Just a week after Gov. Mike Parson said Missouri was not teaching critical race theory, a St. Louis-area school district is preparing to do just that. The district paid $15,000 for curriculum development using the Marxist and what many call bigoted theory.
The money was also spent as the district is in a $12 million budget deficit and is cutting teaching and other positions.
Francis Howell School District in St. Charles County hired Dr. LaGarrett King in September 2020 for professional development and consultation services. King is an associate professor of social education at the University of Missouri and director of the university’s Carter Center for K-12 Black History Education.
According to a contract obtained by a concerned parents group, King was paid $15,000 for a slew of online and in-person consulting services and curriculum developments. He was specifically tasked with assisting a team of high school teachers to create an African American history course.
“Dr. King will provide training, professional development, curriculum audit and support to our leadership team as we develop and design this course during the 2020-21 school year,” the contract said.
The African American history course will be an elective course offered to 10-12 grade students each semester. Other tasks in King’s job description include developing student and community surveys to get feedback for course development, as well as conducting a curriculum audit of all history courses. King must host an informational meeting and a Q&A session with parents regarding his new curriculum
According to “The Washington Free Beacon,” as part of his contract, King conducted a virtual seminar for teachers called “Black Historical Consciousness.” During the development session, he said history education is “psychologically violent” to black students. “History is psychologically violent no matter how we try to make it palatable,” he said. “The problem is that the psychological violence has been one-sided,.”
King also encouraged high school educators to explain history through a “social justice lens,” regardless of parents’ concerns. He also suggested that the district edit the verbiage of its lessons so they “can still get things accomplished in a critical fashion.”
“There’s no such thing as a neutral history,” he said. “It is political, and it is not objective.”
Education groups, parents and Missouri legislators are calling on Critical Race Theory to be banned in a special sesson.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
