Critical Race Theory debate intensifies in West Chester – Daily Local News

WEST WHITELAND The West Chester Area School Board is set to meet later this month for its regular public session. Normally, that caucus would be held at the school districts offices in West Whiteland.

But these are not normal times, as those paying attention to recent controversies might note.

Citing a concern for public safety, and after reports of out-of-state email, phone and social media threats that were received by the West Chester district targeting school board President Chris McCune, the district has moved its August committee and board meetings to a virtual format. No public meetings will be held this month, the district said.

Those threats which a district spokeswoman declined to discuss in detail last week are now being investigated by local police and the FBI, according to a posting on the districts website, where the change in venue was announced.

They came after news was circulated nationally of a contentious confrontation between McCune and an East Bradford woman over the issue of whether the district of some 12,000 students currently teaches Critical Race Theory (CRT) in its 16 elementary and secondary schools. McCune, upset by the womans insistence at speaking beyond her allotted time, forcibly grabbed a microphone away from her and directed that she be escorted out of the meeting room by a police officer.

The exchange, which was captured on the districts video and which came at the end of a series of comments about the controversial CRT education concept, has generated calls for McCune to resign his post as a board member and give up his campaign for a third term on the board. It also led to damning reports in conservative media across the county, including Fox News and the National Review, in which the incident was described as reminiscent of the authoritarian crackdown in the womans native Iran in 1979.

McCune said on Wednesday that the districts meeting procedures are in place to foster the civil exchange of ideas, but at the July 26 meeting there was a breakdown in this process that led to resident Anita Edgarians ouster. He apologized for having not handled the situation more deftly, and not simply cutting off the speakers microphone instead of taking it away.

There is certainly opportunity for improvement all the way around, which includes me, he wrote in an email. We are taking steps that will help avoid unpleasant situations like this in the future.

Although McCune, in the last year of his second four-year term on the board, having been first elected in 2013, says he is a life-long Republican, several members of the GOP in the county have called for his resignation over the incident.

In a letter, Marian McGrath, chairwoman of the East and West Bradford Republican Committees; Thomas Foster, chairman of the Westtown-Thornbury Republican Committee; Felice Fein, chairwoman the West Goshen Republican Committee; and Jessica Curtis, president of the Republican Women of Chester County, along with 26 others, condemned McCune for what they said was his reprehensible actions.

The Republican leaders support Edgarian, they wrote. As a legal immigrant from Iran, who has experienced first-hand the threat of communism and Muslim theocracy, the speaker was cautioning against the same thing happening here, reads the missive. (The school district) has a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying, the very behavior Mr. McCune displayed as he was unable to control his anger.

He used his power and physical presence to try to intimidate an ethnic-minority immigrant woman, the letter states.

Likewise, leaders of the countys Libertarian Party, a small but significant Third Party group in Chester County, called for McCunes dismissal.

We have had enough, reads the letter penned by Stephen Wahrhaftig and Jacquelyn Crane, the Libertarians.Many members of the Libertarian Party of Chester County currently have students in the West Chester Area School District or have had children graduate from these schools

We want this district to maintain its reputation of excellence and integrity. Therefore, we believe it is time to clean house, they said. In November the voters will have the ability to elect new board members who are unafraid to stand against this type of business as usual arrogance.

Following the incident and its harsh reaction,however, other members of the school board composed a letter expressing their support for McCune, the board's presidentsince 2017, whom they described as having displayed, wise, common-sense leadership and a strong track record of sifting through competing and contradictory opinions, data, and demands.

Mr. McCune is a conscientious, collaborative, and respectful colleague, and he consistently seeks to find the right balance between fiscal responsibility and educational excellence for the district, the letter signed by the board members read. Just as important, Mr. McCune brings a commitment to reasonable debate and a desire to reach consensus to every conversation and decision.

A statement requested by the head of the Chester County Democratic Committee, Charlotte Valyo, on the other hand, seemed less than enthusiastic about the entire matter, although it was not openly critical of either McCune or his oppoents. McCune is listed on the Novemberballot for school director as a Republican in Region 3 with fellow GOP candidate Stacey Whomsley, running against two Democrats, Laura Detre and Carrie Stare.

"Unfortunately we are living in a heated social and political environment, the chairwoman wrote. I hope this situation can be resolved between the (school board) and their constituents. Whether or not Mr. McCune should resign is not for me to decide or comment upon. But we can all agree the focus should be on what is best for the children and not on the hot topic of the moment."

Edgarian, a mother of three and local Republican supporter, was removed from the meeting at the East High School auditorium by police after she exceeded a district-imposed two-minute time limit set for public speakers. She was decrying what she claimed were the vestiges of CRT in school curriculum, although district officials have repeatedly stated that the theory a graduate-level teaching premise that examines how racism has influenced portions of American society for hundreds of year is not taught in the district.

Many critics noted that several of the more than two-dozen other speakers who were addressing the school board of CRT also exceeded their time limit, but were not treated as Edgarian was. But while most of those participants seemed simply annoyed when told by McCune that they had exceeded the limit, they stopped speaking immediately, or continued for only a brief period of time. On the other hand, Edgarian shouted No! and refused to stop talking when asked to.

At that point, McCune leapt from his seat on the dais, strode purposely to the podium and flipped the microphone away from Edgarian, with whom he was previously acquainted. Go! the board president exclaimed. This is shameful.

McCune said that Edgarian had bombarded the meeting, likely referring to a moment earlier when she rushed to the stage and asked to be included as a public speaker, past the normal deadline. McCune had then granted permission. And now you want to monopolize the meeting, McCune told the mother of three as she was led out by an officer. Youre gone.

Retiring Superintendent Jim Scanlon has said that Edgarian was removed because she did not follow proper speaking protocol and decorum by refusing to stop speaking after the time limit was up. Scanlon also said she was yelling very loudly at the board and him and that police were required to escort her out. Edgarian, on the other hand, told a Fox News interviewer that although she was passionate she had not been rude.

In an interview Wednesday, McCune that the CRT debate and his rejection by members of his own political party is an example of the rising anger in America. He blamed some local Republicans of spewing racist and religious statements, or any slanderous words they can.

In my eight years on the board, not a single parent has ever approached me with a concern (about Critical Race Theory) or has it ever been discussed at a single education meeting, he said in a letter. I have met with representatives from the Chester County Republican Committee several times this year at their request to discuss their concerns about equity.

They have been unable to provide sufficient evidence to support their assertions within WCASD, he said.

As a lifelong Republican, it is sad to me that a far-right faction of the Republican Party is disrupting and dividing local communities like our own, he wrote. And over what? Until recently, most of us had never even heard of Critical Race Theory and it is not a part of our curriculum.

More here:

Critical Race Theory debate intensifies in West Chester - Daily Local News