Indoctrination task force concludes with public remarks

For the first time in the fourth installment in the Idaho Education Task force, public testimony was allowed. People with supporting and opposing viewpoints shared their feelings of the committee’s purpose.  

Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, head of the committee, said 18 people signed up to deliver public comments on the task force’s goal of examining Critical Race Theory in Idaho K-12 schools and higher education.  

Highlights from the commentary kicked off with Idaho resident Kayla Dunn.  

Dunn represented herself and her family with a stance in support of the task force. She stated she’d been present at every task force meeting and felt it was time for her to speak up as a woman of color. She expressed her belief that Black people are not victims and are capable of anything.  

Dunn also worried that if her children attended a school that taught CRT, they wouldn’t know if their relationships with other children would be authentic or out of pity. She referred to CRT as the “new Jim Crow,” citing it as a modern form of segregation.  

Dunn insisted that other readings such as “Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson” or teaching about Harriet Tubman would be an effective outlet for children to have people of color role models.  

“Imagine if they were presenting data and history that painted African Americans in a different light, imagine the joy we would all feel,” Dunn said.  

A member of the public, offering a different viewpoint, was Eric Jerronda, a Boise resident. Jerronda spoke to the committee on his opposing views of the task force. He recalled his childhood moving from New York to Georgia in 1965. He claimed that politicians in the southern states during the 1960’s worked as “Klan politicians.”  

Jerronda said while the Ku Klux Klan was already widely disbanded into the 1970’s, the “Klan politicians,” continued pushing their racist agenda through voting laws and influencing education. He asked the committee after presenting his previous experience in the south, what makes the task force any different from the “Klan politicians.” 

McGeachin countered that the purpose of the task force was to study CRT and find recommendations. Although, CRT was never clearly defined by the task force throughout its four-month run.  

Dominic Sparling, a secondary education major at Boise State University and former Boise High School student, voiced concern over the task force’s motives. He provided a background of his mother growing up in the Soviet Union, where censorship was prevalent in the classroom. 

Sparling questioned the lack of clarity in the purpose of the task force and what it accomplished these past four meetings.  

“Critical race theory has taken over Idaho schools but how exactly?” Sparling said. Other speakers throughout the open comment portion showed their support for the task force’s motives in protecting Idaho children, while opposers came down on it for its confirmation bias of previous speakers that are already against CRT.  

The last portion of the final installment in the committee meetings was recommendations by the task force drafted prior to the public comments.  

Recommendations from the task force included modifying Title 33 of education law chapter 1, so that it conforms to the Idaho constitution. The sections being repealed relate to racist and sexist concepts being taught in schools. HB 377 on CRT didn’t offer any specific definition which McGeachin wanted the section to specify.  

Another recommendation was geared toward the Idaho State Board of Education and Department of Education, to identify and resolve administrative rules to ensure there are not any federal laws that conflict with the Idaho constitution, according to McGeachin.  

Another recommendation’s purpose is for the committee to advise the legislature when it comes to the promotion of critical race theories or any educational model that includes race-based models. 

Correction: This story has been updated with the proper spelling of Sparling’s first name

Sierra Pesnell can be reached at [email protected]