Parents air critical race theory curriculum concerns at Orrville school board meeting

Shams Mustafa
·3 min read
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Orrville City Schools Board of EducationThursday, Feb. 16 meeting

KEY ACTION Several parents challenged proposed new curriculum for middle school students dealing with race and social justice, after the school board asked parents to review samples of books that would be used in lessons.

Members of the Orrville City Schools Board of Education listen to parents' concerns about new curriculum.
Members of the Orrville City Schools Board of Education listen to parents' concerns about new curriculum.

DISCUSSION Some parents addressed the board saying they want to keep critical race theory — a way of analyzing American history through the lens of racism — out of the schools. The parents said they want their children to focus on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.

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Kara McCreary has raised concerns over the past two years. When she reviewed the sample materials for the language arts curriculum by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and McGraw Hill for middle school, she said she found several examples of critical race theory reflected in the materials.

“We want to keep the ideologies of CRT, social and emotional learning, and other issues out of our schools," she told the board. "We simply need our children to be educated."

McCreary offered homemade handouts to the board with information about critical race theory, social and emotional learning and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Orrville parents raise curriculum concerns, ask board to keep critical race theory out of schools

One example, she said, of how the curriculum has embedded social and emotional learning is in a sixth-grade book where children read two poems: One about the struggle of an immigrant and the other about the historic struggle of Black people. The students are then asked to analyze their reading experience by what they see, hear, and feel.

“They are being asked to write about their emotions rather than the elements of literature and how to annotate poetry,” she argued.

McCreary urged the board to hire a curriculum director and create a curriculum that focuses on basic education.

Another parent encouraged the board to do thorough research before voting.

“All the curriculum options are filled with SEL (social and emotional learning) and CRT (critical race theory),” Mandi Teague said.

Teague added that the seventh- and eighth-grade reading sections include some "dark readings" about death and murder, under a “Mystery” unit.

“Although death is a real part of life, I do feel there are other text options that could be read to accomplish the same outcome for the written assignments given,” she said.

For example, the teacher is instructed to show scenes from the 1948 movie "Rope," which is about two kids who want to commit the perfect murder.

Less than a dozen parents attended the meeting. Three spoke.

OTHER BUSINESS

  • Orrville Elementary School accepted a donation of $300 from Mothers Study Club as a reimbursement of lost library books.

  • Superintendent Jon Ritchie announced that Assistant Principal Ashley Millsaps of Orrville Elementary will become the school’s principal after Beverly Waseman retires from the post this year.

UP NEXT Meets at 5:30 p.m. on March 16 in Orrville High School library.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Orrville BOE hears concerns from parents about school curriculum