New Buffalo school board fields concerns on GSA Club, critical race theory

SCHOLASTICS

New Buffalo school board fields concerns on GSA Club, critical race theory

Members of the New Buffalo Area Schools Board of Education fielded concerns from several parents and students regarding the high school’s Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Club as well as critical race theory (CRT) at their Monday, Dec. 13 meeting, which was held in the Performing Arts Center.

Board president Chuck Heit said that he was “surprised to get emails saying the school bord was “entertaining to remove a teacher and remove GSA from the school.”

“That is not true – I know social media likes to spread things, but that is not something this school board is looking at ever doing,” he said.

In a statement after the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Jeff Leslie said that he was approached by Heit regarding emails he’s received that the district is looking to remove high school English teacher Holli Sommerfeld, who also sponsors the school’s GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance) Club – which is “absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not true.”

Leslie added that as part of professional development through Better Lessons, some teachers chose to take a series of courses (the district covered the cost of the lessons) in the summer of 2020 to prepare for the possibility of remote learning.

One of the sessions was on “culturally responsive teaching.”

“He said that because the title of that professional development is CRT, some people “saw that and thought we’re teaching Critical Race Theory.”

New Buffalo High School Principal Wayne Butler said that the district “has a mechanism in place where we can allow students to form clubs and organizations based on their wants and needs.”

“I would say right now, thank you, teachers, for being willing to sponsor these efforts - we are charged with challenging all students, this includes being culturally responsive to them and the student’s culture,” he said.

Currently, he said teachers are “coming under fire for all matter of items for which they have no control, hence this packed board meeting” and need the community’s support.

Sommerfeld said that “having open dialogue” about “LGBTQ+ topics and discussions” leads students belonging to that community to “feel visible and as though they have a stake in their school and community,” which is “echoed through works done by the student-led Gender and Sexuality Alliance Club, which leads to improve our school culture through education and advocacy.”

She added that culturally responsive teaching is “not the same thing as critical race theory.”

“Culturally responsive teaching is another lens used to attempt to the bridge gap between teacher and student by helping the teacher understand the cultural nuances that may cause a relationship to break down,” she said.

Jim Oselka said that CRT has been “rebranded as culturally responsive teaching.”

He said its “core tenants” are that “America is a systemically racist nation” and “was not built on freedom, democracy and equality as our founding documents state.”

“CRT teaches that race is the only thing that determines a person’s identity, not the content of their character, their behavior, their skills or anything else - only their race determines who they are and how far they can go in life,” he said.

Oselka said that there are “plenty of resources available and sample policies and language from other school boards across the country that have already implemented anti-CRT policies.”

Heather Gradowski said that what she learned about CRT is “exciting” because it’s a “method of thinking that encourages thoughtful review of history, data-centered discussion of both historical and current trends and opening our minds to the experiences of others we can’t necessarily see or feel.”

She added that “systemic racism is real, anti-Semitism is real, and antiLGBTQ+ actions are real” and those who think they don’t know anyone who has been impacted by “bigotry, bias or ignorance you are mistaken.”

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Kathy Walters said she’s witnessed “drastic change in the school population – our student body has never been so diverse…Now is the time for inclusion and acceptance of all our students.”

She added that Sommerfeld has been an “amazing asset not only for the English department but LGBTQ plus students,” as her own child has “flourished in her classroom” as well as by having her as the staff sponsor of the GSA Club.

“Teaching culturally responsive teaching, supporting our GSA groups and advisors, shutting down the racist and homophobic racist actions from students and staff needs to happen so we continue to be a school other districts look up to,” she said.

Georgia Arvantis, a senior at New Buffalo as well as member of the GSA Club, said that getting the club this year has allowed students to “have this safe place where we can go and converse with other people who are part of a community or who are supporting this community where a lot of us didn’t have that representation.” “We have this group of staff members trying to be that support system for us,” she said, adding that she “can’t name how many times I’ve heard racist or homophobic comments” in the classroom.

Leslie brought up the topic to form an eight-man middle school football team of seventh and eighth grade boys with River Valley. Heit said that he’d like to ask athletic director Matt Johnson to give an update on the varsity high school team’s co-op with River Valley, which was approved in the spring.

Board members approved a superintendent evaluation of Leslie. According to the Summative Evaluation Score, Leslie was 3.9/4.0, which means he received a 98 percent rating. Per the evaluation, this “puts him in the category of Highly Effective (90% to 100%). Leslie received “extremely high marks in Business and Finance (4.0/4.0 = 100%) and Instructional Leadership (3.9/4.0 = 98%). The board rated Leslie at 90% or higher in each of the performance practice areas.

Due to having to switch to remote learning, parents and students also expressed a need for a mask mandate at the district. Per its Return to Learn Plan, the district recommends face coverings but doesn’t require them.