Parents run for school board in fight against critical race theory
Greg Dolan, a father of two who is running for Fox Chapel Area School director in Pennsylvania, and Amy Cawvey, a mother of three who is a Lansing School Board candidate in Kansas, explain why they decided to run.
Greg Dolan, a father of two who is running for Fox Chapel Area School director in Pennsylvania, and Amy Cawvey, a mother of three who is a Lansing School Board candidate in Kansas, told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday that they are running to fight critical race theory (CRT) in their school districts.
"I think that CRT is poisonous," Dolan, who is a high school U.S. history teacher, told host Pete Hegseth, adding that it teaches people to look at children by "where they were born, what race they are [and] who their parents are."
"That's wrong," he stressed. "CRT is the opposite of good teaching."
Cawvey said she is running to "keep CRT out of our schools."
Dolan and Cawvey made the comments as controversies over racial diversity trainings and curricula have swept the nation in recent months.
CRT is a controversial philosophy – a progressive idea that proponents say can increase racial equity and which critics describe as Marxist, anti-American and neo-racist.
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten said on Tuesday that the union "will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history."
"We have a legal defense fund ready to go and we are preparing for litigation as we speak," she continued. "Teaching the truth is not radical or wrong."
"Distorting history and threatening educators for teaching the truth is what is truly radical and wrong," Weingarten went on to say.
Weingarten made the statements after The National Education Association, which works with AFT, approved a plan to "publicize" critical race theory and dedicate a "team of staffers" to assist union members looking to "fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric."
New Business Item 39 also declares that the union opposes bans on critical race theory and the New York Times’ controversial 1619 Project – which roughly half the U.S. states have already implemented.
Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Tennessee and Michigan are among the states that have already approved bans on forcing teachers to give lessons on CRT.
Dolan argued on Wednesday that CRT "changes the way that teachers look at their students," changes "the way that classmates look at each other and, worst of all , it changes how the student looks at the at themselves."
"It's poisonous, it’s shameful and I'm running for school board to end it because I want to make sure that my classroom teaches the truth and also respects the students in front of me," he continued.
Cawvey said she noticed that during the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated school closures, it was made apparent that "local school boards have so much control over what happens in our children's daily lives."
She said she running for a seat with the Lansing School Board as a "last line of defense against the indoctrination of our children."
"I am planning on a worst-case scenario that it (CRT) will be implemented into the schools as official curriculum or at least try to be and our school board will be our last line of defense," Cawvey said. "So myself and two other conservatives are trying take our three seats."
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Spokespeople with the Lansing School District and the Fox Chapel Area School District did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.