'Few' From Ultra-Conservative Group Attend ASD Town Hall
The 'hundreds' of people ultra-conservative Alaska Parents' Rights in Education (APRIE) group said they needed to show up at the Anchorage School Districts End of Year Town Hall meeting never materialized with only about 8 individuals in attendance on Wednesday.
Parents' Rights in Education believes teaching an anti-racism curriculum in schools is racist and must not be taught, according to their website, and is staunchly against teaching critical race theory in public schools.
As testimony from the town hall event concluded, school board member Andy Holleman said that he wanted to emphasize that the board "has not voted anything that promotes or adopts Critical Race Theory (CRT) and it has not voted in anything that would change instruction in the classroom for some time."
Holleman told attendees of the Town Hall that he "thinks there's a misunderstanding about discussions that were had" and that the school board can't revisit the issue "because it's not something that was ever voted on." Holleman noted that the Anchorage school board adopted an anti-racism policy that has nothing to do with CRT saying, "that's just not part of it."
According to Education Weekly, critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that racism is a social construct and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.
School board member Dave Donley said there were "multiple critical race theory books" on the Anchorage School District website, noting that while "they aren't specifically designated for children or student instruction, they are on the ASD website." Donley did not identify the books he was referring to.
Newly elected school board member Dr. Kelly Lessens said she was a "little bit surprised" that masking would be made optional before students can be vaccinated ahead of students' return to the classroom this fall. Lessens said that the school district should guarantee students "safety and security," and says she doesn't "support this current change in policy."
The next Anchorage school board meeting is scheduled for June 6.
