On July 20, 2023 Scott Taylor Candidate for Miamisburg City School Board addressed the school board regarding his concerns about the "Equity Fellows," program that the Miamisburg school district purchased for $40,000 on September 26, 2022. The program was attended by 3 principals, 7 teachers and 1 specialist.
This program promotes a belief system that people of color are oppressed by white oppressors. Oppressors need to realize that they live in a racist nation and that they are racist oppressors. Then by their recognition and repentance of their racism, they "become actively involved in directly confronting racism and oppression" and become "anti-racist"
The problem with this approach is that those who are taught that they are oppressed lose faith in believing that they can succeed. Those who are oppressors reinforce belief that they are superior.
A better approach is to treat all individual with respect and encourage them to be the best they can be.
Teaching students that they need to be divided into ethnic groups and taught that one group is oppressed by another has no place in our district.
Speech given to the Miamisburg school board July 20, 2023. Under three minutes in length.
Presentation given at on July 17, 2023 at the Miamisburg branch of the Dayton Library. About 27 minutes in length.
Purchase agreement for the Equity Fellows Program
The program is managed by the the MONTGOMERY COUNTY EDUCATIONAL SERVICE CENTER. Slide 35 states that the program's goal for Montgomery County is for "60% of working-age adults to have a 2-year or 4-year college degree or a high quality postsecondary credential".
The stated goal of Equity Fellows is to increase the number of students going to college, but the program has nothing to do with post-secondary education preparation!
Equity Fellows is a program built on racist concepts that classify individuals as victims and oppressors. It may be better said that those who gain power by promoting this Marxist ideology are the real racists. Creating division does nothing to make our schools stronger. How does any of this help accomplish any Montgomery County goals?
Highlights from the Equity Fellows Training Slides
Slide 38: Claims that Miamisburg schools are built on racist systems that target minority students and that those systems need to be replaced by something that will "humanize all students."
Slide 50: Teachers should operate from a position of "passion, not obligation or accountability."
Slide 69: Race justifies social inequalities as natural; "Colorblindness will not end racism."
Slides 77- 80: Claim that our schools are full of "Internalized, Interpersonal, Institutional and Structural Racism."
Slide 123: Subjects participants to a racist gallery walk through US history, claiming that our nation is "complicit in the execution of racist systems."
Slide 136: Makes the accusation that "Many Americans Subconsciously Associate Blacks With Apes "and concludes that "...society is more likely to condone violence against black criminal suspects as part of a broader inability to accept African Americans as fully human."
Slides 191 - 197: Promote White Racial Identity Development.
Whites are "privileged"
Whites have "unresolvable racial moral dilemmas"
Whites have "feelings of fear and anger toward people of color"
Whites "often view their socio-racial group as superior"
Whites can be rehabilitated "to become actively involved in directly confronting racism and oppression" and become "anti-racist"
Slides 198 - 211: Presents videos of white people in which participants classify each of the white individuals in the videos on their spectrum of racism.
Slide 238: "Black Culture Hates Whites."
The program's first year deliverable (slide 37) asks the class, after watching videos of white individuals, to write a "Racial Autobiography" to identify where the white persons in the video rank on the spectrum of Racial Identity Development, guided by the criteria outlined in the "Faculty Training Plan."
Is this not indoctrination? Who are the real racists?
Download the material and judge for yourself!
A Better Approach
The National School Boards Leadership Council produced this video, "Identifying Effective Anti-Racism Strategies." The video provides insight into an approach that is effective in reducing racism within schools. Approaches like this need to be encouraged.
As a member of the Miamisburg school board I will work to insure that chosen curriculum is age appropriate and provides the students with knowledge that will enable them to unleash their potential. Furthermore, I will work to make all material easily accessible for parents to review.
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