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California school district meeting breaks out in chaos over ‘anti-CRT’ criticism
Temecula Valley Unified School District voted to prohibit CRT lessons in December.
nypost.com
California school district meeting breaks out in chaos over ‘anti-CRT’ criticism
By
Olivia Land
March 23, 2023 2:44pm
Updated
A California school district meeting descended into chaos this week when a woman reportedly told a black man to “get out of the country” after he criticized the board’s hiring of an anti-critical race theory consultant.
In a livestream of the heated Wednesday proceedings, the concerned man can be heard telling the Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) that its recent approach to critical race theory (CRT) is “asinine.”
The TVUSD voted to prohibit CRT — an educational concept that examines how social structures uphold racism and prejudice — in December, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The district also made headlines earlier this month when it approved allocating $15,000 in taxpayer funds for sessions with anti-CRT consultant Christopher Arend.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the man identified by the board as “Deon” blasted both decisions in light of the fact that “[CRT] isn’t even taught in any K-through-12 classroom in the United States of America.”
The Wednesday night meeting descended into chaos.Temecula Valley USD via Storyful“Your continued, blatant, willful ignorance of the black experience in this country is not only shameful but also detrimental to the education and growth of our children,” he continued as applause erupted from the audience.
Deon went on to quote Frederick Douglass’ “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro” speech before going over his permitted time and returning to his seat.
As Deon went to sit down, however, he yelled out that a woman in the audience told him to “get out of the country.”
The woman was eventually forced to leave the building as well.Twitter/@fierymalihaThe meeting erupted into shouts and chants as board president Joseph Komrosky asked for Deon to be escorted from the building.
“If you like, the whole auditorium can leave,” he said.
Member Allison Barclay objected to Komrosky’s move, saying that “if that woman said that to him, she needs to be excused.”
The meeting erupted with chants of “Take her out.”Twitter/@fierymalihaA video posted on TikTok showed security escorting Deon from the premises amid calls for the board to “take the woman [out instead].”
On the official livestream, overwhelmed board members stood up from their seats at the front of the room as the public yelled for them to “do your jobs.”
Board member Steven Schwartz told Newsweek that the woman was also eventually asked to leave.
The district made headlines in December when it voted to ban CRT from lessons – even though it was not taught in the first place.MediaNews Group via Getty Images“The meeting devolved into chaos, and the board president declared a recess,” he explained.
“It was a sad day seeing our community so divided on such a non-issue in our district that was contrived to push forward a political agenda and distract from our true work, which is providing high-quality education and learning in our award-winning schools,” Barclay told the outlet.