Undercover Investigation Reveals CRT Still Being Used in Tennessee School Districts

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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

Despite the fact that state lawmakers banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory in K-12 public schools last year, an undercover investigation by Accuracy in Media (AIM) has revealed that many Tennessee school districts continue to do what they want and push their own agendas.

AIM President Adam Guillette released a video report showing a number of Tennessee public school administrators talking on AIM’s hidden camera, answering various questions about the role of CRT in their curriculum and their response to the legislative ban on its teaching.

According to Todd Wigginton, Metro Nashville’s Director of Instruction for K-12, the law has not really affected his district. 

“The law was really well crafted and accomplishes nothing. It does not keep us from teaching the history,” Wigginton said.

He continued, “So basically, we’re doing what we’ve been doing.”

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The problem is that what they’ve been doing is adapting and teaching the tenets of CRT, many times just using different terminology to push it through without parents realizing what was taking place. 

Many school systems have adopted curricula that surround “social-emotional learning.” These lessons on SEL often include discussion of “power and privilege” or “empathy and equity,” which push ideas of systemic oppression under the guise of learning to accept others.

Kimberly Shurett, Director of Early Grades Academic Support and former Jasper Elementary School principal, said, “We’re business as usual in this district…we don’t really let anybody tell us what to do.”

According to the law, school systems stand to lose state funding if they are found to be in violation of the legislation, although the Tennessee Department of Education already declined to investigate its first complaint.

Robin Steenman, chair of the Williamson County chapter of Moms for Liberty, filed an 11-page complaint against the Wit and Wisdom curriculum that was being used, stating that many of the books used were “divisive” and “manipulative.”

The TDOE opted not to pursue the investigation because they said the law gave them authorization to look into complaints from the 2021-2022 school year but this complaint was in regards to the previous school year.

School systems are still taking advantage of complacent parents and lack of governmental oversight to use methods such as “open-ended questioning” or “giving students space to think” to slip in those ideals of CRT.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com