Area candidates make “CRT” an issue — but is it being taught locally?
I contacted my best sources for an answer.
TOLEDO, Ohio — It has become the talk of school board meetings, cable news, and even some of our local candidates for office.
“So CRT, by its acronym, may not be taught according to what we believe in the curriculum,” said Joshua Williams, the Republican candidate for OH-41.
In both of my extended conversations with candidates Joshua Williams and Wendi Hendricks, both of which you’ll see on Community Focus this and next week, they brought up concerns from parents about what’s being taught in the classroom.
“The reason it started to get a spotlight shined on it is because of COVID. When kids started to go home, and be on Zoom, and parents are looking over the shoulder of the kid and seeing what’s being taught. And they’re like, ‘I can’t believe you were learning this in the classroom. Now I get to see what you’re being taught.’ That is when it became a national spotlight,” Williams added.
Critical race theory, according to the Brookings Institute, is the teaching that:
“U.S. social institutions (e.g., the criminal justice system, education system, labor market, housing market, and healthcare system) are laced with racism embedded in laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that lead to differential outcomes by race.”
While that is true in many cases, an example being the discriminatory practice of redlining from the 1930s, Williams believes it’s slowly being integrated into school curriculums.
“Teachers are being taught CRT in their training,” he claimed.
So what exactly has changed? When asked that very question, here’s how Hendricks responded:
“There’s a lot of changes that have happened. Teachers are asking kids their pronouns, and [at] their very young age, that’s confusing,” said Wendi Hendricks, the Republican candidate for OH-43. “There’s been situations where they’ve actually changed their gender without talking to a parent.”
In pursuit of the truth about this being a real issue or not, I found a few stories where this may have been the case. Very few were from reliable sources, but one that stuck out in particular, came from the small Spreckels Union School District in California.
An article published by The Associated Press in January of this year tells the story of parent Jessica Konen, who accused two middle school teachers of manipulating her child into changing their gender identity. She claims she was already informed by her daughter that she was bisexual, but was shocked to find out during a December 2019 meeting with teacher Lori Caldeira, that she transitioned to a male. Konen claims that following the district’s switch to remote learning, her daughter began returning to her “old self”, and now identifies with her birth name. As the AP reports, Konen’s daughter had been a member of the school’s “Equality Club’’, which has since been disbanded.
That’s a story from over 2,400 miles away, so why would this be relevant to voters in the 43rd House District? Considering there have been no public disputes about this issue locally.
The “CRT” rhetoric has consistently made its way to the highly-rated, conservative FOX News Channel — but that’s not the only place you can find it.
When reached for comment about if critical race theory is taught, Toledo Public Schools confirmed that it’s not.
I received a similar response from Washington Local Schools Superintendent Kadee Anstadt, who told me that critical race theory is NOT being taught in the classroom — and can only be found in college. Anstadt added that the district values each and every student. She expressed disappointment in the lies regarding “CRT” being given so much fuel nationally.
So, is there any proof to back up the claims made by the Republican candidates in both the 43rd and 41st House District races? Locally, from my best sources, no.
