Debate Over Critical Race Theory Gets Heated In Grass Valley
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) -- People piled into the Nevada Union High School wrestling gym for what would usually be a small school board meeting. The crowd was ready to tackle Critical Race Theory, a way of looking at American history through the lens of racism, at the Nevada Joint Union High School District board meeting.
Judy Wood lead a presentation for Protecting American Ideals, a group that started a community debate when it announced it wanted to speak at a school board meeting. The group blasts CRT as a set of beliefs bleeding into classrooms with words like "social injustice," "diversity" and "inclusion." They're topics, Wood says actually spur racism.
"Our kids have been racialized with this evil ideology," Wood told CBS13.
Superintendent Brett McFadden says CRT doesn't exist in the classrooms across the district and yet the debate prompted more than 100 letters from the community, a record response to any topic.
"Some feel that CRT is broader than when you talk about equity you talk about CRT and I don't think that's the case," said McFadden.
"These people have an agenda. They're manufacturing an issue to promote what I think is a white nationalist agenda," said David Rubiales of Grass Valley.
It went as far as a heated debate. The school board has no plans of adding CRT to school curriculum or even investigating if its already being used.
