Constructing a Backlash: How Parents Stymied Equity Efforts in Suburban School Districts

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 8: DEI Policies in Education

Abstract

Following George Floyd's murder, school board meetings became rancorous sites of debate as school districts attempted to implement new diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and conservative parents tried to stop them. In this paper, I ask: What racial ideologies are at play in parent debates over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in suburban schools? How are these ideologies leveraged to political ends in school board meetings? I analyze fieldnotes from 87 school board meetings at three districts in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I find that school district diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts fall under a race-conscious diversity ideology, and that critical parents argue against these efforts using a weaponized version of color-evasiveness. I describe the contours of weaponized color-evasiveness here, illustrating how parents leverage their racial ideology to attempt to keep school districts from implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Author

• Emily Handsman, Rutgers University-New Brunswick