A high school English teacher at an elite Englewood, New Jersey, prep school submitted her resignation letter on Tuesday in response to the school’s embrace of critical race theory.
In her resignation letter, submitted to the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), Dana Stangel-Plowe slammed the Dwight-Englewood School for engaging in activities such as segregating light skinned teachers by putting them in a “white caucus” group and threatening to replace white faculty members with people of color.
Critical race theory holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet teaches students to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.
Breaking: Dana Stangel-Plowe, an award-winning teacher, resigned from Dwight-Englewood school after many attempts to advocate pro-human values in education.
(1/3) pic.twitter.com/uqbmC0BJbX— Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) (@fairforall_org) June 8, 2021
“I believe that D-E is failing our students. Over the past few years, the school has embraced an ideology that is damaging to our students’ intellectual and emotional growth and destroying any chance at creating a true community among our diverse population,” wrote Plowe.
Plowe, a former Dwight-Englewood parent and upper school English teacher of 7 years, described in detail how her students have come to view all assigned texts through the scope of a power hierarchy, simplifying entire bodies of work into tales of oppressed vs oppressive characters. (RELATED: ‘YouAre Being Shaken Down’: Author Shelby Steele Says Critical Race Theory Is A Plot To ‘ Capture White Guilt’)
“I teach students who approach texts in search of the oppressor. I teach students who see inequities in texts that have nothing to do with power. Students have internalized the message that this is the way we read and think about the world, and as a result, they fixate on power and group identity. This fixation has stunted their ability to observe and engage with the full fabric of human experience in our literature,” wrote Plowe in her resignation letter.
Plowe further theorized that students have adopted this worldview due to the Dwight-Englewood School’s “fixation” with race. She says that students are afraid to express individual opinions during classroom discussion for fear of being labeled racist. In one instance she describes, a female student refused to complete an essay out of fear of being unconsciously racist, according to her letter.
“I have heard from students who don’t participate in discussions for fear of being ostracized. One student did not want to develop her personal essay — about an experience she had in another country — for fear that it might mean that she was, without even realizing it, racist, Plowe wrote.
Plowe recounted several instances of the school’s administration denigrating white staff members and attempting to pit faculty members of different races against one another.
“On at least two separate occasions in 2017 and 2018, our Head of School, standing at the front of Hajjar Auditorium, told the entire faculty that he would fire us all if he could so that he could replace us all with people of color,” wrote Plowe in her letter.
“During a recent faculty meeting, teachers were segregated by skin color. Teachers who had light skin were placed into a ‘white caucus group’ and asked to ‘remember’ that we are ‘White’ and ‘to take responsibility for [our] power and privilege’,” Plowe added.
Plowe also submitted the Dwight-Englewood School’s faculty training materials and action plan to FAIR. The documents contain various recommendations such as “targeted deprogramming / de-radicalization strategy toward identitarian white boys” and “grooming students to be ‘equity’ leaders”.
Paul Rossi, a former mathematics teacher at the elite NYC Grace Church School, resigned under similar circumstances last April when the Grace Church School began teaching critical race theory to students.
The Dwight Englewood School did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.