Elmhurst Debate: Is Critical Race Theory Being Taught?

ELMHURST, IL — The Elmhurst school board heard contrasting views Tuesday on whether critical race theory was being taught in local schools.

Elmhurst School District 205 says the theory is not in its curriculum. Critics, though, argue that while the theory may not be taught by its formal name, representations of it exist in public schools nonetheless.

Resident Tom Chavez, who is considering a run for school board in 2023, is perhaps the most outspoken local opponent of critical race theory, which examines societal issues through the lens of race.

He contended the theory's supporters use word games to deflect criticism and hide what they are really doing.

"They explain away indoctrination as teaching honest history or the truth," Chavez said. They label parents who oppose critical race theory as "ignorant, close-minded or afraid to discuss the uncomfortable parts of American history. None of that is true."

Rather, he said, critical race theory holds that the United States is a nation founded on white supremacy and that the Constitution, legal system and capitalism are racist. He said the theory uses the "Marxist dichotomy" that pits oppressors against oppressed.

As an example, Chavez pointed to an "intersectionality" wall display in a York High School classroom. He said it reduces people into a collection of racial, gender and sexual identities, identifying whether someone is privileged or marginalized.

Another example, he said, was a local teacher explaining Thomas Jefferson and the nation's founding as a problem.

"She further explains that if we can understand that there's a problem, we can think of ourselves differently when we look at ourselves in the mirror," Chavez said. "Real critical thinking, real critical teaching would ask students to think of slavery in the context of world history, where it began, how and why it came here, how it ended here and where it still exists today. But that's not what's being taught by activists in District 205."

David Venetucci, a retired teacher who taught at York and Churchville Middle School, disagreed.

"Anyone who claims public schools in this country are teaching critical race theory is — at a minimum — spreading misinformation on a topic they know little to nothing about," he said. "Even more troubling than CRT misinformation spread by ignorance are individuals with political motivations who are intentionally spewing disinformation about CRT, designed to destabilize public schools and alter the teaching of American history."

He said it was unfortunate that some Americans, including those in Elmhurst, are so uncomfortable with U.S. history that they want to whitewash the realities of the country's past to conform to a "contorted notion of what it means to be an American."

Venetucci said the classroom wall display was not part of a liberal plot to indoctrinate public school students.

"Don't be fooled by ramped-up conservative uproar about the evils of CRT in public schools," he said.

Others from both sides spoke about critical race theory. The school board did not react to the comments.