A senior administrator at the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, advised teachers last week that if they have a book on the Holocaust in their classrooms, they should also offer access to some text that takes an "opposite" perspective. , according to a recording obtained by NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
Gina Peddy, executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Carroll School District in Southlake, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, made the comment Friday afternoon during a training on what books teachers can keep in their classroom libraries. .
The session came four days after the Carroll school board, in response to a parent's complaint,
voted to admonish a fourth-grade teacher who had an anti-racist book in her classroom.
"Just try to remember the concepts of (House Bill) 3979," Peddy said in the recording, referring to a new Texas law that requires educators to present multiple perspectives when discussing "widely debated and currently controversial issues. ”.
"And make sure if they have a book on the holocaust," Peddy continued,
"that they have one that opposes it, that it has other perspectives."
Teachers complain that administrators are misinterpreting the law.Terry Vine / Getty Images
In response, a teacher questioned the claim saying, "How does one oppose the holocaust?"
"Trust me," Peddy replied.
"The issue has come up."
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The woman did not respond to requests for comment on the recording but in a written response, school district spokeswoman Karen Fitzgerald said they are trying to help teachers comply with the new state law and its more updated version that will come in. effective December, Texas Senate Bill 3.
“Our district recognizes that all Texas teachers are in a precarious position with the latest legal requirements,”
Fitzgerald wrote, noting that the district's interpretation of the new Texas law requires teachers to provide balanced perspectives not only during instruction in the classroom, but in the books that are available to students in class during free time.
For his part, Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, a union that represents educators, said there is nothing in the new Texas law that explicitly addresses classroom libraries.
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Robison said the book guidelines in Carroll, a suburban school district near Fort Worth,
are an "overreaction" and a "misinterpretation" of the law.
State Senator Bryan Hughes, an East Texas Republican who wrote Senate Bill 3, denied that the law requires teachers to offer opposing views on what he called "right and wrong" issues or Get rid of books that offer only one perspective on the Holocaust.
"That's not what the bill says
," Hughes said in an interview Wednesday when asked about the book guidelines.
Fear among teachers
While school district officials say their claims are being based on the law, some teachers say mixed messages are being sent to classrooms.
Six of Carroll's teachers, including four who were in the room listening to Peddy's remarks, spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity.
"Teachers are afraid that they will punish us for having books in our classes," said an elementary school teacher.
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“There are no children's books that show the 'opposite perspective' of the Holocaust or the 'opposite perspective' of slavery.
Should we get rid of all the books on these topics? ”He questioned.
Following the publication of the NBC News article, the Carroll School District posted a statement from Superintendent Lane Ledbetter on Facebook saying that Peddy's board did not want to dismiss the horror of the Holocaust.
"Furthermore, we recognize that there are no two sides to the holocaust,"
the statement read.
The debate in Southlake over which books should be allowed in schools is part of a broader national movement led by parents opposing the lessons on racism, history and LGBTQ issues that some conservatives have falsely branded so-called
critical racial theory
.
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A group of Southlake parents has been fighting for more than a year to block new diversity and inclusion programs in Carroll, one of the highest-ranked school districts in Texas.
After Peddy's recording of the Holocaust example, a group of teachers gathered in a hallway and discussed what they had just heard.
Your comments were recorded.
"It really offends me when someone says I must have an opinion contrary to the holocaust in my library,"
said a teacher, her voice shaking.
Another replied: “They don't understand what they have done.
And they're going to lose amazing teachers ”for it.
With information from
NBC News