CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than 80 people signed up to give public comments on multiple topics at Tuesday's Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board meeting but the big talker was critical race theory, which has become a hot topic for lawmakers and schools nationwide.
"Equity is the best practice for all students. Social-emotional learning helps all students. Diversity benefits all students," said Michelle McConnell, a teacher for CMS. "These are not code words for some boogeyman agenda out to crush the spirits of our white children. Claims to the contrary are blatant propaganda. White supremacy harms white children as well as Black and brown."
CMS has not officially adopted a critical race theory curriculum at this time, and the board was not slated to make any decisions at Tuesday night's meeting, but comments quickly got heated as more speakers took their turn.
"I'm not co-parenting with the government. It is not your job to force these ideas onto my child," parent Abby Daugherty said. "Your job is to teach my child math language arts, science, and history, including American history. We are Americans."
The district reportedly paid a guest speaker $25,000 last month to give a race theory presentation at a summer leadership conference.
Since then, critics have blasted the expense.
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