Schools

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors has passed a resolution regarding their stance on the teaching or usage of Critical Race Theory, The 1619 Project, and teachers asking students for their preferred personal pronouns.

They're against all of it.

Furthermore, the Board resolved to review all funding requests from the School Board and deny anything remotely linked to teaching CRT. The motion harkens back to when the Board of Supervisors -- the taxing authority that provides most of the school divisions' budget -- categorically fund items like new classrooms, which it deems essential.

"There's nothing on this resolution that says we are going to defund schools," said Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings. "This resolution does not eliminate anything." 

Snellings, who served four terms on the Board of Supervisors over the past 20 years and will retire on December 31, said he'd been called a racist over the resolution. "I resent it," Snellings said of the comments.

The motion passed unanimously, with Garrisonville District Supervisor Tinesha Allen absent from the meeting.

The resolution's got its start in May when Snellings reported receiving several e-mails from constituents complaining about their children being exposed to Critical Race Theory and being asked about their pronouns -- teachers asking children if they want to be referred to as girl or boy.

When Snellings emailed his School Board District's representative on the matter and received no response, he said. He said that George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen did the same thing with the School Board rep and learned from her that she didn't know if CRT was being taught in the county school system.

Two weeks ago, the Board questioned Stafford County Schools Interim Supervisor Dr. Stanley B. Jones, asking him if CRT or the lesson plans from the 1619 Project -- a project to from the New York Times that teaches "America wasn't a democracy until black Americans made it one," and "American Capitalism is brutal.," and "You can trace that to the plantation" -- were being taught as part of the county's curriculum.

Jones denied CRT being taught in the county schools and told the Supervisors the division was focused on helping students who fell behind during virtual education during the pandemic.

Multiple residents spoke both for and against the resolution before the vote. Few could agree on a CRT definition -- a decades-old academic framework examining how race and racism influence politics, culture, and law.

Supervisor Coen, a Stafford County public school teacher, spoke about the theory's nuanced nature, saying that it could be confused with talking about aspects of American history that should be discussed.

"There are things that should be discussed in history class, slavery, Jim Crow Laws, stop and frisk, that have affected many minorities negatively. And there are some that would see some aspects of this as Critical Race Theory. I know a teacher who is versed in CRT, and he wouldn't teach a class on it because he feels he wouldn't be able to explain it properly," said Coen.

Before Tuesday's vote, members of the county School Board urged Supervisors not to pass the resolution. When it comes to the subject matter that is being taught, requiring school administrators to police teachers would create a toxic work environment, said Falmouth District representative Dr. Sarah Chase.