The issue of how race is taught in schools has reached DeKalb County, with one concerned parent addressing the DeKalb School Board last Thursday night about a lesson that was assigned to his child.

During the Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting, Mark Steff, a parent of a DeKalb Middle School student, spoke about a lesson for an RLA or Reasoning through Language Arts assignment. In that assignment, Steff said that a portion of a follow up video claimed everything was racist. Steff never used the words “Critical Race Theory,” but claimed that a political ideology was being put forth.

“I want to discuss what types of lessons are happening in our school system,” said Steff in a prepared statement. “That video was purely opinion based for the first minute and 20 seconds claiming that everything is racist. I fail to see how this helps our children. School is for learning facts and not ideologies. I do not want either side of the aisle being taught in school.”

“How many parents do not know what is going on in our school system currently?” Steff asked. “The only way I knew about this lesson was the fact that my child was on quarantine and mentioned it to me.”

“I emailed the teacher about this, and copies of the email have been handed out to the school board members. I will not, out of respect for this teacher, say who it is, but the email chain clearly shows that the teacher knows this is an issue and admitted to it. Further on, the email claimed that other parents have voiced concerns over what is being taught in the class and alternate lessons have been given,” Steff continued.

“Why is this teacher sending out information that is known to cause an issue? If the teacher knew it was a problem, then why was the video attached in the first place?”

“Children in school take what our teachers say as fact when it comes to learning new information. Many of them never question a teacher, and accept what has been said as fact. When the facts start to introduce harmful ideologies, such as systemic racism, this is where it becomes a problem.”

“I do not think this is an isolated issue within the DeKalb County School System, and I hope more parents speak up about these types of issues. I do want to take the time and thank all of our teachers for the hard word they put in everyday to help the future of our community and country. Thank you for allowing me to speak today,” Steff concluded.

During the meeting, none of the School Board members had a response to Steff’s comments, but Director of Schools Patrick Cripps said after the meeting that he has raised the issue with State Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, but has failed to receive a response.

Cripps also doesn’t fault the teacher as they were following the approved curriculum put forth by the state. “The item in question was approved as part of the approved curriculum by the state board of education and state textbook commission. They vetted it and the teacher just taught exactly what was in the curriculum,” Director Cripps explained.

“I contacted the commissioner by email and I tried to call her with the concerns that were brought up. I have yet to have a response from her. We will look into it, but from what was taught, the item he (Mr. Steff) brought up, it was part of the state approved curriculum” added Director Cripps.