Stafford County board votes to denounce teaching of 1619 Project, critical race theory
STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. (7News) — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to pass a resolution denouncing the teaching of the 1619 Project and critical race theory in county schools. The board also voted to condemn requiring students to choose their own pronouns.
They say they could withhold any money the school system spends on doing either.
Tuesday afternoon the Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted to potentially withhold any money the county’s public school system spends on teaching critical race theory or requiring students to state their preferred pronouns.
With one member absent, the board members who were present unanimously passed a resolution stating the board’s opposition to Stafford County Public Schools teaching critical race theory or the 1619 project, as well as opposing teachers making students state their preferred pronouns without the student wanting to do that.
Speakers both for and against the resolution spoke before the vote.
“The sad reality of this theory is that it creates a culture of revenge for sins of the past,” said county resident Pat Brown, an opponent of teaching critical race theory.
“I encourage you to vote no on this resolution,” James Minor with the Stafford County NAACP said before the vote. “I did not know that the board of supervisors was becoming the board of education.”
Several weeks ago the acting superintendent of schools said critical race theory was not being taught in county public schools and that teachers are not told to ask students their preferred pronouns.
But critics of both those things say they’ve heard from students that both are happening in some classrooms.
RELATED: Dad goes viral for anti-CRT speech: 'I am not oppressed'
Statement from Stafford County Schools:
Stafford County Public Schools does not teach, nor do we promote, the philosophy of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in any of our schools. The Stafford County Public Schools K12 History and Social Science Program is based on the Virginia Standards of Learning and the accompanying History and Social Science Curriculum Framework.
The 1619 Project is a long-form journalism project that was first published in The New York Times Magazine in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved people being brought from Africa to the colony of Virginia.
The project "aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States' national narrative."
It was developed by Nikole Sheri Hannah-Jones, an investigative journalist, and writers from The New York Times.
Last week, Hannah-Jones was named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People 2021. In 2020 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work on The 1619 Project. She is the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at the Howard University School of Communications.
The board resolution concludes with these words:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Stafford County Board of Supervisors on this the 21st day of September, 2021, that it be and herby does denounce the teaching of the 1619 Project and critical race theory (CRT) and related principles in Stafford County Public Schools; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board does not support students of Stafford County Public Schools being requested to identify their chosen pronouns
Read the full proposed resolution HERE.
See the board’s agenda HERE.
