Trust & Verify: Claims of critical race theory being taught in Collier schools remains unfounded

After claims of critical race theory being taught in Collier County classrooms, the school board heard from passionate parents Tuesday night.

“You are pitting black people against white people,” said one person during public comment.

There have been continued claims of critical race theory being taught in Florida schools but even Governor Ron DeSantis says it’s not happening.

The Florida Board of Education banned critical race theory from being part of curriculum in classrooms on June 10.

The statute bans what it calls; “Examples of theories that distort historical events and are inconsistent with State Board approved standards include the denial or minimization of the Holocaust, and the teaching of Critical Race Theory.”

In July, the Collier County superintendent’s office posted this on their website;

As expressed by Members of the School Board at the Special Meeting/Hearing held on June 7, 2021, and reemphasized by the Superintendent at the School Board Meeting held on June 8, 2021, the School Board and the Superintendent do not support the teaching of Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) in its classrooms, and CRT is not and will not be part of the District curriculum and teaching and learning framework.

CRT is an ideologically driven approach to teaching and learning that the District neither supports nor permits within its curriculum and instructional process. CRT has been defined as a social construct in which racism is something embedded in the social, economic, and legal systems of this country. The District does not and will not permit any ideology to drive instruction whether it be by CRT, Marxism, Fascism, or any system of ideas whose nature and content will distort (a) student learning; (b) American and World History; (c) literature; (d) character development; (e) civics, and so on. The District will follow Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards and the curriculum requirements set forth in F.S. 1006.31 and F.S. 1003.42 and is in alignment with the rule approved by the State Board of Education on June 10, 2021.”

During an event in March in Naples, DeSantis also said, “There is no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory…”

Collier County Public Schools also said they require classroom instruction to be aligned with Florida standards, which prohibits critical race theory, leaving continued claims by some members of the public to be unfounded.