The Facebook page Blueprints For Excellence-Reform Appleton Area School District broke the news that Hilary Haskell an AASD educator and wife of Appleton’s mayor Jake Woodford is listed as a signer of the Zinn Education Project’s “Pledge To Teach The Truth”.
The writers of the pledge believe the United States “was founded on dispossession of Native Americans, slavery, structural racism and oppression; and structural racism is a defining characteristic of our society today,” and they want to be free to provide teachings that identify “people or groups of people, entities, or institutions in the United States as inherently, immutably, or systemically sexist, racist, anti-LGBT, bigoted, biased, privileged, or oppressed.”
Signers of the pledge state that they “refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events — regardless of the law.”
The Zinn Education Project points to an article on their associated Rethinking Schools website that outlines in greater detail the concerns regarding bills aimed at banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory and concepts derived from CRT thinkers in public schools that have been introduced in a number of state legislatures.
I have confirmed that Ms. Haskell’s name appears as a signer on the pledge’s website. I also reached out to her to confirm that she did sign the pledge, but she has not responded.
It is important to note that although some Wisconsin state legislators are introducing bills that would in some way regulate the anti-racism and anti-sexism instruction provided to students, nothing has been passed and were something to be passed it would almost certainly be vetoed by Governor Evers. So, this pledge that Ms. Haskell appears to have signed is not a statement that she is doing anything illegal but that she is prepared to break the law should circumstances change.
I do think that when the name of an individual who is both a public employee and the spouse of an elected official is associated with a public pledge that specifically speaks about how she intends to perform her professional duties as a public employee, that is a matter of public interest and the public should reasonably expect that person to confirm whether or not she signed that pledge.
The issue may also be of particular interest to parents with students in the Appleton Area School District, so I reached out to Superintendent Judy Baseman and asked for comment. I received the following reply: “Thank you for your email. We are currently looking into this matter and will provide a more detailed response once we have gathered additional information.”
Although Mayor Woodford and his wife are two separate individuals who may hold different views on this matter, I do think it is in the public’s interest to hear his thoughts on the matter, so I reached out to him and asked him if he agreed with the pledge. I also hoped he would give his thoughts more generally on how he thinks Appleton is handling issues of racism and if there are any actions or changes he hopes to see going forward. As of this posting, he has not responded.
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