My kids have not been victims of what passes for public education in the town of Merrimack (SAU 26) for a very long time, but now and then, the PTSD shows itself. They thankfully missed the CRT and DEI crap, and most of the gender-bending nonsense, but the climate fearmongering and LGBT mind f**kery were there. But no one tried to tell them they could never repent for their systemic racism or white supremacy.
Nor did we have boys on girls’ teams or using their bathrooms. My offspring escaped before that nonsense took hold. I still had to deprogram them regularly, but you can’t know everything they were sold. If there were no other alternative, grounding them on core principles had to be enough.
Leaping forward to today, we know that the Federal Government is no longer tolerating DEI discrimination or the brief gender-bending of Title IX, and that school districts—like universities—are trying to get around that, which brings me back to Merrimack (and probably your schools as well). [Related: Gender Isn’t The Only Thing This School Board Is Bending]
Which Is It Then?
At 33:10, the Merrimack school district superintendent is adamant that they are not trying to introduce CRT through the science curriculum. That seemed like a very specific denial, but he then talked about district priorities in general, using words like rigor and challenging thinking, and that’s not remotely the case district-wide. Ann Marie Banfield has been exposing all the nonrigorous crap they peddle at taxpayer expense.
To which we’ll add this.
The Merrimack School District has a relationship with a woman named Kalise Wornum.
Dr. Wornum, a nationally sought-after keynote speaker, educational leader, workshop facilitator, and author in the area of anti-racist education and cultural proficiency, led the December workshop that emphasized the importance of being open-minded and accepting when it comes to cultural proficiency.
Kalise gets good money to talk about cultural proficiency. So, what’s that?
Cultural proficiency is a framework that enables individuals and organizations to engage effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds by recognizing and addressing their own biases and assumptions. It involves creating inclusive practices and policies that promote equity and understanding in various settings, such as education and the workplace.
Cultural proficiency is a euphemism for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Critical Race Theory. And SAU 26 has engaged her business since at least 2022 and as recently as December 2024.
We have access to school district emails for planning and confirming events for teachers and students in 2024.
In emails from December 2024, the district is working out details for more events promoting Wornum’s “cultural proficiency” narratives.
The list of CRT and DEI programs masked as cultural proficiency includes stuff like this.
As a leading provider of cultural proficiency training, we take pride in offering the best courses, workshops, trainings, and keynotes. Our topics include:
- Defining Cultural Proficiency
- Creating Pedagogical Approaches to service all students
- Understanding Culturally Responsive Teaching
- Addressing and Interrupting Implicit bias and Racial Microaggressions
- Strategies for Having Conversations about Race and Ethnicity
- How to Talk to Young Children about Race and Culture
- How to Supervise and Coach Cultural Proficiency
- Culturally Relevant Teaching Practices
- Boards Cultural Proficiency Training for School Committees
- Understanding the stages of racial development
- Defining and understanding the Modern Forms of Racism Strategies to Interrupt Bias in Hiring
- • How to best support and retain educators of color
- Understanding the connections between racial microaggressions, discipline, and intellectual identity formation for girls of color.
- Understanding Cultural Proficiency As It Relates To Customer Intimacy
It is fair to say that the superintendent could be correct when he said there’s no woke garbage in the science curriculum, but how does he deny that there is woke garbage in the teachers of science (and every subject) or that they expose students to it?
I don’t think he can now, but I invite him to try (we have more emails to share).
Parents and taxpayers should ask school administrators why they didn’t spend all available funds, grants, or otherwise, on workshops to help “educators” teach kids to do math and read. Public School Review rates Merrimack in the bottom 50%.
- Math Proficiency: 38%
- Reading Proficiency: 51%
- Science Proficiency: 28%
- Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NH Dept. of Education
That doesn’t speak well toward the rigor the Superintendent insists is part of every curriculum decision at SAU 26, and Kalsie is not selling anything that will help the things public schools were created to accomplish.
Is the district hoping to have her back in 2025 and hide what it truly is? That’s what Kalise is doing. Hiding DEI and CRT behind the phrase “cultural proficiency.” She’s even changed the name of her “business” from KW Diversity Inc. to KW Consultants.
They have the same job, goals, and mission, but after Trump got elected, did she feel the need to disguise what they do? Districts are not supposed to invest in what she’s selling, and if it’s too obvious, they lose funding..
Is Wornum teaching that trick to administrators and “educators” in the Merrimack Schools?
Is she teaching it in your district?
