
“This is $79,500 that is going to CRT training for teachers,” Moms for Liberty member Katie Delaney said at the Tuesday meeting. “This is continued racist training.”
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Ashley Hall, Brevard chair of Moms for Liberty, said her group wants more transparency from the district about the program BPS staff will attend.
“We were just trying to bring up the concern basically, ‘Who is this organization? Why are we spending so much money on this, and how are we supposed to know that these ideologies are not being inserted into this training?’ … I know that they've used Conscious Discipline for a while now. We have teachers in our group (who) speak highly of the program itself, but have also seen some of the changes that have been made over the last couple of years that have gone a little bit to the left.”
A misinterpretation or anti-racist training?
As political debates around critical race theory and LGBTQ rights have taken center stage in school board meetings around the country, social and emotional learning has sometimes been caught in the crossfire.
In November, Asra Nomani, vice president of conservative group Parents Defending Education, called social and emotional learning “a Trojan horse to bring critical race theory and LGBTQ+ curriculum to the classroom” around America. This fall parent groups in states including Texas, Indiana and Washington have pushed back against SEL programs.
BPS spokesman Russell Bruhn said he isn’t aware of any plans by the district to reconsider sending staff to the Conscious Discipline Institute, and School Board Chair Misty Belford said it’s unlikely the district would move away from the program. Belford added that the summer institute was approved by the state as part of BPS’ reopening plan and has nothing to do with critical race theory.
“Conscious Discipline has been around for a long time,” Belford said. “And the elements of the program that we're teaching have nothing to do with the ‘raising an anti-racist kid’ blog post on the website. It's really about how do you encourage good choices by children and how do you address when children make bad choices and a positive way so that you can redirect them.”
“I'm kind of baffled by how social emotional learning has been turned into what it has been by some groups. I think it's just a misinterpretation.”
Belford said the training is especially important due to the disruptions and emotional challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Students are dealing with a lot of big emotions that I don't think our students have had to deal with in, goodness, decades,” Belford said.
On Tuesday, School Board member Matt Susin said the training isn't until summer, giving the district plenty of time to ensure the training is appropriate. He told FLORIDA TODAY in a Friday interview that he expects the best and hasn't seen any reason for concern with Conscious Discipline.
"Everything Conscious Discipline's done with our schools has been in line with rules and regulations, and no CRT's been taught," Susin said. "And we hope to continue that with them and look forward to continued collaboration with them to help our kids."
Hall said her group isn't opposed to the training as long as it strictly deals with students' emotional health. For parents to be made comfortable, Hall said the district should share the materials or access to the training itself so that they can see that no critical race theory has infiltrated the teachings.
“I think parents should have an open invitation to the training,” Hall said. “As long as we could see what the training materials are and see it for ourselves, so that we can feel comfortable that these ideologies aren't leaking in.”
Bailey Gallion is the education reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallion at 321-242-3786 or bgallion@floridatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Moms for Liberty accuses Brevard teachers of getting critical race theory training
