Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, like most politicians, needs an antagonist to rail against.
Even if, as in the cases of most political figures on the right (especially the MAGA extreme vintage) have to make them up.
That is the apparent case with Mr. Horne who made going after Critical Race Theory (CRT) on the campaign trail and his first 100 days back at the Department of Education a cornerstone of his talking points.
This is reminiscent of the misguided (many would say racist) attempts to thwart multicultural programs in Tucson in his first tenure as Superintendent.
On April 15, Mr. Horne penned an op-ed in AZ Central, contending that schools across the Grand Canyon State were indulging in covering CRT in grades K-12.
The Arizona districts cited in the Superintendent’s piece were Peoria, Chandler, and Balsz Elementary and the attacks were on programs that celebrated diversity, equity, and the praised 1619 Project. While Mr. Horne said that he is not against the teaching of historic episodes of slavery and genocides like the Holocaust (to be fair, his past actions do support that claim,) his attacks on what some of these schools are doing are either dubious on the merits (what the hell is wrong with promoting diversity and equity) or contradict his cited support of more history education.
Various education activists, including several Arizona school board members, were asked to offer their perspectives on Mr. Horne’s op-ed and views regarding CRT.
Creighton Elementary School Board Member Lindsey McCaleb wrote:
“The claims that are being made about CRT in schools continue to be a false narrative that is damaging to our students. On the ADE website, social-emotional learning is now described as a “Trojan horse” that leads to CRT. Nothing could be further from the truth. Social-emotional learning, in practice in our schools, looks like mindfulness, learning to name and accept emotions, self-regulation of emotions, stress management, and developing empathy for others. How is any of that dangerous?
It is appalling that our state’s administration is doubling down on misinformation, and fighting the practice of social-emotional learning in our schools. SEL is not, has not been, and will not be CRT, or “indoctrination” of any kind. Insinuating that teaching staff to have awareness of equity is CRT is blatant misinformation as well. Research has shown for decades that our students of color and in lower SES have been at a disadvantage in our school systems. Acknowledging that and looking for solutions is the only way to ensure ALL students have opportunities for education and success. We are teaching our students how to be healthy, respectful, well-functioning humans. We are teaching our educators how to meet all students’ academic and emotional needs. That’s it. There’s no conspiracy here. We just want a successful future for all students.”
Current Chandler Unified School Board Member Patti Serrano offered:
“It’s more than disappointing to see the state leader on public instruction take such a backward, dated stance on what we now know to be part of best teaching practices as we work to help all students reach their personal excellence and full academic potential. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are of proven benefit for all – so much so that its work stretches across institutions and sectors today. Naturally, this directly conflicts with Mr. Horne’s claim that DEI is harmful and divisive. We are leading schools, companies, cities, and more on the reality that DEI helps us do better and benefits all. I am proud to help represent a District that invests in and embraces progress and expertise in the field of education. I look forward to Districts continuing to lean into these best practices and seeing our Student outcomes improve, highlighting those who have historically been disproportionately left behind prior to such DEI initiatives.”
Former Chandler Unified School Board Member Lindsay Love stated:
“Not only was his op-ed full of inaccuracies, the most egregious statement was when Mr. Horne referred to race as “an accident of birth” while claiming we are all “brothers and sisters under the skin” a paragraph or so before. It’s very telling that Mr. Horne needs to erase this socially constructed concept of race to hide his own racism and bias and not for the sake of treating everyone by the “content of their character” as he believes. Like just say you’re a racist so we all can move on.”
Peoria School Board Candidate Melissa Girmscheid replied:
“Mr. Horne has once again employed a misinformation campaign to distract from the most pressing issue in Arizona education, our educator shortage. Providing partial information and information out of context to push false narratives about what is happening in Arizona’s public schools will only serve to exacerbate this shortage and drive more qualified educators out of Arizona schools.”
Public School Supporter Wanda Kolomyjec relayed:
“I think that Mr. Horne is conflating Critical Race Theory (a concept studied in graduate school law classes connecting our nation’s history and laws to current challenges with some folks having the opportunity to enjoy certain “unalienable rights” such as the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (see The Declaration of Independence, 1776) with the idea of promoting kindness, broader representation of peoples (including Indigenous peoples, people of color, people with varying religions, people who look “different” etc – otherwise known as diversity) and history that both celebrates our achievements (aka our role in ending World War 2, the creating of a constitution and democracy based on multifarious makeup of its citizenry) and our shortcomings (near extinction of Indigenous peoples, the enslavement of African American, race massacres during Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, etc.) It is my belief that Mr. Horne will find himself on the wrong side of history with his limited views on humanity and who deserves to be heard and recognized. ”
Public School Advocate Elijah Watson wrote:
“Superintendent Horne’s piece fails to address that systems have already been in place to report “adverse education practices” to the State Board of Education and the Arizona Department of Education as established in the Arizona Revised Statutes. If CRT was being taught in schools, then why were concerned parents not reporting this form of instruction to the State Board of Education? Why were they instead taking these issues to right-wing media sources rather than the oversight and policymaking spaces where it can be addressed more appropriately?”
“Furthermore, Horne’s statement that “students should be taught to treat everyone, regardless of race or sexual orientation, with dignity as individuals, and that race, an accident of birth, is irrelevant to everything” is hypocritical given his support of bills moving through the Legislature that would fiscally penalize schools for referring to students by pronouns and bills that loosely violate Title IX for refusing to allow students to use bathrooms. Moreover, this statement is discriminatory as it implies that race is something to be disregarded and considered an accident, when in reality race is something that should be celebrated, given its’ history of oppression.”
CRT is a right-wing bogeyman designed to sway the same gullible individuals who think COVID vaccines are bad and drag queens are greater threats to children than weapons on campus.
Unless Mr. Horne has a credible army of families not associated with the extreme MAGA fringe from districts that claim the diversity, equity, inclusion, and history programs offered by these districts are making children feel bad because of their race because teachers tell them they should (news flash: He does not because what he claims is happening is not and any teacher who did in isolated circumstances would get disciplined and then fired if that instruction continued,) then he should cease making these baseless assertions and stoking extremist fires that will only harm local communities.
GOP bums like Horne don’t have anything to offer except buzzwords and dog whistle phrases designed to keep the base frothing at the mouth. But when it comes to real policy or actual governing they have nothing. So they rely on hysteria and fear. The definition of the term “woke” is aware of and actively attentive to societal problems and facts. The GOP thinks people being aware and attentive is a bad thing. They want people to be ignorant and oblivious. But an aware and attentive society is a fundamental component of a functioning democracy. Which is another thing the GOP opposes. A quote, I dont take credit for this.
I’m more concerned about the stupidity of people who are so easily fooled and manipulated. If we had a citizenry with better critical thinking skills, morons like Horne and all the RWNJ GQP wouldn’t have an audience. In the past, idiots like Horne wouldn’t have even been nominated, much less elected. People who didn’t bother to vote down ballot also bear responsibility for these nut jobs getting their hands on a public bullhorn.