During the July 12 Zionsville Community Schools Board of Trustees meeting, ZCS Supt. Scott Robison said the school system does not teach critical race theory in its schools.
Critical race theory, an academic concept that holds that race is a social construct embedded in legal systems and policies, has been the focus of many in recent months. At least half a dozen states have passed regulations restricting lessons deemed related to the theory, and more are considering them.
School boards, superintendents, principals and teachers across the nation and in neighboring school districts, such as Carmel, have been accused by parents of teaching the theory in classrooms. One of the primary concerns among some parents and legislators has been how the history of slavery in America is taught in schools.
During the meeting, Robison said that ZCS is not an activist organization and is free of partisan politics. He described the recent debate about the theory as a “flash fire of accusation and rhetoric (that) has been indiscriminately applied to all public schools and public school teachers.”
“I just think that’s unbelievably inappropriate, and that is something I cannot let stand and not comment about it in this space,” Robison said. “We are not an activist organization. We are not a referee, nor are we players in any political shifts that are external. That’s just a fact.”
Robison described the outcry against critical race theory as a societal shift that has happened outside of ZCS.
“We teach children to be self-aware for the many ways it helps them thrive, now and in the future,” Robison said. “We teach children to be aware of and respectful of others because it helps them thrive now and in the future. We teach history through multiple lenses so that young people can understand how and why we got here. They decide what is next for themselves and the world they will inherit.”
