We want to make our position clear on two public issues: (1) COVID-19 vaccinations of students; and (2) Critical Race Theory.

I.  COVID-19 Vaccinations

     The District School Board (“the Board”) and the Superintendent will not mandate the COVID-19 vaccination of students enrolled in our schools. Whether or not to vaccinate a child for COVID-19 is the decision of the child’s parents.

II.  Critical Race Theory

     As expressed by Members of the School Board at the Special Meeting/Hearing held on June 7, 2021, and reemphasized by the Superintendent at the School Board Meeting held on June 8, 2021, the School Board and the Superintendent do not support the teaching of Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) in its classrooms, and CRT is not and will not be part of the District curriculum and teaching and learning framework.

     CRT is an ideologically driven approach to teaching and learning that the District neither supports nor permits within its curriculum and instructional process. CRT has been defined as a social construct in which racism is something embedded in the social, economic, and legal systems of this country. The District does not and will not permit any ideology to drive instruction whether it be by CRT, Marxism, Fascism, or any system of ideas whose nature and content will distort (a) student learning; (b) American and World History; (c) literature; (d) character development; (e) civics, and so on. The District will follow Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards and the curriculum requirements set forth in F.S. 1006.31 and F.S. 1003.42 and is in alignment with the rule approved by the State Board of Education on June 10, 2021.