By: Richard Mendoza
The Placentia Yorba Linda school district announced in April of 2022 that critical race theory would be banned from being taught within the district. The banning of critical race theory produced a strong reaction, as California State University, Fullerton announced in October of 2022 that they would be pulling student teachers from PYLUSD.
Leandra Blades, vice president for the board of education at PYLUSD, was one of 3 members who voted to ban critical race theory, a decision made to align with PYLUSD curriculum. According to blades, she and others within the district learned of instances of CRT being taught within the schools. Along with that, the university (CSUF) had sent a letter to the district stating that their student teachers were ready to bring critical race theory into classrooms from k-12. “That's not what we want, that's not what we stand for. We want our district curriculum taught. If you have an issue with that, then I'm sorry, go elsewhere, which is what they did,” said Blades.
In October of 2021 Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation making California the first state to require all students to complete a semester-long course in ethnic studies to earn a high school diploma. While the mandate will not be in effect until the 2029-2030 school year, blades reassured that the ban on critical race theory within PYLUSD would not be affected by this and that the ethnic courses would line up with the state’s demands, minus the critical race theory.
Despite the reassurances of Mrs. Blades, Carolina Valdez, associate professor in the Department of Elementary and Bilingual Education at Cal State Fullerton stated that districts that don't want to be inclusive of students' different identities are violating state policy. “According to the California Commission on Teacher credentialing, we have certain teacher performance expectations all our candidates have to be prepared in before they leave our credential. Those blatantly say anti bias. Teachers learn how to push back on biases that they have internalized,” said Valdez. “The state also has policies about inclusion of various race and ethnicities and children's literature; What our program is doing is actually very much in alignment with what the state is tasking all credential programs to do”.
The decision to pull student teachers within PYLUSD was one synonymous with beliefs and core elements which Cal State Fullerton surrounds itself with. Inclusivity, acceptance, and equal opportunity. For some, including members of PYLUSD, the decision to pull students was political. “I believe that Cal State Fullerton made a political decision because student teachers, when they come into your district, they are supposed to be teaching the district curriculum. You’re guests in our district, you’re there to learn. So, should you be teaching the district curriculum or should you be going off on your political beliefs,” said Blades.
For Valdez, if the decision to align with core teaching elements taught by CSUF such as anti-racist teaching is seen as political, then it is a necessity to continue with those elements. If being inclusive of students’ identity, gender, race, ethnicities and their families background in curriculum development is viewed as an agenda to PYLUSD, then a partnership could not continue according to Valdez. “That's where I push back on politicians that want to use words like agenda, or it was political. When we get down to what we are teaching them, we're teaching our candidate to include all students' identities, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality so that students feel seen in the curriculum and affirmed,” said Valdez.
The term critical race theory has different understandings and viewpoints. Dr. Lindsay Perez Huber, who is a Professor in the Social and Cultural Analysis of Education (SCAE) master's program in the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach, provided an educational standpoint on critical race theory. “In education we use CRT as a framework that accounts for the role of race, racism and white supremacy in the lives of people of color that shape our educational experiences, that shape educational opportunities, access and outcomes,” said Huber. “It’s part of identifying and challenging the role of racism in education, but also part of a larger goal of identifying and challenging all forms of subordination. The overarching goal of CRT is social justice,” said Huber.
For Professors of education such as Valdez and Huber, the reactions against critical race theory confirm the idea that those against CRT are not truly aware of what it means. “Anything related to any discourses around equity (or),inclusion are somehow being misconstrued as being critical race theory, and that's just not accurate,” said Huber. The idea that racial equality could be viewed as political and agenda pushing reaffirms the need for critical race theory.
“We have been taught in schools’ historical narrative that really is only inclusive of white folks and when we begin to disrupt that narrative and we begin to value historical narratives of people of color and communities of color alongside the mainstream narratives that have been historically constructed around whiteness, that is a direct threat to systems of power that exist today,” said Huber.
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