BOZEMAN — It was the last school board meeting of the academic year in Bozeman - and it surely went out with a bang, going on for hours. The meeting was the first in-person in almost a year, and administrators heard from dozens of people who showed up to express their concern, mainly to talk about the district’s equity policy and critical race theory (CRT).
Twenty-three states have have either banned or proposed bans that teach the CRT curriculum, which claims racism and division are not just based on personal prejudices, but are ingrained in America's social, legal, and political institutions (read more about CRT).
During Monday's meeting in Bozeman, one person exclaimed during the public comment period: “This country isn’t even a racist country. We elected Obama for two terms. So anybody who has the thought that this is a racist country, that we have to get it right is a completely left associate, Marxist… I can’t even have words."
“When we try to bring CRT into this school district, I think that’s a huge mistake,” another person said.
“It is not equality. It is not an equal chance. It’s calling us out for things that shouldn’t… I mean I can’t blame my little girl for Hiroshima,” said one dad.
“I just think it’s a load of crap. We’re dividing our kids,” another person said.
The main concern from some parents was that the equity policy resembled too closely the controversial "critical race theory" and the policy's origin.
“My question to you is, how did this even come about? Who decided that this is something that should even be discussed?” one person asked.
The outcome of the meeting was to table the equity policy for now. This was the last school board meeting of the current academic year. The next one will be Monday, July 12th, which will kick off the 2021-22 school year.
