A Raleigh High School Wants an ‘Anti-Racism’ Grant From a Group That Supports CRT

The Wake County school system will allow a Raleigh high school to apply for a grant from a Triangle group that promotes how teachers can use Critical Race Theory in schools.

The school board approved Tuesday letting Millbrook High School apply for an educator training grant from the organization called we are (Working to Extend Anti-Racist Education). Durham-based we are has organized events such as the “Let’s Talk Racism” Conference in March, where the theme was “Seeing Critical Race Theory in Our Schools: From Theory to PRAXIS.”

“Millbrook High School has expressed interest in pursuing a grant from the non-profit organization, we are,” Matt Dees, a Wake school spokesman, said in an email Monday. “The Office of Grants and Strategic Advancement is seeking board approval for this and other potential sources of grant funding. “The we are grant would be ‘to support projects that disrupt racial discipline disparities or to support the creation of racial equity teams.’ Millbrook is the only school that has expressed interest in pursuing this grant.”

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Conservative groups are up in arms over the grant.

“The only thing this school board is disrupting & dismantling is education,” Amy Marshall tweeted Sunday.

Marshall is a former Wake teacher who founded the Carolina Teachers Alliance, which aims to be an alternative to the North Carolina Association of Educators.

N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore also criticized the grant request.

“This is wholly unacceptable,” Moore tweeted Monday night. “No North Carolina school should be teaching anti-American Critical Race Theory in our classrooms, much less competing for a grant from an organization focused on promoting CRT.”

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Last year, Wake County canceled a course on Critical Race Theory on its staff training website, saying the course had been mistakenly added without proper vetting. In 2020, the district hosted an equity training event where topics such as CRT and “whiteness in ed spaces” were discussed.

‘DEAR WHITE PARENTS’

Ronda Tayor Bullock, a former Durham high school teacher and self-described critical race theorist, founded the we are group. She helped create the “Dear White Parents” ad campaign that encourages white parents to talk with their children early and often about racism.

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