By Tanya Hettler. Director of the Center for Education Excellence, Caesar Rodney Institute
Take a minute or two to read through this brief article – it explains a lot about the connection between CRT and gender nonsense being taught in schools: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1509560754206392321.html
Hello all,
Here is the letter I received from the BSD school board in response to the letter I sent them about the CRT video shown at Concord last week. At the bottom of this email I am forwarding you the response I wrote back to Mr. Skrobot and the board. I was not pleased that Mr. Skrobot implied that we have not shown him any evidence thus far showing that CRT is in BSD so I decided to take the time to list all of the examples of CRT-like evidence that we have found thus far.
It actually ended up being a great opportunity to list – all in one place – all of the CRT materials that we have found thus far. I think he will wish that he had not implied that we have not given them any evidence once he sees all of it listed in one place.
It was also a good reminder of all the work we have done. Thanks to each and every one of you for all of the work that went into the list of CRT items that I included below – from reading the children’s books at the board meetings to exposing the “Anti-Racism Resources” on the district’s website to all of the FOIA documents that we went through and the letter we sent them about the FOIA documents.
It’s been a crazy 10 months but I do think we are making progress on this issue and I think the video last week may have just been the straw that breaks the camel’s back in making it obvious that CRT is happening in BSD.
On a slightly different topic, Janice Lorrah, a mom who is also an attorney, has filed a lawsuit against Governor Carney to end the mask extensions. The hearing has been expedited and is scheduled for Feb 28 at 9:15 am at the Courthouse in Wilmington (Leonard L.Williams Justice Center) and is open to the public. I just met Janice today and it would be great if there could be lots of people there to show support for her and her case.
Here is the article about it: https://baytobaynews.com/stories/hockessin-attorney-files-suit-over-mask-extension-in-schools,71447
Thanks again everyone,
Tanya
Email From John Skrobot – Brandywine School District.
Dr. Hettler – Thank you for your email. As I’ve said before, bring us a specific example from our schools and we will look into it.
I will inquire about this video and the context in which it was shown, if that is the case.
John Skrobot
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Tanya Hettler <tanyahettler@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: Video shown in BSD for Black History Month
To: Skrobot III John <John.Skrobotiii@bsd.k12.de.us>
Cc: Hohler Lincoln <Lincoln.Hohler@bsd.k12.de.us>, Ackerman Ralph <ralph.ackerman@bsd.k12.de.us>, Jason Heller <jason.heller@me.com>, Pidgeon Kristin <Kristin.Pidgeon@bsd.k12.de.us>, Perry Shanika <Shanika.Perry@bsd.k12.de.us>, Gordon Karen <Karen.Gordon@bsd.k12.de.us>, Stock Kimberly <Kimberly.Stock@bsd.k12.de.us>, Rolph Keith <Keith.Rolph@bsd.k12.de.us>, Mayer Mark <Mark.Mayer@bsd.k12.de.us>, Calderon-Lacy Curi <curi.calderon-lacy@bsd.k12.de.us>
Mr. Skrobot,
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to look into this divisive video. Several different parents of students at Concord High School have expressed concerns about it.
I do remember you saying during the school board meetings that we should bring specific instances of CRT-related evidence to you.
We told you about the “Anti-Racism Resources” page on the district website that contained over 200 pro-CRT resources. It took many months before the page was removed on the district website. The board as a whole did not communicate with us about this nor did you notify us when the page was removed. We are, however, very appreciative that that page has been removed from the district website.
We also made you aware of the two books that were read out loud at the school board meetings. These books were both found recommended on the district website. They were “Not My Idea” by Anastasia Higginbotham and “A is for Activist” by Innosanto Nagara. We never got a response about the 2 books. But we are grateful that they have been removed from the recommended resources on the district site.
We also showed you the results of the FOIA request related to CRT. Our findings showed that social justice ideology was being taught to teachers during training without using the specific words “Critical Race Theory”. We never heard back from you about this although we specifically asked for a response.
I also shared with you and the board that there was a “Thirteen Principles of BLM/ BLM in School” training that was given to teachers at the beginning of this school year. I did not receive a response about this either. This training was not included in the FOIA materials although it was initially announced to teachers via email during the time frame of our FOIA request.
I debated as to whether to bring up some of the other issues that I have witnessed. I had some other examples from about a year ago in which political ideology was being promoted. I did not want to bring these instances up in front of the whole district during the school board meetings. The issues had been dealt with and I did not want to publicly shame the teacher involved. But since you are asking about specific instances I will tell you here.
There were two times in which Ms. Jeannette Wilt, my son’s Statistics teacher at Brandywine High School posted “backgrounds” during her remote learning that were driven by her own political agenda as well as another time when she was using a Planned Parenthood example in her class and then made a positive political comment about the organization that had nothing to do with the lesson. I sent an email to Mr. Rolph about it. He spoke to her about these images, made her take them down, and told me that it was not the first time she had done something like this. I will attach the relevant portion of my email to Mr. Rolph here:
“Hi Mr. Rolph,
Kevin was in statistics this morning online. Ms. Wilt’s “opening/welcome to class” slides today stated “To me queer is strong” and “We shouldn’t be ashamed of pride.” They were huge full page messages that were shown to the kids while they were waiting for class to start. Kevin came and told me and my husband about them and my husband saw them.
I am wondering what exactly those statements have to do with statistics.
Toward the beginning of the year Ms. Wilt gave a statistics example using Planned Parenthood data. At the end of the example, completely unrelated to math, she told the class that “Planned Parenthood doesn’t just do abortions. They provide women’s healthcare.” I overheard her say this.
Thanks,
Tanya Hettler”
So I believe that we have given you many examples of CRT-like ideology and other political ideologies that have occured in Brandywine School District. We would love to hear your response to these specific instances.
Thanks again for taking the time to look into the video.
Tanya Hettler, Ph.D. and Citizens for Brandywine School District
