Video footage has emerged showing officials across schools in Indiana allegedly admitting to teaching critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles to students under different terms to avoid upsetting parents.
The undercover interviews by the nonprofit conservative news media watchdog, Accuracy in Media (AIM), were published on April 12.
The footage allegedly shows AIM investigators speaking to various officials at Carmel Clay School District, Elkhart Community Schools, Fairfield Community Schools, Goshen Community Schools, Metropolitan School District of Martinsville, Monroe County Community School Corporation, and Plainfield Community School Corporation.
“We really—we stay under the radar. And we’d like to keep it that way,” she said while explaining that some teachers have put up LGBT pride posters in their rooms.
‘Just Have to Avoid the Words’
DelVecchio is listed on Plainfield Community School Corporation’s official website as the assistant superintendent for student learning.In another undercover recording, investigators spoke with Elkhart Community Schools’ Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Brad Sheppard, who stated that CRT and social and emotional learning (SEL) are the “two biggies” that need to be relabeled at schools.
“We just have to avoid the words, you know? The labels,” Sheppard states in the undercover interview. “You’re not teaching the theory, you’re just teaching the events of history... that’s how history teachers are approaching it.”
Sheppard continued that SEL “has become a bad phrase, and we don’t openly use that phrase, but we’re still doing it, so… I mean, just to avoid anything, I mean, we have not really been hit with it, but just to even avoid it.”
Schools ‘Prepping’ Textbook Presenters
Tracey Noe, who, according to Goshen Community Schools, is the assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, expressed similar statements in the undercover interview, according to the video footage.At one point, she can be seen telling AIM investigators that the equity and inclusion committee’s name had been tweaked to “work group” because “we just didn’t want to make a target of it.”
“I actually prep them a little bit because I’m like, ‘We want this in our curriculum, so if you could just not say specifically this, then it won’t cause a red flag with the community,’ and I hate that we have to do that but that way it’s still there, and they would support it if just the content was there they just—its the title,” Oakley told AIM investigators.
Schools Issue Statements
In a statement responding to the newly-released video footage, Fairfield Community Schools said, “We do not teach Critical Race Theory under that name or any other name.”Both Goshen and Elkhart Community Schools said they had placed assistant superintendents who appeared in the undercover video on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident.
In a separate statement, Plainfield Community School Corporation said it is “aware of being featured in a video that gained public attention.”
The out-of-state group that created this video came to Plainfield with the intention of creating distrust in the school corporation by spreading misinformation and half-truths,” the statement continued.
“This video was edited from the original conversation, which does not offer the full story and is taken entirely out of context. Our curriculum is based on the Indiana state standards,” officials said.
“Critical Race Theory is not taught in Plainfield Schools,” it added.
The Epoch Times has contacted the school districts for comment.