Dan Sewell: School district's new leader steps into a CRT hornets nest

Jeers for school board members. Cheers for their critics, including multiple speakers who called for them to resign. Shouts of "Repeal!" Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies moving to break up an increasingly heated verbal altercation in the audience. A man standing up and walking out while shouting "Racist clowns!" at board members.

So went Larry Hook’s first board meeting as superintendent of the Forest Hills School District, which has been in upheaval over the critical race theory debate that’s hit schools across the nation.

"Board meetings are board meetings," Hook said with a smile afterward. "I’ve been in contentious ones, I’ve been in good ones. I’ve been doing them for a while, so… As long as people learn to be respectful, that’s the most important thing, on both sides, on everybody’s sides."

He knew what he was getting into.

At 67, this likely will be the last stop for the veteran educator who’s been an administrator in Carlisle, Milford and Springboro schools and who was also recently under consideration to head Ohio’s K-12 Education. The stocky former high school and college football player and coach and his wife liked the eastern Cincinnati area from his years at Milford, so he was intrigued when contacted about the job heading the Forest Hills district of more than 7,200 students in Anderson Township and the Village of Newtown.

"I just felt that I can help, finding that common thread," Hook said in an interview after the Aug. 17 board meeting. "We may not agree on everything. I get that. But we can agree to focus on our kids and on making our schools the best in southwest Ohio."

The ink probably wasn’t dry on his contract signature when he was named along with school board members in a federal lawsuit aimed at having the board’s "Culture of Kindness" resolution declared unconstitutional. The board passed the resolution June 22 in a 3-2 vote.

Last year’s elections brought new board members promising to wage battle against CRT. It’s a college-level, more often in graduate school, way of studying the history and impacts of systemic racism in the United States. Opponents warn it will be used to make young white students feel ashamed and will lead to discriminatory practices. Anti-CRT policies have often been expanded to include keeping gender identity, sexual orientation and related matters out of schools.

The UCLA Law School has begun tracking anti-CRT efforts across the country, finding more than 500 so far. Critics say CRT is being used as a scare tactic and exaggerated by politicians such as Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential candidate.

The FHSD board this spring blocked Turpin High School’s annual "Diversity Day," leading to a student walkout in the predominantly white school. The "Kindness" resolution, which restricts teaching about racism, identity, socioeconomic class and a range of other issues, brought the issue to a boil.

A district parent, Tara Burke, told the board at the last meeting that more than 3,000 people had signed a petition calling for repeal of the resolution. The board has agreed not to put the new policy, which also covers staff hiring and training practices, in force pending resolution of the lawsuit.

Hook said having the lawsuit hanging over the district hasn’t changed his approach.

"I haven’t really dealt with it because there’s nothing I can do," he said. "All I can say is we’re going to focus on what we do. Let’s control the things we can control in each classroom, in each building."

Hook has faced CRT controversy before, at his last stop as superintendent of schools in Springboro in northern Warren County. He said there last year that there was no CRT being taught in the schools, nor would there be any teaching that the United States is "systematically racist" or that anyone should "feel guilt or shame about due to their ethnicity, religious heritage, race or gender."

That has made some parents in the Forest Hills district who are unhappy with the board’s sweeping actions skeptical about how he will deal with the "Culture of Kindness" resolution.

As the featured speaker at an Aug. 4 Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Hook addressed what he called "the elephant in the room," the CRT controversy he acknowledged is causing a lot of "noise" in the district.

"We’re going to teach to state standards," he twice told the audience, adding: "I’m an apolitical person when it comes to education."

Hook, an Iowa native who got his Master’s degree at Xavier University, said in the recent interview that regardless of the controversy, he and his staff will focus on "treating every kid right and making sure every kid knows that they are welcome."

He said he’s up for a challenge. "I’m a competitive guy," he said. "I’m going to find a way to make everything work and to make a difference."

Dan Sewell, who retired from daily journalism in 2021 after 44 years, writes a Sunday Politics column for The Enquirer. Contact him at his personal email, dsewellrojos@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Dan Sewell: Forest Hills Schools new leader steps in CRT hornets nest