The Looming Shadow: Pressure on Equity-Focused Teachers in States Without Divisive Concepts Laws

• In Event: Teaching in the Shadow of "Divisive Concepts": The Impact of Anti-Equity Legislation on Teachers' Work

Abstract

This case will highlight the work of a biracial team of high school teachers who are working to build and sustain a district-wide equity movement in a predominantly white, rural school district in Wisconsin in 2021 in the shadow of the divisive concepts movement. Their case highlights the powerful social, professional and economic impacts of the divisive concepts movement and the accompanying pressure this rhetoric places on equity and justice-oriented rural educators, even in states where the legislation has not yet been passed into law.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, slow, percolating plans to implement an equity program in the School District of Lodi, Wisconsin came to a full, rolling boil. A biracial leadership team realized that the need for community support for Students of Color could no longer be ignored. These teachers proposed a Multicultural Club to the local Board of Education. The club invited students to biweekly meetings to learn, reflect, discuss, plan actions, and have fun together. Advisors planned for guest speakers, book readings, field trips, and a family-like atmosphere that would nurture students of Color and LGBTQ+ students in a safe collaborative space where they could build leadership skills and partner with allies. As part of a budding district-wide equity initiatives including school board member equity training, staff development, and the use of student leaders and alumni voices as the district evolved toward a more inclusive culture, the club proposal passed easily.

However, in the spring of 2021, following a contentious school board election, the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a Wisconsin-based conservative think tank, published an online video accusing Lodi Schools of promoting a “secret equity agenda” (MacIver News, 2021) and parroted language used by other prominent conservative media outlets, such as Fox News by using Critical Race Theory to dog-whistle other ultra-conservative voices. The video was hosted and shared on numerous online forums and overnight, the district equity work was caught up in the vitriol and rhetoric of the divisive concepts movement. The case will highlight how a national campaign trumpeted by the divisive concepts movement and promoting false narratives surrounding equity and social justice work generated suspicion surrounding Lodi educators and led to efforts to halt their equity work.

This case will serve as an example of what is happening to equity-oriented teachers, even in a state where divisive concepts legislation has not been passed into law. While the Republican-controlled legislature in Wisconsin introduced a copycat bill in Madison in June 2021, Wisconsin’s law is unlikely to survive gubernatorial veto scrutiny. Nevertheless, because the funding model in Wisconsin requires schools to frequently go to referendum for basic operational costs, all politics become local. This case will interrogate the ways in which funding models, outside political movements, and social media have all played a role in stifling the equity work of teacher leaders. They will describe the intersection of this anti-equity movement, teacher work, and the budgeting realities in many small, rural schools.

Author

• Paula Tonn, Lodi High School