Dec. 2, 2021, R-C Letters to the Editor

No one forced to investigate CRT

Editor:

Having been accused of lying and causing irreparable damage, I feel a need to respond to a recent letter to the editor.

How has my having seen some evidence of CRT in our district and later saying I didn’t think that it is being taught in our class make me a liar? The actual wording was that I had not been truthful. I have seen evidence of CRT materials in a school library and in professional development curriculum. I haven’t seen evidence of it being taught in our classrooms. It’s possible for both to be true.

The board and the superintendent were not forced to investigate a false accusation. Rather we agreed to be educated about a topic that is being discussed across the nation. My purpose in bringing CRT to the attention of the board was to make people aware that it is being slowly and maliciously introduced into our nation’s schools. Of that I have no doubt. This is not a fabricated crisis. It isn’t necessarily a crisis in our district at this time. I want our district to be aware of what CRT is and have a policy in place to deal with it when it does in fact rear its ugly head in our community. I’m sorry that some in our district were subjected to rude, disrespectful behavior, that was not my intention. With this recent letter, I can relate.

To keep referring to the CNN coverage of the town halls clearly shows the author of this editorial believes the skewed opinion of progressives who want nothing to do with truth. They want schools to have complete control over what is taught to students rather than parents. CRT isn’t just about teaching of our nations racial mistakes it is about dividing people, reverse discrimination, segregation and fomenting hatred.

I very much appreciate the tireless work of the teachers, administrators and our superintendent. My concern is for the future of education in our nation and specifically in our district.

Doug Englekirk

Douglas County School Board trustee

Zephyr Cove

School board doubles down

Editor:

After School Board Trustee Robbe Lehmann’s guest column (R-C, Nov. 18), I wasn’t surprised to watch our school board re-affirm its refusal to take CRT seriously at the special meeting Nov. 22. The meeting itself revealed how useless the present school board is in addressing a serious threat that has invaded education in Douglas County. Standards, curriculum, professional development and teacher training all reek of Critical Race Theory, yet the majority of our board’s noses can’t smell it at all.

“It isn’t in our classrooms” mantras Lehmann, and most of his fellow trustees, egged on by Superintendent Lewis and a handful of teachers who made comments. Outrageously, the leaders we elected to represent us, the residents of this county, interpret any imposition of boundaries or guidance on what is taught to the students here as “disrespecting” the teachers. “Trust the teachers,” they insist. But how can we when, as noted in my previous guest column, CRT is live and well — and deliberately ignored by this board and teachers as well.

And … wait … isn’t the teachers’ union in charge of representing the teachers? Isn’t it the board’s responsibility to call for accountability? What kind of oversight are we getting from a board that thumbs their noses (the ones that can’t smell CRT) at the overwhelming number of folks from the community who want assurance that CRT will be resisted and rooted out?

The CRT under fire today encompasses social justice, identity politics, and other far-left-of-center political concepts, and our board has embraced programs that have progressivism at their core (Social Emotional Learning and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and the standards include “Social Justice.” Worse, the board acknowledges that its professional development and teacher training programs contain CRT modules, but slough off their presence with a sweep of the hand by saying, in essence, “We trust (there’s that word again) our teachers will ignore that part of the programs.”

Why is this board so against actually taking actions that would put in place barriers to CRT? Besides claiming such action would insult teachers (if so, we need to get rid of those immature teachers), they feign a concern over censorship. Once again, can the board be that naïve as to their duty to keep unsuitable material and outright lies away from young students? When a decision is made to remove materials with graphic sexual content or Marxist or fascist propaganda from K-6 classrooms and school libraries that qualifies as censorship. In this context, censorship is not only good, it is the right thing to do.

No one is asking for the evils of slavery or the truth of the struggle for civil rights to be erased. But this community doesn’t want the progressive playbook installed in school classrooms, either. SEL, DEI, and CRT are progressive “windows of opportunity” to infiltrate.

None of them should be anywhere near any Douglas County schools, and our school board has betrayed us, let them in, and now rubberstamped them “approved.”

Virginia Starrett,

Protect Nevada Children director

Foothill

Dirt, noise and more dirt

Editor:

A subdivision is being developed by Jenuane aka Valley Knolls, it is situated on the Douglas County and Carson City line bordered by North Sunridge (in Douglas) and Center drive (Carson City).

We live in the Eagle Station Schulz subdivision and our house borders Center Drive south of Topsy Lane.

Most of this summer we were able to listen to large tractors with roto hammers bang away starting at 6:30 or 7 every morning along with constant back up bells. Breakfast on the patio will be multiple back up bells as well as a generous side of diesel smoke, if we are lucky, we get and additional side of dust on our eggs. (We realize this part will end at some point but what are the long terms affects?)

A road is now being built from Sunridge to Center, along with trenching for what appears to be a sewer line heading south on Center. Not sure how this benefits Carson City taxpayers?

We get a constant supply of silt and dirt blowing in our yard, and it gets into everything including inside the house. This silt has coated our back yard on many occasions where it had to be hosed off. Vegetable and flower beds are coated in dirt and silt, the rocked slope in our backyard is dirt colored and will no doubt grow a new supply of weeds with the seeds that have blown in with the dirt.

We called the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection and have complained on multiple occasions regarding the blowing dirt. We contacted a Carson City official, and he stated uh well there is not much we can do about that.

What is the long term affects of this to our stucco, windowsills, screens, HVAC, barbecues, and the list goes on? Do the developers care about us and our neighbors?

The construction company does on occasion send a water truck around during workdays, but no water truck can be seen after 4 p.m. or on Saturdays and Sundays.

We unfortunately lived through a similar situation in another subdivision, and we fully understand our options.

Jim and Holly Powell
Carson City