Republican Club
by Brian Harmon
LW contributor
Mari Barke, a member of the Orange County Board of Education, spoke at the LW Republican Club’s October meeting on the issue of Critical Race Theory (CRT).
Barke presented a Power -Point presentation documenting examples of CRT being taught in districts throughout the country.
She explained that CRT teaches that people are either oppressed or oppressors, based on their race or ethnicity. White people are assumed to be the oppressors, and people of color are considered oppressed, based on the color of their skin.
Los Alamitos High School has started an elective course on Ethnic Studies and some fear that this course may involve the teaching of CRT.
The district denies the claim but so far has not shared with parents or voters about what will be taught in this course.
For example, the district website lists 48 textbooks that are used in Social Science (12), Math (12), English (11), Science (11), Health (1) and Music (1).
So far, the school district has not released the book list for the class, which has many parents and taxpayers who are against CRT being taught in schools concerned about what the curriculum will be centered on.
Calls to the district office were not returned as of press time.
Barke has been a member of the OC Board of Educatio since March 2016. She has been a consistent advocate of school choice including charter schools, in which parents and teachers together decide how the school will be run.
Barke said, “Education in Orange County should start with giving parents a choice of where to send their children. If your local public school is not fulfilling its duty, you should have a choice to move to a different community public school or public charter school. I want every parent and child to have choices when it comes to their education.”
Barke has volunteered with the following organizations over the past 15 years:
• National Charity League
• Fisher House (helping military and veterans’ families)
• Cypress College, Business and Computer Information System, Advisory Committee Member
• Hillsdale College, President’s Club and Parents Association Steering Committee.
