Despite officials at Riverside Unified School District claiming critical race theory is not taught in the California district, public records, as well as a cursory glance at the district’s website, proves such claims are blatant lies.

According to records of the minutes taken at two local school board meetings, one of which was held on July 15, 2021 and another on August 5, 2021, multiple public employees at Riverside Unified School District claimed that critical race theory was not taught in the school district. Superintendent Renee Hill is one such public employee. 

The records note that during the meeting on July 15, Hill addressed various topics “that seemed to be on the minds of some RUSD stakeholders. First, she said, RUSD does not teach Critical Race Theory.” The divisive theory was discussed again during the August 5 meeting, when community members spoke on CRT during the public comments section of the meeting. It was directly after these public comments that Board of Education member Tom Hunt also lied about the presence of CRT in the district. 

The Local Control and Accountability Plan revealed the district spent a whopping $942,103 on programs for cultural proficiency training, culturally responsive teaching, and other programs that frequently feature the themes of CRT.

One hired to deliver such trainings was Epoch Education, which, according to the district’s LCAP, was commissioned to train as many as 400 administrators in “cultural proficiency.” On August 15, 2020, Assistant Superintendent Jacqueline Perez gave a presentation to the board that outlined the district’s partnership with Epoch Education, as well as their strategic plan to advance CRT. 

The presentation, which can be downloaded and accessed through the meeting’s records, left no room for doubt regarding the presence of CRT in the district. One slide, labeled “Superintendent Call To Action,” demands that the board “reflect on your own mindset on race and privilege.” It also says that an “equity champion” “Explore[s] Whiteness [sic] as Property through Critical Race Theory.”

It’s also evident that these themes are intended to affect the instruction of students. For one thing, the presentation quickly transitions to a conversation on the new ethnic studies curriculum the district will be teaching. The presentation also features an “Equity, Access, and Community Engagement Division” graphic that includes “District Student Equity Leaders,” further evidence that the student body is directly involved in equity initiatives that are explicitly rooted in CRT.

Full story at The Federalist.