Scenario 1

A middle-school social studies teacher, Heidi Freire who recently attended a DEI symposium, decided to incorporate elements of Critical Race Theory into her lessons. She embarked on an effort to build periodic lessons around such topics as class, poverty, wealth and income gaps, crime, affirmative action, immigration, and voting rights. She developed a modified grading system that awarded bonus points on class assignments based on perceived privilege as a form of equity. The teacher believed that the district's instructional program was discriminatory based on race as demonstrated by student averages and graduation rates, so she dedicated a majority of her time toward working with Hispanic and African American students. School officials received reports from parents of White and Asian students who claimed that, when their children had questions, the teacher only provided minimal assistance. The teacher organized after-school tutoring, but most of her time was spent helping Hispanic and African-American students.

As a result of the complaints, school officials met with Ms. Freire and issued a directive that she was to confine the content of the material in her classes to the district-approved curriculum and avoid any real or perceived disparities in how she apportions her time between students in need. At the meeting, Ms. Freire asserted that she is implementing a form of culturally responsive pedagogy and trying to promote equity in her classroom. Upset about the reprimand, Ms. Freire told some of her students about the complaints and they took it upon themselves to confront the students they suspected were behind the complaints. Ms. Friere had already planned a lesson that included a worksheet copied from a book titledCRT for Teacher Advocates: How to Create an Equitable Classroom.Despite the directive, she decided to go ahead with the lesson which included aworksheet that made students acknowledge the foundational components of CRT.

If the parents of the White and Asian students sue claiming substantive due process violations of their rights as parents, will they succeed on this claim? What if they claim that their children are being compelled to affirm ideas that they believe are divisive and racist and demand that all content that supports CRT be removed from the curriculum, will they succeed? Has the state where you reside passed legislation restricting the teaching of CRT in public schools? If so, how has the legislation changed the instructional program?

If the teacher claims that she has the academic freedom to use culturally responsive teaching practices and to devote her time based on student needs, will she prevail? If parents include in their suit an allegation of racial discrimination in violation of Title VI, what standard of review would the courts likely apply to the teacher's actions and would the parents prevail?