Instructional Services Educational Director for GHAPS Mary Jane Evink says Critical Race Theory is not being taught in Grand Haven Area Public Schools. This is a lie and teachers are being told to lie to parents if they are asked about it. You may be asking yourself why would teachers lie about this? It doesn’t make any sense. The short answer is because they don’t understand the ramifications of what they are doing. They truly believe they are helping children.
In reality the philosophy of CRT is very dangerous. It teaches people to become racist by promoting ideas that anyone who doesn’t actively declare themself an anti-racist is a white supremacist or Neo-Nazi. In the American school system including the Grand Haven School District, these directives are coming from the state and national level with promoters inside the districts. Teacher organizations and teacher unions are setting policy for schools across the country and school boards are blindly following along.
Critical Race Theory goes by many names including social-emotional learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and culturally responsive teaching. It is not a subject but ideas that are infused in learning materials which lead students to conclude whites are responsible for centuries of horrible oppression and non-whites are oppressed victims.
During the March 18, 2021 professional development training Grand Haven teachers attended a session entitled Cultural Competency with Dr. Tyrone Howard.
On May 5, 2021 in the Brave and Courageous Conversations training session, teachers were lectured on ideas of White Privilege with videos from Justin Wilford, and encouraged to “change our institutions” because of racism. One slide identified the marginalized and privileged as follows:
For those who hold marginalized identities:
Recognition that sitting during these discussions about inequity may mean feeling vulnerable, exposed, frustrated, angry. There is no choice to only be safe.
Recognition of the added weight that people may feel as we illuminate the work we have yet to do.
Elevating the voices of those that live in a place of marginalization is critical - their “knowing” is paramount.
For those with privilege:
Learning may involve the giving up of a former condition for a new way of doing things.
It may involve stepping out and engaging in a conversation even when there is fear of getting it wrong.
It can also mean accepting feedback about being told about an insensitivity, an uninformed perspective, or a micro-aggression.
Just yesterday, December 8, 2021, Grand Haven teachers were again subjected to a day of CRT training. Yesterday’s training was led by Deanna Rolffs and Noelle Stiph.
Here are some screen shots from Deanna Rolffs’ social media in which she discusses America being a racist country and encourages leaders to “decolonize their pedagogy”.
Here are a few snapshots of slides from yesterday’s teacher CRT training. Notice how the slide calls everyone who disagrees with it a white supremacist or Neo-Nazi. How is this helping our children, teachers and community? To me this appears to be outright abuse.
During the November 2021 School Board Meeting choir teacher Benjamin Rodgers officially resigned because of Critical Race Training in Grand Haven Schools. Here is his resignation speech.
My name is Benjamin Rodgers. I have been a choral director for 17 years. Eight of those here in Grand Haven. Tonight, while formally addressing the board, I’m speaking to the parents and community behind me.
Critical Race Theory is being intentionally integrated into the Grand Haven Public Schools.
During the 20-21 school year, most of the Grand Haven staff were forced to sit through professional development laced with Critical Race Theory. We were asked to sign a statement acknowledging our “whiteness” and pledge to “do the necessary work” to be better. All professional development last year focused on white privilege, systematic racism and equity. The high school staff was given a copy of “This Book is Anti-Racist”. The student group, Calling All Colors, created a four-part lesson which defined the dominant culture as being White, Male, Cisgender & Christian. These videos noted that systematic racism permeates our nation and the members of the dominant culture are oppressors.
Following the final professional development session, entitled “Brave Conversations”, I sent an email posing the question: “do we really want to teach our students to judge someone by race, gender, religion and sexual orientation? Or do we encourage characteristic of integrity, moral character and work ethic?”
One Assistant Principal responded by sending me a list of books and documentaries with titles like White Fragility and the New Jim Crow in hopes to re-educate my thinking.
Shortly after my email was sent, I received a meeting request with two principals and two administrators from the ESC. From this lengthy meeting, I was able to learn that Grand Haven was creating a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee to figure out how to implement similar racial discussions across the K-12 district.
The 21-22 school year started with a brief CRT professional development but this time, we were told that CRT is not and has never been taught in Grand Haven and were even instructed what to say if parents asked about CRT. We were told that CRT isn’t a curriculum like math and science: neither is multiplication or the periodic table. It’s all semantics. I believe this intentional word play is an attempt to settle awakened parents to allow CRT to creep back in the shadows where it can continue to fester in the district.
Critical Race Theory is alive and well in Grand Haven Public Schools. I refuse to be a part of a district that teaches an ideology that, by definition, is racist. I no longer chose to be associated with the indoctrination of our youth here in Grand Haven and officially resign my position.
Critical Race Theory is used to divide people. Similar techniques have been used throughout history to divide populations; think Jews verses Aryans during World War II, urban verses country people in Cambodia under Pol Pot, and Serbs verses Croats during the Yugoslavian War. When division is sought, youth typically receive extra teaching which results in turning children against their parents. During Nazi Germany children were forced to join the Hitler Youth. Kids enjoyed crafts, camp-outs, and hiking trips where they were separated from their parents and received a hefty dose of indoctrination. Likewise, children were turned against their parents during the Cultural Revolution in China. In Pol Pot’s Cambodia, children were sent to work camps where they were trained in fighting techniques. In each of these examples, leaders retrained the youth because it was their job, or because they believed what they were doing was just. These techniques of dividing people are not new. This is just the first time they have been used in a large scale on us as Americans.
When anyone representing GHAPS tells you that Critical Race Theory is not being taught in Grand Haven make sure you ask numerous follow-up questions such as what books are the students reading? Can I see the lesson plans? Pay special attention to English and History as these are favorite subjects for hiding Critical Race Theory. Ask to see videos provided to teachers by the curriculum. Watch out for left-wing political propaganda in science lessons such as promotion of Green New Deal Ideas with references to overpopulation, climate justice, fossil fuels, and green energy. Listen for other CRT words like diversity, equity and inclusion, and culturally appropriate.
CRT is being taught in the Grand Haven school system and we need to recognize that these ideas are separating families and creating racism. It is up to us, the community, to put a stop to these teachings. We need to stand-up, and speak-up and protect our children and our community.
If you have a CRT story from the GHAPS that you would like to share please email jsn1984@protonmail.com and include as much information as possible such as school, grade, subject, teacher, book or lesson title, and description of the issue. Thank you.