By Dan Murphy
The discussion and debate over Critical Race Theory, CRT, landed in Westchester recently at two school board meetings in Northern Westchester. The Lakeland and Yorktown school boards heard public comments in opposition to CRT, and in support of the New York State Deparmtent of Regents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, DEI, initiative
Lakeland Superintendent Dr. Brendan Lyons and Yorktown Superintendent Dr. Ronald Hattar both told the public that CRT is not being taught in their schools. “The Yorktown School District is not teaching Critical Race Theory. Any suggestion to the contrary is false,” said Yorktown School District Superintendent Dr. Ron Hattar.
“Our core values, and what our task force is working on, are around understanding, kindness, respect and empathy for all individuals. Every child should feel respected.”
“There are some questions that have landed in my in box. Will the state document result in an anti american perspective? That will not be the case in the work of our task force. Will the work be an anti police rhetoric? That will not be the case here. We have a great relationship with law enforcement and they help keep us safe. Unfortunately schools are targets and my number 1 job is to keep your children safe and I rely on the police to do that,” said Hattar.
“Recently there was an allegation of an employee in our district sharing their political views with students. That will never be acceptable, they are not permitted to project. But outside of our school district, our faculty and staff are freely allowed to express their views. They have every right to do that. It’s wonderful that there are different perspectives, but inside our schools we are not permitted to project our views and that has happened in the past. Once we are made aware we do address it,” said Hattar.
The national debate over CRT resulted in a Facebook video posted by a Carmel resident, Tatiana Ibrahim, who accused the Carmel Board of Education of “emotionally abusing” students through the political indoctrination of CRT.
Ibrahim is shown in the video speaking with a Yorktown parent about Daks Armstrong, a Yorktown High School Guidance Counselor, who has spoken at Black Lives Matter, BLM, protests last year. Ibrahim accused Armstrong of attempting to indoctrinate students and called for him to be fired. She also called Armstrong, “Daks-boy”, in the video, an unfortunate comment that many at the Yorktown School Board meeting on July 12 took notice of.
“We should not let people who do not live in this community put up videos calling somebody that looks like me a boy. I’m offended by that. I’m a grown man. He is a grown man,” said Yorktown parent George Price.
90% of the speakers at the Yorktown meeting supported the DEI initiative and many spoke favorably of Armstrong. Four of the speakers said that both CRT and DEI “demonized the white race,” and “white students were being shamed for being white, and that it encouraged “the sterotype that all white people are racist.”
The school board meeting in Yorktown was controlled and civil. The Lakeland school board meeting held on May 20 was more boisterous. Lakeland Superintendent Dr. Brendan Lyons said, CRT “ is not a term that the team is using or a framework that has been explored at this time,” Lyons said. “A concept that has been explored is Culturally Responsive Teaching,” which, he explained, “is about forming relationships with your students and knowing who they are as learners and individuals, with diverse backgrounds, interests, passions, strengths, hopes, fears, and areas for growth.”
Culturally Responsive Teaching has been taught in the Lakeland Elementary Schools for several years, through the districts Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team.”
More speakers at the Lakeland meeting commented against CRT, and the topics of white privilledge and systemic racism. Judy McLaughlin, Save our Schools (SOS), Westchester leader pleaded the board to resume the “fundamental education” of the general student population. Eight more parents firmly but calmly insisted that the board address their children’s urgent everyday needs.
Last year, a group of Lakeland students formed Lakeland for Justice, which calls for implementing an anti-racism policy and work toward hiring and retaining more teachers of color.
The CRT debate is also underway in Westchester school districts including Pelham, Scarsdale, Rye, North Salem and New Rochelle. The group Save Our Schools for Westchester Children, saveourschoolsforwestchesterchildren.org is leading the effort to “exclude any theory based on the premise that the United States and its citizens are inherently racist, including: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (DEI), Critical Race Theory (CRT), Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework (CR-S), and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), in all of its forms,” as its website states.
More on the CRT debate in Westchester, and the opinions of your elected officials, in the weeks to come.
