Los Alamitos Unified School District Moves Board Meeting Online Due To False Claims Of Adopting Critical Race Theory Curriculum
LOS ALAMITOS (CBSLA) — Police warnings of inflammatory chatter online about proposed social justice curriculum has forced the Los Alamitos Unified School District's Board of Education to move its Tuesday night meeting online.
Los Alamitos police informed district officials of "inflammatory rhetoric" online that was determined to be a credible threat to students, parents, and staff planning to attend Tuesday night's in-person meeting. So on the recommendation of local police, the district will move its meeting online.
"It became apparent last week that some organizations and individuals – many from outside of our school district – were planning to disrupt the May 11 Board discussion of the Social Justice Standards that is on the Agenda for consideration by the Board tonight. Those standards are a supplemental resource for teachers and administrators," school district officials said in a statement.
With so many people planning to come to the meeting, district officials say they were also concerned about capacity limits.
At one April meeting, a 29-year teacher with the district said that there has been an onslaught of misinformation online by people determined to draw attention to themselves and claiming to be concerned about children, but who have no problem grabbing or screaming at students who dare to speak out in favor of the proposed standards.
"You traveled here to draw attention to yourselves, and to garner support for your various political agendas. You are small-town lobbyists and I am here to tell you, you picked the wrong city," the teacher said. "Our parents are smart."
Critics apparently believe the district is implementing critical race theory, will engage in "white shaming," or are trying to adopt materials from the Teaching Tolerance website. The district says none of these claims are true. Rather, the board is considering offering high school electives in ethnic studies, and establishing social justice standards to be used in conjunction with grade-level curriculum. A guide to the district's plan on ethnic studies and social justice standards is available here.
District officials say that public comment cards can still be submitted before the 6:30 p.m. meeting.
