Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) is taking new steps to hold woke public schools accountable. Beginning last Wednesday, Schmitt issued seven subpoenas directed at public schools across the state, demanding information about invasive surveys distributed to students.
A letter sent to Schmitt last month by legal nonprofit Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) documented numerous alleged incidents of teachers administering surveys that required information on students’ beliefs on gender and race, as well as their political affiliation – all allegedly without parental consent.
One such survey, titled “My Identity Journal” in playful lettering, asked second graders when they first “noticed that people [could] be different races” from them, and whether they “have an open mind and [are] aware of other people’s culture and race.”
The survey, allegedly used in a St. Louis elementary school, appears to be just the tip of the iceberg.
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Eventually, students within the same district would be forced to engage in weekly “mental health” surveys created by “social emotional learning” group Project Wayfinder. In these surveys, students were allegedly asked about their relationships with family members and comfort discussing their identity, and probed extensively regarding their mental health and vulnerabilities.
One can only guess what activist teachers might do with this information.
Other elements in question, the Attorney General’s office said, included a “witnessing whiteness” teacher training lesson and a slide from a school board seminar visualizing a “cycle of oppression/socialization.” Schmitt’s office has also uncovered over $500,000 in payments that several public schools collectively spent on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) consultants.
Schmitt is currently investigating whether these actions violated the state’s Family Educational Right and Privacy Act, or the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. He has also formed a “Students First Initiative” transparency portal, where parents are encouraged to submit “objectionable curricula” for further review.
We launched The Students First Initiative in March 2022 to empower parents and bring transparency back to Missouri's schools. Here's an example of teacher training material submitted by a Fox C-6 parent.
— Attorney General Eric Schmitt (@AGEricSchmitt) April 12, 2022
Parents can submit objectionable curriculum here: https://t.co/cXQPswTmJK pic.twitter.com/Jn6F8ZDgjj
“These people are hell-bent on indoctrination, not education,” Schmitt said of those distributing these surveys and curricula last month in an interview with podcaster and conservative activist Dana Loesch.
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