Some Chicago area parents are unhappy about their school’s latest plan to teach students about race, civil rights and police brutality.
A high school in New Trier High School District 203, located in a majority white, wealthy suburb, planned a variety of workshops on voter suppression and affordable housing, reports Fox News.
A parent group, “The Parents of New Tier,” spoke out against Tuesday’s planned lessons. They feel that the lessons are based on progressive views and that the school needs to recruit more conservative viewpoints.
“The school went about this in a way that ensures it will be narrow and divisive,” said Betsy Hart, a mother of two children at the high school. Hart works for the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Other parents have said that the lessons are too political for the students to attend. A petition circulated calling for a more diverse set of speakers. It only garnered about 450 signatures, while a petition demanding that the event remain the same got about 5,000.
The event will feature two speakers, Colson Whitehead and Andrew Aydin. Whitehead is the author of “The Underground Railroad,” a book on a slave trying to escape slavery. Adyin, another author, wrote a graphic novel with Rep. John Lewis on the Civil Rights era.
Other events of the day will include workshops on “Disney and Racial Stereotypes” and “Tracing Food Inequality: Food Deserts in Chicago.”
“We are proud of the work that our committee of 30 administrators, faculty, and students has done to prepare for this day devoted to critical thinking and discussion around an important topic. We are also thrilled to welcome two National Book Award-winning keynote speakers who have written about civil rights in our country,” said Dr. Linda Yonke, the superintendent.
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