A Wisconsin parent by the name of Robynn Hora called into the Slinger School District board meeting in June to raise her concerns on how school volunteers like herself were taught to be racist in the classroom. She alleged that she was instructed to treat students differently depending on the color of their skin.
"I was one of those parents that did sign up to help in the classroom, and I was shocked," Hora said, as reported by the Western Journal.
According to the parent, the agency that the Slinger School District uses to staff substitute teachers required them to take a series of online courses that they had to pass in order to teach at the school. While she said that the online courses appeared to be "very harmless" and lasted for about "an hour or less long," they were all required to complete such tests.
"You are taught to treat individuals differently in the classroom by the color of their skin," Hora revealed of the series of evaluations. "You are taught, and told, that if you go into the classroom that you are applying to go into, that if you go into it colorblind, quote-unquote colorblind, that you are racist."
Hora said that she had screenshots and information to support her claims. She added that this was the type of online course that volunteers like herself had to take and pass in order "to be a substitute teacher in the classrooms currently at Slinger, in the Slinger school system."
"You are told and taught that if you have any kind of views that are colorblind, that is racist, and if you treat children the same, that you are racist," Hora lamented of the type of instructions she was given. "And that you are not treating them well and that they should have different consequences for the same action based on the color of their skin."
Slinger School District Superintendent Daren Sievers responded saying that he would have been open to contacting Hora before the meeting so that the incident would have been investigated as soon as it happened. He agreed with a comment from assistant superintendent Jim Curler, saying, "If an assignment comes up of concern, we need to do it that moment. Not later on."
According to Wisconsin Right Now, Curler promised that critical race theory "[is] not something that we are promoting, and I can guarantee that the School Board and community that I work for, if this was something that we were moving towards, this would be publicized, and we would be seeking community input before we did that."
In June, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin introduced a new measure to prevent public schools, the University of Wisconsin System and state technical colleges from teaching critical race theory concepts, the Associated Press reported.
Rep. Chuck Wichgers of Muskego, who was one of the bill's sponsors, argued, "Children should not face state-sanctioned discrimination or psychological distress in an educational environment based on immutable characteristics."
