‘Racial equity’ training workshops at NYC public schools angering parents and teachers
A program in the nation's largest school district is being criticized as "absurd" and is being challenged by parents and teachers as defeating the purpose of anti-bias training
The controversial “racial equity” training that is ongoing in New York City public schools has parents, educators and staff rattled, as more details are emerging about the workshops following the arrival of Richard Carranz...
The controversial “racial equity” training taking place in New York City’s public schools has parents, educators and staff rattled, as more details are emerging about the workshops following the arrival of Richard Carranza as schools chancellor last year.
The highly criticized “racial equity” training sessions call for teachers to focus on Black children, regardless of their socio-economic status, according to a report in the New York Post.
“If I had a poor white male student and I had a middle-class black boy, I would actually put my equitable strategies and interventions into that middle-class black boy because over the course of his lifetime he will have less access and less opportunities than that poor white boy,” said training consultant Darnisa Amante, reported by those in attendance at one workshop.
“That’s what racial equity is,” she added.
At 1.1 million students, the New York City public school system is the largest in the country. About 27.1 percent of the students are Black, while and 40.5 percent are Hispanic.
Meanwhile, the Post reports that a Jewish-American superintendent in the session was “scolded and humiliated” after describing her family’s Holocaust tragedies.
Mona Davids, who is Black and the president of the NYC Parents Union, made clear her opinion that treating Black students as victims is “completely absurd.”
“They want to treat black students as victims and punish white students,” she said. “That defeats the purpose of what bias awareness training should be.”
NYC Education Dept. spokesman Will Mantell would not confirm whether Chancellor Carranza supports the favoring of Black children as part of achieving “racial equity”, but noted that: “Anti-bias and equity trainings are about creating high expectations and improving outcomes for all of our students,” he said in a statement.
The Department of Education’s $23 million mandatory anti-bias training program has been slammed by several administrators and parents for being offensive and divisive.
There are also accusations of racial discrimination, as four white female DOE executives who were demoted under Carranza’s new plan intend to sue the city, alleging that being white in America has become “toxic,” the Post reported.
“These trainings are used across the country because they help kids, and out-of-context quotes and anonymous allegations just distract from this important work,” Mantell said in a statement.
