According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a California elementary school paid $250,000 to an organization called Walk Kindergarten to train teachers to confront “white supremacy” and “racism” in the classroom. It is said that
Walk Kindergarten has been providing training sessions to teachers at Grassbrook Elementary School in Hayward for two years and is funded through a federal program that helps low-performing schools. according to To the chronicle. The school's students' test scores fell under the program, which promotes anti-police, anti-capitalist and anti-Israel messages. (Related: Department of Education rule protecting 'gender identity' goes to White House)
Zeus Leonardo, a professor of education at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Chronicle that Walk Kindergarten was founded on the idea of abolitionist education. The idea is to “make politics part of the educational framework,” Leonardo told the Chronicle.
According to the Chronicle, several teachers at the school questioned the decision to use the program, saying it was rooted in left-wing politics and activism.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – DECEMBER 18: A protester holds a Black Lives Matter T-shirt during the “Hands Up, Don't Shoot” demonstration in front of the San Francisco Judicial Hall on December 18, 2014 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
One of the teachers, Tiger Craven-Neely, said he supported talking about racism in the classroom, but was confused about one of the training's objectives: “destroying whiteness” in the school, according to the Chronicle. He said he is doing so. He also questioned the trainer's use of the term “so-called United States.”
Craven-Neely was temporarily banned from training sessions because he questioned the idea of ”subverting whiteness,” he told the Chronicle.
“What does that mean?” Craven-Neely told the Chronicle. “I want to know, what does this mean for her third grade classroom?”
Another teacher, who requested anonymity, said the program offered only one perspective and deviations were not tolerated. “It gradually became clear that if you were the voice of opposition, that wasn't what they wanted to hear,” the teacher told the Chronicle.
The school's English and math scores hit record lows in spring 2023, with less than 4% of students proficient in math and just under 12% scoring at grade level in English, a drop of nearly 4 percentage points in each category. , according to the Chronicle.
District officials defended the program in response to questions, saying it had increased participation and reduced suspension rates, according to the Chronicle. Officials also said that although the school is no longer on the state's watch list, it was actually still on the list and had moved further down the rankings.
The decision to adopt Walk Kindergarten was approved by the school board and included input from parents and teachers, Hayward School District Superintendent Jason Lyman told the Chronicle.
Grassbrook Elementary School and Walk Kindergarten did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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