Video circulates of Elkhart County educators acknowledging CRT

Apr. 13—GOSHEN — Are Elkhart County school administrators lying about teaching controversial materials?

Accuracy in Media's citizen watchdogs have released hidden camera surveillance of Indiana educational leaders confirming suspicions that districts are teaching concepts that could be viewed as Critical Race Theory or Social-Emotional Learning despite claims to the counter. Some of those administrators were from Goshen, Elkhart and Fairfield schools.

The video also serves as a cry from right-wing groups asking others to support voucher programs that allow parents to bring whatever taxes they put into a school district, to a new district of choice.

"I figured at some point, something like what Accuracy in Media did was about to happen because it was building such steam and such momentum," said Purple for Parents Indiana leader Rhonda Miller, an opponent of Critical Race Theory.

The video ran on Fox News on the Jesse Watters show Wednesday and remains available on YouTube, showing around a dozen district leaders confirming the controversial teaching method.

Oxford Languages online explains that CRT is a "set of ideas holding that racial bias is inherent in many parts of western society, especially in its legal and social institutions, on the basis of their having been primarily designed for and implemented by white people."

Social-Emotional Learning revolves around developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. Opponents say Social-Emotional Learning is used to bring ideas such as Critical Race Theory, sexual orientation and gender identity, and other left-wing politics into classrooms.

In the video, administrators from around the state speak out, explaining how they avoid talking about Critical Race Theory or Social-Emotional Learning while still allowing children to learn about it in the classroom.

"They would support it if just the content was there — it's just the title," said Jenny Oakley, director of eLearning & Literacy for the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville told the investigators.

At least three Elkhart County administrators also spoke to the two interviewers, who according to a Goshen Community Schools press release, posed as parents interested in enrolling their children in the district.

"We don't openly use that phrase, but we're still doing it just to avoid anything. ... You're not teaching the theory," Brad Sheppard, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for Elkhart Community Schools, explained to the hidden camera. "You're just teaching that these are the events of history."

Show host and president of Accuracy in Media Adam Guillette tells viewers during the recording that educators are claiming to teach the theories associated with CRT, not a set curriculum of CRT — topics like social justice, systemic racism, white privilege, etc.

Sheppard explains to the interviewers that Social-Emotional Learning has also become a triggering phrase and that in his district, they don't use the term, but they, again, still teach the materials.

Guillette adds that not all social and emotional learning automatically qualifies as Critical Race Theory, but claims it is often used to get the theory into classrooms, calling it a "Trojan Horse."

"They're just not putting any labels on it," Sheppard explained.

For example, Fairfield Assistant Superintendent Monica Kegerreis told the unnamed investigators that some English and history teachers in her district use Newsela, an online educational platform that contains current events news articles for students, that are allegedly repackaged from the New York Times' 1619 Project.

According to Newsela's platform website, the company also boasts a special SEL collection that also offers activities and resources for social-emotional learning as a curriculum add-on to a regular purchase cost.

Kegerreis confirms to the investigators that it's known by administrators that Newsela also partners with nonprofit activism group Southern Poverty Law Center and American historian Howard Zinn, who, in a 2003 Institute for Anarchist Studies interview with Paul Glavin and Chuck Morse, described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist."

"Our teachers know that," Kegerreis said of the partnerships. "They're not saying that out loud."

Sheppard says there's no issue with it, as long as the information can be tied back to the standards.

"That's really the bottom line," he said. "Are you teaching academics as they're listed?" Sheppard says.

An investigator adds to his comment, saying the looseness of the state standards allows for flexibility within the classroom, and Sheppard nods in agreeance.

"It's not in the textbooks," retired teacher Linda Hartman said. Hartman was a school board candidate supported by Purple for Parents in 2022. "The teacher can flavor the pot, and she's indoctrinating the students as a result."

At Goshen Community Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Tracey Noe admitted that to avoid controversy, the district simply changed the name.

"I will tell you that we did tweak the name of our equity and inclusion committee just because we just didn't want to make a target of it," said Noe. "Right now it's named a 'work group.'"

In a statement provided by Goshen Community Schools, the district asserts that the interview was edited, with Noe's comments taken out of context.

"What was not included in the video was an emphatic statement that Goshen Community Schools does not teach CRT," the statement reads. "Further, the administrator also stated that Goshen Schools only teaches the Indiana state standards."

Regardless, the statement claims that Noe still misrepresented the district and as a result, has been placed on administrative leave.

"Regardless of capabilities, gender, ethnicity, race, athletic abilities, or academic abilities, every student in a GCS school has a right to receive an education of excellence," GCS Superintendent Steve Hope is quoted as saying in the statement. "We want every student to access the opportunities that are available."

Fairfield Community Schools also issued a statement regarding the video.

" We do not teach critical race theory under that name or any other," the statement reads. "To reiterate: Fairfield Community Schools does not teach critical race theory. We do teach and encourage all of our students to be respectful of and kind to their classmates, our staff members, parents and community members, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, race or disability. Some may attempt to mischaracterize this approach as nefarious or conspiratorial; we simply call it The Golden Rule."

At the end of the video, host Guillette speaks briefly to parents, claiming that school of choice is the best solution for all families.

"Parents should determine the education solutions for their children," he states. The Indiana state legislature recently passed a budget proposal including an expansion of vouchers to support the state's school choice program. The expansion would nearly double the cost. Elkhart County teachers and others across the state spent Thursday in Indianapolis protesting the expansion, along with other controversial education bills.

"I'm glad there are companies out there like that," Hartman said of the video. "You can't trust anything that's coming out of any agency. You've got to have a trusted source."

State of Indiana law requires only one person to offer consent for a conversation to be recorded, and that person can be the interviewer or recorder as long as they are actively involved in the conversation.

To view the video, visit https://tinyurl.com/4czb3vxc.

To view statements from the school districts, visit the Goshen News online version of this story.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.