Heated Texas school board meeting on policies related to CRT, gender identity drives hundreds to the mic

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A school board meeting in Grapevine, Texas, lit up over a discussion of critical race theory, with nearly 200 people stepping up to the mic to either support or sound off on policies that would limit discussion of controversial topics in the classroom.

The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District school board ultimately voted late Monday night voted to adopt policies that would provide more oversight of library materials, limit discussion of gender identity, require individuals in district schools to only use the bathroom that aligns with their sex assigned at birth, and prohibit the teaching of critical race theory (CRT), the Fort Worth-Star Telegram reported. It would also ban any teaching or discussion about the 1619 Project, which purports that 1619, the year the first enslaved Africans were brought to what would later become the United States, should be considered the true founding year of the country. 

Board member Becky St. John, who opposed the policy, argued that the community had only 72 hours to review it. 

"This was time that was stolen from our parents and our students," she said. "They were given 60 seconds to speak on Monday night." 

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Yorba Linda, CA, Tuesday, November 16, 2021 - The Placentia Yorba Linda School Board discusses a proposed resolution to ban teaching critical race theory in schools.  Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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Some parents in the audience similarly sounded off on the policies as "fascist" and un-Christian.

"You’ve heard from parents and students who are under threat," Andrew Fiser, a Methodist minister who lives in the school district, said. "Don’t vote against them. This is a white nationalist, fascist agenda," he said. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. This is not Christian behavior."

But Julie McCarty, the CEO of the True Texas project, said she was "inspired" by the board. 

"I want you to know that we have your back," she said of parents in the district. 

Speaker Kathy Hadley added that the board "keeps it academically strong for all" by adopting the debated policies.

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Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, have helped make critical race theory a national conversation in 2021.  (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Parents have flocked to school board meetings the past couple of years to protest the use of CRT in classrooms, calling it a divisive concept that also undercuts schools' academic priorities.

Conservative political leaders have also taken pointed actions against CRT, most notably Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis passed the Stop W.O.K.E. Act in April 2022 targeting CRT in schools, while Abbott signed legislation prohibiting teachings from the 1619 Project in June 2021. Their actions have been labeled as extreme by progressive critics. 

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Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, for instance, recently compared the removal of CRT in schools to Nazi Germany's banning of books. 

"And it’s how bad things may have begun historically. It is how, it's what happened in Nazi Germany," Gutierrez said on MSNBC. "They began to burn books, they began to tell people how to think. That is what’s happening with people like Rick DeSantis [sic], people like Greg Abbott. People need to wake up. There is certainly a woke problem. But it's the fact that people need to wake up as to what’s happening with these two leaders in this country."

Texas Gov Greg Abbott shows off Senate Bill 1, also known as the election integrity bill, after he signed it into law in Tyler, Texas, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP Photo/LM Otero)