PHM Superintendent clarifies stance on Critical Race Theory

MISHAWAKA, Ind.-- After all the racial justice protests around the country in 2020, Critical Race Theory (CRT) became a conservative buzz word, but what is it really? According to the American Bar Association, CRT is the advanced study of the role of race and racism plays in American society and laws.

“It’s a comprehensive, sophisticated class that’s taught at the university level, it’s really not taught K-12," Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker said.

PHM Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker said several parents have raised questions about whether or not the practice is part of the part of their kids curriculum, and more specifically, in their relatively new Social Emotional Learning and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lessons and training. So, to handle the racially sensitive subject, PHM will host meetings next week with parents to discuss, what Dr. Thacker calls, a "miscommunication and misunderstanding."

“We want to take advantage of the opportunity. We have a lot of interested parents who wanted to take advantage of this so we can share information with them so that when we start the school year they can monitor, they can be actively involved with us as they are in mathematics, spelling and the other subjects," Dr. Thacker said.

Dr. Thacker said this practice is not taught at PHM and never has been, but the district does in fact implement other ways of bringing diversity and inclusion within the school system.

“One of our major goals is to value and celebrate diversity and So we try to do that with many different celebrations and recognizing differences and appreciating differences," Dr. Thacker said.

Getting together to clear the air about CRT, Dr. Thacker said, will ensure a more successful and enlightened school year to come.

“It’s important. We have a great relationship with parents. We have fantastic parents, this is one of the top performing schools in michiana, the top 6 percent, and so we talk about our trial of success that connects teachers students and parents, and parent involvement moved us from being a good school district to a great school district. So we like to keep them informed, we like to keep them involved, they’re a very very important part of our trial of success.”

Next Monday and Tuesday, PHM will be meeting with parents who registered for the special workshops on CRT where they will get the chance to bring up any questions and concerns.

The deadline to register is today. If you are a PHM parent or guardian and have signed up already, you can click here to do so.