In northern California, two schools are implementing an expensive “anti-racism” leadership program, even as the school struggles with as many as 75% of students failing math classes.
As Just The News reports, two schools with the Martinez Unified School District are pursuing the six-figure “Student Leaders’ Anti-Racist Movement” (SLAM) program, which states that its goal is to “empower and mobilize” students “as catalysts for change through an anti-racist leadership youth movement.”
The SLAM program is set to serve 60 students per school, and will attempt to “deepen their personal racial understanding and elevate their racial consciousness as they develop the skills and tools to disrupt systemic racism within their schools, communities, and the larger society.” The program will also force students to “think about the social, cultural, and political aspects of their experiences, with a focus on race,” and will encourage adults to “co-conspire” with students.
The initiative will last for at least three years and cost more than $37,000 per year. SLAM is led by Lori Watson, the founder of Race-Work LLC, who charges $350 per hour for her services as a “racial equity consultant and facilitator.”
Meanwhile, the two schools – Alhambra Senior High School and Martinez Junior High School – are seeing their students fall well below state averages in their math performances. Currently, a staggering 73.9% of Alhambra students are failing basic math standards, while 65.2% of Martinez students are falling. The statewide average currently sees approximately 65% of students failing math courses.
“It’s unfortunate that the Martinez Unified School Board wants to divert resources from curricula proven to work to activism that promotes racial and ethnic strife,” said Lance Christensen, the Vice President of Government Affairs at the California Policy Center. “Race hustlers are never out of ideas to trample on the dream of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. What’s worse is they don’t care about academics in our public schools.”