DeMaio Exposes Poway Unified School District for Teaching CRT – After Denials

For months, parents in the Poway Unified School District have spoken out against the use of Critical Race Theory in classroom curriculum – only to be told by district staff and school board members emphatically that "CRT is not being taught in Poway Unified."

Now a whistleblower from within the school district has come forward and provided Carl DeMaio with a copy of the Poway Unified Ethnic Studies Course Curriculum – see attached.

As the district’s curriculum outline spells out in plain English, students are taught a variety of CRT narratives, including concepts such as “privilege” that some (white) students have versus minorities and how American institutions are inherently racist.

In a complete refutation to the district’s public denials, the curriculum specifically teaches “Critical Race Theory” as one of the learning objectives.

The curriculum goes even further by teaching students that the only way they can prove they are “anti-racist” is to demonstrate that by becoming “social justice” activists and engaging in concrete steps and campaigns against so-called racist regimes, policies, institutions, etc.

“This curriculum is not only filled with false narratives of rampant racism, but it is being used to recruit impressionable youth into far-left political groups as specifically called for in the final module of the curriculum,” says Carl DeMaio.

Experts agree with DeMaio’s assessment.  

“Poway Unified School District is teaching Critical Race Theory, even though they repeatedly deny they are teaching it,” said Frank Xu, President of Californians for Equal Rights.  

It’s not just the CRT curriculum and associated misrepresentations by staff that is causing controversy in Poway Unified School District.

Last week, the Poway School Board voted to suspend public in-person board meetings and hold future meetings online because they claim a board member received a death threat. No substantiation of this allegation was provided.

Worse, PUSD Superintendent Marion Kim Phelps has repeatedly gone to the media to promote her broad-brush accusations that parents in PUSD represent a “threat of violence” to district staff and school board members.

ButPhelps has yet to substantiate these claims. Phelps could only point to her own decision to call police on a parent in early October as substantiation for her contention that all parents represent a threat. No details were provided as to why Phelps called the police or what the parent is accused of doing.

“Because she was caught in a lie about CRT, it is pretty obvious that Superintendent Phelps is now lying yet again and shamefully trying to divert attention by smearing and slandering the good parents of this school district,” said DeMaio.

DeMaio says parents need to unite and demand big changes at PUSD – particularly by supporting better candidates for school board in the upcoming 2022 elections. Given the pattern of false statements from the current Superintendent, DeMaio also believes it is time for new leadership for the district.

“Open the doors and let the public in,” said DeMaio. “Six months ago Superintendent Phelps was saying CRT was great and wonderful, now they are denying they aren’teven teaching it even though we have now been given copies of the curriculum that proves they are lying,” he continued.

DeMaio is asking any parents who want to be part of campaigns to hold school boards accountable in their area to sign up online at www.OpposeCRT.org‍