By Steven Allen Adams, for The Inter-Mountain of Elkins
CHARLESTON. W.Va. — Controversy stemming from a bill aimed at further curriculum transparency and limiting discussion of topics linked to philosophies under the umbrella of Critical Race Theory continued Monday after a House of Delegates committee cut off all debate on the bill.
Before leaving town last Thursday afternoon to beat the impending ice storm, the House Education Committee recommended House Bill 4011 for passage, creating the Anti-Stereotyping Act. The recommendation came after a motion to halt further amendments and debate was adopted by the Republican members of the committee.
Delegate Danielle Walker, D-Monongalia, is a member of the House Education Committee and the House’s lone black woman. Walker was still unhappy that debate on HB 4011 was cut off before the committee could hear from representatives of the teachers’ unions or offer amendments.
“When I still have questions to be asked, why would you move the question? You actually gagged the 1st Amendment,” Walker said during a virtual press conference Monday morning. “What are you so scared of when we need to vet a bill?”
HB 4011 focuses on two key areas: curriculum transparency, and prohibiting the teaching and discussion of specific racial and non-discrimination topics often categorized under the name Critical Race Theory, or CRT.
The bill would require schools to post all training materials and curriculum online pertaining to non-discrimination, diversity, equity, inclusion, race, ethnicity, sex, bias, or any combination of those concepts. It would prohibit the promotion or endorsement by school employees and county school boards of stereotypes based on race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. ..