The Point: Regent Roger Tilles heads to Great Neck
Regent Roger Tilles has spoken to other such groups and their leaders, and said there is more confusion and fear than anger. Credit: Hans Pennink/Hans Pennink
When November’s Great Neck school board meeting was rocked by a collection of parents and other attendees, seemingly furious at a lesson that was taught in an 11th-grade Regents English class at Great Neck North High School, the incident garnered national notice among conservative activists.
The topic of the lesson was systemic racism. One emphasis of the lesson was that racism in the United States is systemic and has not improved in 200 years. Another was that "White people benefit from this system, intentionally or unintentionally, which makes us all (technically) racist."
Another slide in the teacher’s presentation argued that white people harbor significant fragility when discussing race, and the lesson concluded with students asked to take a pledge to confront, explore, discuss, and call out their own racism and that of others, and work relentlessly toward the goal of anti-racism.
The lesson didn’t sit well with many parents. Parent-activist websites fighting against "Critical Race Theory" picked up on the dispute. The confrontation at the school board meeting was so intense it had to be temporarily recessed.
And the uproar really hasn’t quieted down. In a meeting with the Editorial Board Wednesday, Board of Regents member Roger Tilles said he’s scheduled to be at Great Neck North High School on Jan. 18 to lay out the differences between "CRT," which he says no Long Island district is actually teaching, and "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion," the framework Regents want used.
Tilles has spoken to other such groups and their leaders, and said there is more confusion and fear than anger. "About two-thirds of the people getting involved are curious, not dogmatic. They’re worried that the wrong things are being taught, and want to see," he told the board in a Zoom call.
The other third, Tilles said, are angry, sometimes at what is actually being taught but often at what they believe is.
"The Regents emphasize that diversity should be valued in all aspects of education, including curriculum and hiring," Tilles said, "because it’s crucial to a good education, and fundamental to how we treat each other."
As for parental involvement in curriculum, a particularly hot topic as districts are increasingly besieged, Tilles said he believes in it, and thought the statement by recent Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, "I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach," set the wrong tone.
"Parents and residents absolutely have a role in determining what’s taught in schools," Tilles said. "They do it by electing board members and throwing them out when they get it wrong, not telling professional educators what books to use and issuing death threats when they disagree."
But with participation in May school board races so low, Tilles acknowledged small groups of voters could greatly disrupt districts. And that turmoil could diminish the high value of education on Long Island.
Lane Filler is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
