Teachers in Ohio School District Told to Combat Curricula ‘Rooted in Whiteness’

A teacher training program for an Ohio school district provided instructions for pursuing racial justice in the classroom while using a curriculum that may be “rooted in whiteness.”

The training program for teachers in Mentor Public Schools in Mentor, Ohio, was created by the teacher professional development company BetterLesson and included numerous instructions for teachers on how to teach their classes through a lens of race.

The program, which was obtained by the parent activist organization Parents Defending Education, instructs teachers on being “co-conspirators,” which the training says are people “whose actions combat racism through direct challenge to or subversion of racist structures and institutions.”

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“When teaching standards and core curricula have been previously developed and provided it’s easy to simply follow along,” the training said. “However, it’s important to remember that our education system has been founded on historically racist practices, including silencing those from disenfranchised communities.”

Another slide shows a diagram of “becoming anti-racist” that says if one denies racism is a problem, they are in the “fear zone,” while someone who understands their “own privilege in ignoring racism” has progressed to the “learning zone,” and someone who “sit[s] in [their] discomfort” and “promote[s] and advocate[s] for policies and leaders that are anti-racist” is in the “growth zone” of being an anti-racist.

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