☆ USD board runner: It's time to axe costly DEI positions
Zoila Herrera Rollins ran for Union School District Board this past November to advocate parents' rights and transparency to families. Here, Herrera explains that budgetary accountability within the USD means getting rid of pointless positions (hint: the USD's paying $100k/yr for a DEI expert). After Stanford's free speech disaster, many others, too, are questioning if Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion jobs belong in education. The first of two Opp Now exclusive comments.
My hope for 2023 is that the Union School District Board is more transparent with the parents and community about the education they provide our children. These days, many teachers want to teach the “whole child”; however, there’s a narrow swim-lane between them teaching academics and leaving it to the parents to be raising their own children according to their family values. Unfortunately, parents are busy (and often both employed) and don’t always have time to drill down into what’s going on at their local school. That’s a main reason I ran for board last November.
I have heard that in some instances, some kids in these schools are told, “Don't tell your parents what we’re teaching you.” For instance, my niece wasn’t willing to tell me what’s going on in her classroom, although we’re very close. Parents generally trust the public school system intuitively. It’s time parents wake up to what’s being taught to their children.
Yet even parents who know what's going on tend to go with the flow. They're afraid to do anything else. At Leland High School, there's a pastor I know whose child’s recent history assignment was based on the 1619 Project. But parents like this, who are aware of objectionable stuff in schools, rarely speak out.
These are our tax dollars paying for teachers’ salaries, that are funding and mobilizing these schools. Parents and community members should be able to do things like go on USD campuses.
Besides transparency, what I want to see this year from the USD is accountability in the budget. Lately, some unnecessary district positions (e.g., one that is DEI related) have been added. We could easily eliminate that DEI job. The salary was $100,000/year.
At the end of the day, I’m not—and I wasn’t—a politician. I couldn’t care less about a political agenda. All I want is to ensure our kids have an excellent education. I strongly believe that teachers and schools should be educating our kids academically, and nothing else. We should drive political and ideological pushes away.
This article is part of an Opp Now series on the Stanford Law free speech scandal—and its aftermath:
Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan was shouted down last week at a Stanford Law School event, and the disruption was supported by Associate Dean of DEI Tirien Steinbach. David Lat's exceptional Original Jurisdiction has the whole story here.
Tim Rosenberger, Jr., president of Stanford Law’s Federalist Society chapter, breaks down Stanford’s dangerously “comfort”-driven student/faculty culture.
Campus Reform reports that a group of Stanford students are urging the university to dismiss DEI Dean Steinbach.
In the wake of Stanford University’s free speech colloquies, Daniel McCarthy of the NY Post digs into Leftism’s aversion to differences.
Opp Now analyzes Stanford Law’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Spoiler alert: They, and heckler-sympathizer Dean Steinbach, may not be doing all that much.
TXEER Politics and Religion Board user pvbmtnr considers the binary thinking separating free speech and DEI—as especially located in Dean Steinbach’s WSJ defense piece.
Tim Rosenberger, Jr. assesses why a few prominent judges have announced they will stop hiring Stanford Law grads.
John Banzhaf is brandishing the potentially career-killing threat of bar complaints against Stanford Law students who heckled federal judge Kyle Duncan.
Reason's Josh Blackman unravels how DEI has stuck its nose into all issues possibly correlated with discrimination (big surprise: it's most of them).
Campus Reform breaks down DEI Dean Steinbach's rampant—and easily accessible—history of opposing law enforcement, criminal justice systems, and, yes, the “patriarchy.”
Stanford's Federalist Society student org president Tim Rosenberger, Jr. discusses how labeling all nonconformists as “far-right” is divisive.
Althouse explains why these university scandals continue happening: As the extremists get louder, the moderates get quieter.
The Free Press’s Bari Weiss unpacks why we should pay attention to universities’ free speech incidents: Young people are powerfully shaping our institutions—and our collective future.
Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity
Image by Shelby L. Bell