By Deann Nelson

The Post-Journal editorial headline made a very astute point: “Local School Districts Won’t Have The State To Blame Anymore” (Jun. 28,2021). The Appeals Court agreed with the district that Jamestown students are deprived of a “sound, basic education” because the district lacks the necessary funds. The defendant, however, had it right–it was “administrative mismanagement, not a lack of resources” that caused such high failure rates. Teachers were provided with crappy programs and they were not taught how to teach. The district had funds for curricula; it was the choice of curricula and lack of teacher training that were faulty.

Implications of the lawsuit are worrisome. Note the emphasis on hiring a slew of social workers and guidance counselors. Will these subsidiary professionals reduce the student failure rate? Absolutely not! More grasping at straws! Couple this weak move with the district’s plan to implement Critical Race Theory and we have a recipe for disaster.

It is morally and ethically reprehensible for the Jamestown Board of Education to implement Marxist Critical Race Theory trash on Jamestown’s children and taxpayers. Said more succinctly, it is treasonous to teach children to hate their own country and to hate the color of their own skin! No district need follow the state Board of Regents’ mandate when it is obvious that the board of regents has lost its moral compass and initiated a policy that is educationally detrimental. Jamestown’s children have been seriously undereducated for far too many years. Critical Race Theory is not a “recommitment to learning,” as the regents say. It is destructive to learning, destructive to children’s attitude toward their own country, and destructive to their feelings about themselves, especially if they are white!

Board member Pawelski has been leading the charge for CRT, pushing CRT’s components of equity, inclusivity, and diversity. His and the board’s actions are a detriment to our children’s lives, welfare, and futures. Both Pawelski and Slagle are up for re-election in 2022; they need to be voted off the board of education. Slagle never has spoken out against the destructive CRT. We must look for board candidates who truly comprehend that the mission of schools is teaching academics, Western Civilization, and love of country–not Marxist racism and other progressive ideological claptrap–if we are to overcome divisiveness and to accomplish “E pluribus unum” (Out of many, one), our national motto on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782.

More arrogance/ignorance on display by activist poorly educated teachers and their unions. According to New York Post (July 8, 2021), the American Federation of Teachers “is placing itself at the center of the national debate around critical race theory.” Fraudster Ibram X. Kendi (real name Ibram Henry Rogers), academic from Boston University, is leading the charge on CRT. Shillman Journalist Daniel Greenfield says that “Kendi has become another of the problems undermining the black community, destroying the middle class life his parents worked so hard to achieve, and tearing apart America.”

In a letter to the Board of Regents, Nelson (June 9, 2021) wrote regarding high failure rates from using Common Core across the state: “What the Board of Regents failed to do is educate our children and to foster excellence in student performance, which is its original and true mandate.” It politicized Common Core with multiculturalism. It compounded this politicization further when it mandated Critical Race Theory. “The Board of Regents actions were out of bounds. Mandating ‘wokeness’ and its Marxist companion Critical Race Theory bastardizes education in the entire state. Moreover, there is no research supporting the dastardly Critical Race Theory. The mandate for teaching Critical Race Theory in our schools and districts must be rescinded!”

Could there be a greater betrayal than what we are witnessing by Superintendent Whitaker and the board of education?! All should be removed from their positions. They subvert the conservative traditional values of our community with their radical, divisive, and racist Critical Race Theory. Clearly, Superintendent and board lack knowledge regarding the type of education required–curricula, teaching, learning–for a disadvantaged population. Turning the district into a social welfare state of social workers and counselors does not constitute providing basic education as required by the New York State Constitution.

Community parents and taxpayers: Consider this opinion article a clarion call to action against the board and superintendent! “Ground zero” for removing Critical Race Theory in schools is Loudoun County, Virginia. Model yourselves after these courageous folks. Step up! Speak up! The cry is urgent to retake our schools!

Deann Nelson is a Jamestown resident.