Kane County Reporter

Corron Elementary School third-grade teacher Rebecca Schwartz is speaking out against the student equity program she feels has needlessly been forced on her students as part of the curriculum by the school board without input from teachers.

“I understand that equity is a teacher training program,” Schwartz said. “However, there is no need for politics to drive the educational process, rather a culture for excellence to be promoted. The deep equity process demands every minority must be treated individually. They are all different. There is no recognition of a common bond of Americans. This causes more divide in our community as well as in our schools. My students do not see color. They are eight.”

Schwartz argues it also does little to actually improve learning for students in need nor help teachers come up with solutions.

Schwartz is convinced that part of the problem stems from teachers having been blocked from having any input in the program that was enacted.

“It's not just the program itself that gave me these intense emotions,  it's the fact that the teachers were never informed or even considered in the decision that impacts us directly,” she said. ”Yet our union president went in front of the board advocating for this program, saying that we engage with our membership, our teachers and our staff are overwhelmingly in support of this program.  Personally, I do not know a single teacher who fully understands this program, myself included, or is behind this program.”

Recently announced Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey has also vowed to fix the “poisoned atmosphere” many of his supporters see as having cropped up in schools across the state stemming from so-called “culturally responsive" learning standards set forth by the Illinois State Board of Education.

“If Darren Bailey is governor of Illinois, then there is a God in Heaven,” state Rep. Chris Miller (R-Crawford) told a crowd recently gathered for one of his Springfield colleague's campaign events.