Natrona School Board Hears Presentation on Critical Race Theory

At the Natrona County School District's board academic steering committee on April 11, the board heard a presentation from a group called Moms for Liberty on the dangers of critical race theory in schools.

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The presentation, which the speakers, Mary Schmidt, Darcie Gudger, and Jayme Lien, said took them five months to put together, took issue primarily with the teaching of social and emotional learning (SEL) across NCSD.

Superintendent Mike Jennings at the meeting said that the NCSD doesn't incorporate CRT into any of their teachings, and asked the group for any specific lessons they take issue with.

According to their website, the group is "fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government," and is a nonprofit.

Moms for Liberty was started over a year ago to oppose mask mandates in schools and has since become influential in school boards and legislatures across the country, with members showing up at bill signings in Iowa and Florida.

Board of Trustee member Thomas Myler said that he hasn't heard from the administration that SEL courses are being taught as described, but that if they were provided specific examples, they would be able to address it.

"That's the problem if they say it's happening, but I can't unless they give me a specific example of hey this student said this is what happened," Myler said. "Then, if that was the case, we could address it, where to go from there. Right now they're saying this is a possibility within the curriculum, however, Superintendent Jennings said hey we looked at some of those lessons that you've addressed, and if it doesn't apply to appropriate standards, it's pulled out."

A group representing Moms for Liberty was not able to comment before the publication of this piece, but this article will be updated if they do provide a comment.