Fort Worth schools’ obsession with equity isn’t helping kids learn to read or do math
Across the nation, school districts have invested money into “equity departments” to tackle the discrepancies in schools.
In Fort Worth ISD, the equity department was formed in 2016. Its budget and salaries combined approach $2.1 million, with two executives making over $120,000 a year and the director making more than $202,000 — more than Gov. Greg Abbott’s $153,750 a year.
FWISD is also paying fees to groups such as Pacific Education Group for seminars on racism and paying speakers thousands of dollars for “equity summits.”
At this year’s summit, the district’s fourth, speakers said that students must become social justice leaders that will dismantle and disrupt systems of oppression. One of the sessions done by a group called School Leadership for Social Justice had slides declaring whiteness to be “a set of norms, behaviors, practices, beliefs and values that privilege some by oppressing others.”
In previous summits, presenters divided people by race, and in 2020, one presenter even stated that there’s “a little white man deep inside of all of us.”
FWISD Superintendent Kent Scribner has praised critical race theory and the idea to embed anti-racism in every department of the district. Despite all of this work and attention, the department has only created controversy, hurt teachers and recorded no progress in helping our students.
A science teacher at the World Languages Institute told The Texan, a conservative news site, about his dehumanizing experience with racial equity training last year. “I could not believe that in this age, I was being asked to line up by my ‘white privilege’ and being scowled at by people who felt I was in the wrong place in line and who did not even know my background or history,” he said. In an email, he would later add, “I cannot be a part of any group that is allowed to silence and belittle another group.”
The co-chair of the district’s Racial Equity Committee, Norma Garcia Lopez, resigned recently after receiving national media attention for harassing several parents and leaving a profane voicemail for one of them. The voicemail included racist labels, and what’s most appalling is that the committee defended her rather than holding her accountable.
Fort Worth ISD also made international news when a pro-CRT activist threatened a group of parents with “1,000 soldiers locked and loaded” and when its 2020 Equity Handbook introduced “courageous conversations” and critical race theory.
My question is this: How is learning about “a little white man deep inside of all of us.” and social justice going to help a student pass that math exam? Or excel in reading and writing? Be prepared for the competitive work environment of the 21st century? Or help motivate parents and teachers in a positive manner?
The only thing I see it doing is creating a hostile environment for schools and especially against a certain group of people.
More than $2 million is pumped into the Equity Department to accomplish controversy, a hurt community and wasteful spending. The Fort Worth Report showed that FWISD math scores have dropped since 2017 from 14 points behind state average to 19 points behind in 2021.
Reading was 11 points behind in 2018, and in 2021 it became 14 points. Only 34% of third-grade students were at or above reading grade level. And for that statistic, it was 22% of black students, 33% of Latino students, and 58% of white students on grade level.
Parents want their kids educated and prepared, not indoctrinated. Echo chambers do not lead to innovation and growth for students; they result in stagnation and failure.
Fort Worth is growing and will need a capable working population with skills, not a woke population with no skills.
Clarification: This column has been updated to reflect the writer’s activity leading protests against Fort Worth ISD and leading a conservative student group.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 5:07 AM.