Greeson: Back to school means back to controversy around here

Here we are, back to school and back to controversy.

Yeah, the tax increase got defeated. Yeah, the rallying cry of teachers' raises clearly was a Trojan horse because the amended budget - with tens of millions more than last year's budget without the increase - prioritized hiring 170-plus new faces over giving raises and trying to retain our best teachers.

And that was the calm before the storm, in retrospect.

Last Friday, in a teacher-training seminar with guest speaker Robert Jackson, the slide hit the fan.

There has been much made of the slideshow presentation, which was not in black and white but was apparently all about black and white.

Jay Greeson

The presentation explored in some detail the negatives of white privilege in an attempt to better prepare mostly white teachers about how to understand and connect with their mostly minority students in the Opportunity Zone schools.

Yes, that sentence was a mouthful. And yes, it should leave a sour taste in all of our mouths. Especially when we should all be celebrating a wide swath of the Brainerd community - regardless of race, belief, income, shoe size, political party, college football preference, you name it - coming together to volunteer their time and their efforts to help Brainerd High School.

In between the requested hug sessions - seriously - during the training came this slide: "People of color cannot be racist because they lack the institutional power to affect white lives."

The school district has made statements about messages being "misinterpreted" in the training session and on social media. It's kind of hard to misinterpret direct words on the slide, though.

School board member Tiffanie Robinson, who I greatly respect, told TFP reporter Meghan Magnum that the controversial slide was a misunderstanding, in the big picture.

"Our teachers want to know and understand their students. Many of our teachers, fortunately, did not grow up in the environments our students are coming from. Understanding their home life and community helps our teachers better understand how to build relationships with their students and thus better instruct them toward success," Robinson was quoted in a statement after the hubbub. "Our school system is striving for progression and empathy in the classroom - the public has asked for this and we as public servants have listened."

I am all for understanding the home and the communities in which schools function. Who isn't? But does that understanding immediately come with the need for blame and a safety net for excuses?

I have asked this multiple times as the 'equity' push became all the rage from the central office, but shouldn't equity be a two-way street that looks to help the flow in each direction and all those in the traffic pattern?

Are you in favor of equity if you are saying every racial problem is the fault of white people?

Are you truly doing the best to serve minority students if you lay the groundwork for excuse making and finger pointing toward white people?

Some wonder if this is the effort and behind-the-scene works of UnifiEd, the education advisory committee that also has become a very powerful left-leaning political action committee around these parts.

If it is, well, UnifiEd should consider changing its name. Because of all the feelings I have right now as our Hamilton County public schools get ready to start, unified is far from the top of the list.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.