I have been receiving EMAILS from teachers and parents around New Hampshire, exposing the destructive agenda that Critical Race theory is having on teachers and students.
I encourage any teacher or parent in New Hampshire to help me expose this kind of biased indoctrination, that not only denies your children academic knowledge but also looks like a bad psychological experiment on your children.
The email below was sent to me by a parent in Hollis.
Note their reference to the Howard Zinn History text used in the Hollis schools. Then check Mary Grabar’s book: Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America.
Hollis isn’t offering their students a quality education in history, they are indoctrinating children to hate America.
This kind of treatment inflicted on children needs to be reported to The New Hampshire Department of Education so they can begin an investigation into civil rights violations and discrimination against your children.
Years ago a School Board Member told me, nothing will change until parents start suing their school districts…..
I removed this parent’s name for privacy purposes:
Dear Ms. Banfield:
*********
On Mon, May 24, 2021 at 7:42
Superintendent Corey:
I have a daughter in the 3rd grade at Hollis Primary School (HPS). She has benefitted from some excellent teachers in her years at HPS, such as (but not limited to) the legendary Dennis Kane; the dynamic and engaging Jennifer Goldthwaite; and the creative and inquisitive Tara Happy. I am grateful for the work these good teachers have done in building a strong foundation for both learning and kindness to others.
In the fall of 2019, our then-7-year-old daughter came home from school troubled. She asked me, “Was Christopher Columbus evil?” I asked her what brought that question to mind, and she told me that one of the specialist teachers had told the class that Columbus was evil. I thought she must have misinterpreted something a teacher had said, and used this as a seed for discussing the nature of good and evil. I did not think much more of it at the time.
Then came Thanksgiving. My daughter told my wife and I that a specialist teacher had said that people should not celebrate Thanksgiving because it celebrates white people doing bad things. This sounded like indoctrination to a racist ideology, and an echo of the comment about Columbus, but I convinced myself that it must again have been a misinterpretation of what had been said. We went through another discussion of good and evil, and I let the issue rest.
In the spring came the pandemic and a season of politics. As my daughter’s 2nd grade year came to its close, though, my wife and I heard of no further racist indoctrination.
That changed in the 3rd grade. With our daughter taking classes remotely, and me working remotely, I had the opportunity to hear much of what her teacher, Matthew Ostrowski, shared with the class. Prior to Columbus Day, Ostrowski read from Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, emphasizing the Marxist activist’s condemnation of Christopher Columbus. The following are a couple of quotes I transcribed:
* “It was white people who created slavery.”
* “The white people brought slavery to the Americas.”
These factually inaccurate statements undercut the foundation laid by my wife and I, and our daughter’s previous teachers, which had emphasized kindness toward others, without judgment based on skin color.
The indoctrination did not stop. As the year progressed, I overheard and transcribed other statements intended to portray skin color as a defining characteristic of good or evil:
* “White people cause racism.”
* “White people treat people in very bad ways because they have the power.”
* “White people are the only ones who can be racists.”
There have been other incidents of indoctrination, such as the sharing of a video (https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/civilrights/) by library and media specialist Sarah Proulx, in February this year. I happened to be nearby when it played, and much of the video is informative and interesting. In the closing minutes, though, the video changes. The images shown single out whites as being violent and in the wrong if they do not express public support of a Marxist organization. The audience is told that history is on the side of such organizations; a statement which closely echoes the teachings of Marx, Mao, and Xi who all spoke of a “law of history” inevitably leading to Marxism. The approach of telling kids that they are in the wrong if they do not support the “correct” causes reminds one of the use of intimidation and humiliation by Communist agitators to silence those who disagree with them.
Ongoing indoctrination to racist prejudice is part of what led my wife and I to decide not to send our daughter back to HPS when her remote class returned to the school; we could not in good conscience expose her to more of this propaganda as part of an isolated captive audience. Instead, we opted to continue remote learning, and hoped for a teacher who focused on the fundamentals of education (And, as a side note, we now have that in Susan Lewis, who has done an excellent job with her class, and is one of the more effective teachers I have observed in raising our children.).
The recent discussions in our community around whether or not the Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideology should be championed by teachers and taught as fact in our schools are beside the point. CRT is already in our schools, whatever name it uses, and it starts early in our kids’ education.
I have spoken to other parents in our community about this, and reached out to some of our political representatives. They encouraged me to share my experiences with you, and I do so now in the hope that our community may address this indoctrination. I have no desire to have teachers hobbled in their ability to discuss history. I simply want our teachers to educate, and not indoctrinate.
I have shared my concerns with Principal Izbicki and the teachers mentioned above separately. My hope is that we can discuss what occurred, and find a way to reach an equitable understanding.
Thank you for your work, and for considering the best interests of our town and our children.
Respectfully,
***************
Hollis Primary School parent
cc:
Paula Izbicki, HPS principal (paula.izbicki@sau41.org)
Hollis School Board:
* Brook Arthur (brooke.arthur@sau41.org)
* Tammy Fareed (tammy.fareed@sau41.org)
* Amy Kellner (amy.kellner@sau41.org)
* Robert Mann (robert.mann@sau41.org)
* Carryl Roy (carryl.roy@sau41.org)
Hollis/Brookline COOP School Board
* Holly Babcock (holly.babcock@sau41.org)
* Elizabeth Brown (elizabeth.brown@sau41.org)
* Tom Solon (tom.solon@sau41.org)
* Kate Stoll (kate.stoll@sau41.org)
* Cindy VanCoughnett (cindy.vancoughnett@sau41.org)
* Krista Whalen (krista.whalen@sau41.org)
* Beth Williams (beth.williams@sau41.org)
