The Context Behind the Complaint: “Prioritizing white hegemony and exhibiting hostile animus towards minorities in DCSD"

Estimated Read Time: 9 minutes

On April 13, a 33-page Charge of Discrimination (The Complaint) was filed on behalf of Corey Wise by his attorneys with numerous allegations of discriminatory conduct against our newest board members. The document was thorough and provided information going back two years. We thought a deeper dive would be helpful in order to unpack some of the most poignant pieces of the complaint and put them into greater context. Read The Complaint in its entirety here.

Two of the most shocking allegations of The Complaint were in reference to the majority board directors’ behaviors, attitudes, and comments towards BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students and staff. As named in Section 180, the new directors “espoused racist views prioritizing white hegemony and exhibiting hostile animus towards youth and staff of color and the history and discrimination they still face” and Section 182 “expressed animosity towards LGBTQ+ staff and students.” It is noteworthy that most of the statements in these categories were made by Director Peterson.

History of DCSD Educational Equity Policy

Before we unpack the specific views expressed, we want to take a brief moment to review the development of DCSD’s Educational Equity Policy, as highlighted in The Complaint starting in Section 31, as the Equity Policy is at the center of many of the statements. In addition, it is important to amplify the accurate development of the policy, to clear up the false narrative that continues to float around our community.

While not in The Complaint, it is valuable to note that DCSD plans for diversity/equity were in the works for over a decade, which is reflected in the DCSD Strategic Plan and subsequent updates in 2018 and 2019. Educational equity is rooted in evidence-based research and best practices to support students and staff. Educational Equity best practices provide safe, inclusive, and respectful environments to help students thrive and achieve their individual potential. Educational equity is the standard of education for our 21st Century learners.

Sections 31-49 of The Complaint begins with the lineage of the Equity Policy with Superintendent Thomas Tucker’s tenure, starting in 2017. It highlights the robust community feedback of over 30,000 responses that demonstrated a need for a formal equity policy based on “startling” lack of diversity of DCSD staff, and documented racist incidents experienced by students, and multiple OCR complaints against DCSD. The strategic plan formalized in collaboration with all stakeholders, formalized educational equity as a foundational value. In addition, over the course of six months, during 2020-2021, the newly formed Equity Advisory Team met with and circulated drafts of the proposed Educational Equity Policy to multiple stakeholders (screenshot of groups) for feedback. The process to create the Educational Equity Policy was robust, transparent and involved significant stakeholder and community feedback. The policy was approved unanimously on March 23, 2021 by a bipartisan BOE.

The dog whistle of Critical Race Theory (CRT)

The Complaint alleges many instances of the majority board directors' misuse of Critical Race Theory as a rallying cry against DCSD’s Equity Policy. To be crystal clear, CRT is not and never has been taught in DCSD or any K-12 system. The anti-CRT narrative was created on a national level by Christopher Rufo, senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, who fully admits creating a “perfect villain” with an anti-CRT narrative based on disinformation and propaganda. This anti-CRT disinformation has seeped into our local community, and threatens to harm each and every one of our students' education and threatens the sense of community by putting us against each other.

The Complaint included footnotes on pages 15-16, explaining the harm created by this anti-CRT narrative, including: “It is a timeworn tradition for those opposing racial equality to link advocates for civil rights with Marxism or communications” and “The fear tactic of using CRT to claim persecution by a white majority is a modern spin on the same tactic used by white supremacists during the civil rights movement.” Some specific examples of how CRT was weaponized can be found by Director Peterson in Section 100(a), 100(d), 103(f), and 104(c), and Director Myers in Section 103(j).

Additional attacks on equity

The Complaint amplified the lack of understanding the rookie board members have with the concept of educational equity and how it supports all students in achieving their individual potential. False narratives were noted in The Complaint highlighting: attempts of the board members to villainize the concept of equity (Director Peterson 99 and 103.E, Director Peterson 107, Winegar 171), falsely confusing it with “equality of outcomes” (Director Peterson 100.C, 100.G) and “shaming of staff and students” (Winegar 103.K), while replacing it with inappropriate language, such as “common humanity” (Sections 129, 131) that dismisses and devalues the lived experiences and harm some members of our community and their experience based on their specific identity and lived experiences.

The Complaint highlighted multiple attacks made by Director Peterson of the Gemini Training, a diversity, inclusion, and equity program offered to the DCSD community in May 2021. The Gemini Group is a CDE approved trainer focused on professional development around DEI best practices focused on educational organizations to help them close disparate academic achievement and growth gaps. Director Peterson made several statements against the training: continuing the false CRT narrative (Section 100b), finding it “divisive” (Section 100b) and making claims that it grouped people by “immutable characteristics” (Section 103.E), and claimed that the Gemini keynote speech suggested: “America is systematically racist so the system needs to be destroyed divisive and nothing but a power grab by elites to change our culture and nation” (Section 100.F). Now would be a good time to clarify that the actual “power grabbers” of education include corporations and national think tanks, as we also highlighted in a recent blog post, Book Banning and Educational Gag Orders.

In addition, Director Peterson made a statement alleging the Gemini training cost the district $37,000 (Section 100.B). The training was actually grant funded at no cost to the district (this detail was also provided in footnote on page 17). This grant was part of EARS (Enhancement for At Risk Youth) funding that is aimed for increasing positive outcomes for at-risk youth. Also, to emphasize another point not made in The Complaint, which we think is important context to share: the Gemini Training received an overwhelming positive response from those who attended.

Collaboration with anti-equity groups

The Complaint highlighted the board majority’s connection and collaboration with groups that are opposed to equity and are perpetrators of the false CRT narrative, such as the 1776 Project PAC (Section 105) and FAIR–Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (Section 106).

We find it more than a little ironic that a group claiming to be against “intolerance and racism” rallies so hard against diversity, equity, and inclusion and have unpacked FAIR’s inappropriate involvement with DCSD in previous blog posts (The Misinformation Spread). It is also worth noting that Rufo, the formulator of the anti-CRT fear tactic, is a member of FAIR’s advisory panel.

The local Douglas County FAIR chapter made numerous complaints about the DCSD Educational Equity Policy as listed in (Sections 108, 109). Additionally, there are similarities in language between the new board members’ earlier false statements about equity and the use of FAIR language (Sections 108-109). In addition, FAIR also took issue with an equity/inclusion sign in Section 111, claiming that it was “politically charged.” This is a tactic used by a leader of the Douglas County FAIR chapter this past week, when he posted on social media with a photo of a sign hung in a special education classroom, encouraging members to reach out to the teacher/school where a similar sign was photographed in a middle school classroom. Creating a hostile work environment by pitting teachers against one another is hardly an example of leadership. Remember that FAIR was somehow granted a position in the Equity Advisory Council. We question the legitimacy of this as FAIR is anything but equitable as they lead with hostility and doxxing.

We also want to point out a connection to FAIR that wasn’t highlighted in The Complaint. FAIR objected to the Gemini Training, even writing a formal letter from the local chapter to the DCSD Board of Education. It specifically cited disappointment with Dr. Christopher Page, Principal of Highlands Ranch High School and an integral person in the development of the Education Equity Policy. Dr. Page, who was recently part of the DCSD superintendent candidate shortlist, was ultimately denied to be named a finalist by the majority four directors after Director Ray made a motion to add him at the BoE special meeting on March 2.

Why did Director Peterson run for school board?

People who run for public office have many different motives, usually including a desire to serve their communities. Interestingly, The Complaint highlighted claims that Director Peterson, who campaigned on “keeping politics out of the boardroom,” in fact had deeply political reasons for his candidacy. From Section 103.J, it appears that Director Peterson was SO offended by the concepts of equity and diversity in schools, “This is off the rails if this is what teachers are being told is appropriate in the schools” that he decided to run for school board.

In addition, The Complaint alleged that Director Peterson was also motivated to run, based on a math problem his child brought home that involved a same-gender couple (Section 114). Interestingly, the Florida Department of Education recently made a decision to ban math books based on concerns of CRT. It appears that Director Peterson’s comments that “homosexuality should not be in a curriculum” are well-aligned with the national, extremist agenda and is not in any way about putting “Kids First”.

We need the DCSD Educational Equity Policy now, more than ever

These specific sections of The Complaint make it categorically clear that DCSD’s Educational Equity Policy as approved originally is critically needed. We are putting our students and staff at risk without offering them the robust protections and commitment of the policy, especially when there is evidence of a hostile environment. There is nothing political about each and every person in DCSD deserving a safe and inclusive environment.

We strongly believe that DCSD needs to follow through on its commitment of the originally written Educational Equity Policy that “the School District shall offer and afford every student and staff member equitable educational opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, socio-economic status, or eligibility for special education services.”