MORGANTOWN — A House bill to keep Critical Race Theory out of West Virginia public schools met overwhelming opposition during a Wednesday public hearing in the House of Delegates Chamber.
The bill is HB 4011 and never mentions the theory by name or by its initials, CRT. It’s called the Anti-Stereotyping Act. In fact, only one of 25 people who spoke used the name.
David Gladkosky, president of West Virginia Professional Educators, about midway through the hearing, said, “This bill is a response to the Critical Race Theory controversy. … The bill is not necessary.”
The Education and Judiciary committees jointly held the hearing. Education passed out an amended version of the bill and sent it to Judiciary. All told, 23 people opposed it and two supported it.
The pro-CRT group Learning for Justice — part of the Southern Poverty Law Center — defines the concept this way: “Critical race theory is a school of thought that explores and critiques American history, society, and institutions of power (including government and legal systems) from a race-based perspective. An intellectual outcropping of the critical legal studies and feminist legal theory movements of the 1970s, the CRT movement has contributed to a deeper understanding of how race has been constructed in and impacted the United States.”
Learning for Justice said that as of July 2021, 26 states had proposed legislation or executive actions banning or limiting the teaching of principles attributed to CRT in public schools. Six of those states signed them into law and four others addressed bans through executive rules or memos.
The bill applies to public and charter schools and requires them to publish on a school or county board website, “all training materials, including materials for teachers, concerning or used for school personnel training on all matters of nondiscrimination, diversity, equity, inclusion, race, ethnicity, sex, or bias, or any combination of these concepts with other concepts; [and] all instructional or curricular materials concerning nondiscrimination, diversity, equity, inclusion, race, ethnicity, sex, or bias, or any combination of these concepts with other concepts.
Schools and their employees may not “promote, embrace, or endorse stereotypes based on race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.”
The schools may also not require anyone to believe that “one race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior to another race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin; an individual, by virtue of his or her race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin should be blamed for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin; or an individual’s moral character is necessarily determined, in whole or in part, by his or her race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.”
Jenny Santilli, a Fairmont State professor and former teacher, said the bill hamstrings educators and students, who in fact welcome discussion on gender, racism and history.
“Unlike some adults supporting this bill, they are mature and smart enough to handle the truth,” she said. Students should be able to engage in research, crafting arguments, civil discourse, and “facing awful truths without feeling guilty, and respecting differing perspectives without compromising their own core values and beliefs.”
Nicole McCormick, with the WV United Caucus, which consists of members of both major teacher unions, said, “Without a doubt this is about targeting educators, schools and minority groups.”
Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, said teachers aim to teach kids to be creative thinkers who can look at both sides of the issue. “This bill will put fear in educators.”
Several opponents said the bill’s lead sponsor said in committee that he knows of no instances of CRT being taught in West Virginia schools. Others said it doesn’t address the true problems in the schools, including the teacher vacancies that have doubled since 2015.
Kristen Olsen, a Charleston mom and teacher, said the bill will allow groups of fearful parents to dictate curriculum. “Parents have no business in the mandates of education.”
Barry Holstein, of Charleston, was one of the two supporting the bill. “If this bill prevents a teacher from teaching something in the classroom, then we should question what is being taught,” he said.
Whatever CRT supporters say, he said, the theory divides people into two groups — oppressor and oppressed — based on skin color. On the other hand, the bill does not prevent the teaching of history, slavery or the Holocaust.
Mila Knoll, a mother and Kanawha County Board of Education candidate, was the other supporter. She said she is an immigrant.
“I remember being in school and being told because I look white I am racist.” Her skin color meant she got B’s and C’s when she earned A’s.
“Children are taught the weirder they are the more they can get away with and the less they need to take responsibility for their own actions,” she said. Whereas, training and working hard is discouraged in favor of enforced equity.
HB 4011 was not on Judiciary’s Wednesday agenda.
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