Orange County schools considering a ban on Critical Race Theory

Share this article

School districts, keenly aware of growing parental criticism of and resistance towards Critical Race Theory, are promising to bar or ban the controversial theory from classrooms. In Orange County, California, the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District joined the ranks of districts who will ban the teaching of the theory in classrooms.

A local non-profit newspaper, Voice of OC, said that although the ban has not yet been officially enacted, school officials claimed that the theory was not currently being taught in classrooms. The district’s board of trustees voted 4-1 on the first reading of a resolution to ban the theory.

After reading the resolution, the board of trustees must take another vote on it before finalizing the resolution to enshrine the ban. It has to go through the procedure of having a study session to go over the resolution, and then putting the final version up for another vote.

Specifically, the board of trustees debated on which specific teachings should be banned and how to define Critical Race Theory.

One of the prominent opponents to the proposed ban was a group called Voices for PYLUSD, which claims to be a group of parents, teachers and students in the district. The group cited an article by PEN America, an anti-Trump journalism organization, and how the ban could be an example of government censorship. The Voices for PYLUSD is trying to get more signatures for its petition to kill the proposed ban.

Making things more difficult is the statewide requirement to have high school students take a semester-long ethnic studies course. The Democrat-majority legislature passed the requirement and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law, which law will take effect in the beginning of the school year for the graduating class of 2029-2030.

Critical Race Theory is the flawed and inaccurate theory that claims all longtime or established American institutions, whether they be political, legal, or educational, are inherently racist and are biased against black Americans. It promotes the unproven argument that America has not progressed from the allegedly embedded racism in these institutions, despite history proving the theory and its supporters wrong.