Public addresses CRT and other issues at Goshen School Board meeting

May 9—GOSHEN — Outside of those in attendance receiving awards and honors at the end of the school year, by and large, the majority of the crowd in attendance at Monday night's Goshen School Board meeting came to speak about their views on the alleged Equity and Inclusion Committee, Critical Race Theory, and Social Emotional Learning — topics that have become entwined in recent education dynamics.

In June 2021, Terry Hartman told the board, he and his wife Linda Hartman met with Superintendent Steve Hope and Director of Staff and Student Services Lori Shreiner to address concerns with the district. Terry said during the conversation they brought up a webpage on the district's home site for an "Equity and Inclusion Council," which he said included phrases like "Goshen Community Schools must eliminate the systems in our dominant culture that sustain the bias and oppression." He said other phrases like "restorative justice," "historic traumas," and "the word systemic," were also used.

"If you're familiar with any of these phrases, these are simply code words for CRT," he declared.

Terry claimed that Hope agreed with him that the language was "loaded," and about a month later, Terry said he noticed the page had been changed to "Every Student Succeeds Council," and all the "CRT-phrasing was removed" and the Hartmans were content with the change.

But a few months after that, the website vanished entirely.

In April, when Terry Hartman saw the Accuracy in Media undercover footage where Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Tracey Noe appeared to claim that the committee was downgraded to a work group to stay off the radar, he began to grow suspicious.

Terry claimed within two days he filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for the minutes, members and attendees of the work group. The response from Hope came a few weeks later, he said, stating the school didn't have any records of such.

"There are reasons why schools hide information — what's yours?" he said.

SUPPORT GIVEN

While several others also spoke out against the recent allegation that the district attempted to hide a related committee, many more came out to make it clear that they support any work the district chooses to do in educating on equity and inclusion.

"We value our children being challenged in school with truths from history; that they be encouraged to think for themselves, while also considering different viewpoints," said Bruce Miller. "We are not afraid of them being exposed to information that seeks to balance common representations of history from various points of view."

Parent and pastor Ben Bowman was one of many to speak on the topic. Like many in attendance, he was a newcomer to the meeting.

"I don't know what's said about Critical Race Theory and Social Emotional Learning either from the board or from the group and I don't even know if we have shared definitions on what all of that is and until we have that, we can't really have a conversation," he said. "But if Critical Race Theory is giving an honest history of our country then I'm a full believer and supporter of Critical Race Theory and I hope that we are teaching history accurately in our classrooms. If Social Emotional Learning is teaching our kids how to handle their emotions and how to interact with and relate to each other, then I am a full supporter of Social Emotional Learning."

Former U.S. Representative District 2 candidate and educator Paul Steury echoed his sentiment.

"I do take offense to the fact that people are becoming incredibly critical of public schools, especially since I'm a proud educator," he said. "My goal as a teacher is to lead, enhance, develop, inspire, motivate and mentor students to become responsible and literate stewards of where they live, and I really see Goshen schools doing that."

Like Bowman, Maria Tice explained that she's not a regular meeting attendee, but she wanted to voice her support.

"I'm here also in support of equity and inclusion, and those things to me mean that every student no matter their background, no matter their gender, no matter their ethnicity, no matter where they were born, if they are part of this Goshen community and eligible for Goshen Community Schools, that they should be receiving the same kind of education and the same access to education," Tice said.

Goshen Clerk-Treasurer Richard Aguirre said after walking in to hear the discussion, he was disappointed to hear that community members believed the district wasn't doing a good job.

"(These) are important concepts because this is not the same country it was when it was first carved out of a nation of other people's," Aguirre said. "We're not reminded often enough that Indiana was called 'The Land of the Indians.' It was called that because there were diverse people who lived there before this country became a nation that it is today. I think it's important that even though we may be naturally suspicious of people who look different, who speak differently, who have different customs and cultures, that difference is what's made this country what it is, a beacon of hope for the world ... it is a strength."

He urged the district to "stay the course."

"I hope you will take heart in the fact that there are more people, I believe, in the city who support what you are doing than those who are criticizing you," he said.

INCREASED TAXES

Linda Hartman also spoke about the rising property taxes, which are blamed on the referendum.

"Before the ink was dry on that, here we are now, floating another referendum," she said. "People are complaining, they're griping, they're pulling their kids for homeschool. I have calls every day. I have messages every day."

Hartman also addressed a comment made by Hope several months ago. Someone approached her asking to make T-shirt that said, "GCS: Good Enough For Our Demographic."

"This one hurt me, guys," she said. "I thought about that for a long time. We have 57% Hispanic population. That (kind of) logic says 'You're not smart enough. Let's lower the bar for you.' That is totally racist and I don't ever want to hear that coming out of this board again. 'We're going good enough for our demographic.' Lift the bar so our students can excel, not dumb it down."

SOFTBALL FIELDS

Paula Meyers came with her own agenda, which came as a surprise to several in the audience. A mother of softball players, Meyers said after nearly 30 years of seeing games played on poor fields and talks of possible updates to the field, she's tired of it.

"The fields are not playable a good percentage of the time," she said. "Visiting teams reference our fields as 'playing in the swamp,' and it's quite embarrassing. We currently have the worst fields in our conference, and I might say for softball and baseball."

She said girls on the team didn't play on a "legitimate field" until four games after their season began in early March. Two of the games were rescheduled to the visitors' fields, and the girls weren't able to practice on their field either, but Meyers said the baseball team was able to practice and play on their school field.

"This is just another example of opportunities that are not equal for girls' teams at Goshen schools," she said. "Coaches cannot be expected to build a quality team and provide a positive experience for our girls when they do not even have a field to play on or practice on."

Glenn Null spoke after her and said he wasn't aware that the softball fields were still a topic of concern.

"The federal government loves coming down hard on violations of Title 9," he said. "I can remember in the '90s when Title 9 was not being followed for the girls."

Against board policy, board president Roger Nafziger responded and explained that almost 15 years ago the plan was to use the property that had been Johnson Controls for a softball field, but it ended up not working out.

"We are well aware of the need for softball and to upgrade baseball and we certainly are working on it," he said.

'THANK YOU'

Amid the arguments, Tavi Mounsithiraj said he had no idea what was going on, and that he only came to thank the board and the district for the education they provided his son.

"Just please, pass on to your teachers that they do an awesome job," he said. "I'm not going to lie; we have a good system here."

As a child, Mounsithiraj's family left Laos in search of something better. What they found in Goshen, he said was acceptance, diversity and what he calls success.

"Be thankful," he said.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 574-538-2065.