Parent Tom Chavez remains unmoved by materials used in District 205 classrooms that were released to the DuPage Policy Journal as part of a FOIA request.
The school district's FOIA granted a look into Corwin’s Deep Equity program in its curriculum after initially denying a similar request made by Patch. Chavez said that the "District 205 leadership has been less than truthful and forthcoming about what's really in the curriculum" from the time he started to investigate it and was told that "Critical Race Theory (CRT) or its principles are not being taught in the schools.
“When I met with District 205 leadership after exposing the Corwin Deep Equity program, I explained to them that openness and transparency are key ingredients to build accountability and trust with parents in Elmhurst, and they are not living up to these expectations,” Chavez told DuPage Policy Journal. "Since then, I have demonstrated that indeed CRT is being taught to children in Elmhurst public schools. Among the evidence, [is] an intersectionality wall mural in a classroom at York High School. Intersectionality is a core tenet of CRT and reduces individuals to a collection of racial, gender, and sexual identities, which determines whether a person is an oppressor or oppressed. Corwin Deep Equity is further evidence that the district pursuing a curriculum steeped in intolerant identity politics and social justice initiatives.”
Chavez argues that “the ideas espoused by Corwin contradict the rhetoric from District 205 leadership that calls for a ‘culture of trust, collaboration, and a safe environment where all students can learn.’”
“The premise of Deep Equity is that student achievement is suppressed by white privilege, and the objective of the program is to teach teachers to teach children through a racial lens,' he said. "The program information released by District 205 under the Freedom of Information Act, is only half the story. The contract and syllabus for the Corwin Deep Equity program present an aggressive approach to indoctrinating teachers and students, and proactively marginalizing any voices of dissent.”
Corwin’s response to DuPage Policy Journal’s FOIA yielded a workbook named “The Deep Equity Process,” which was said to be meant for use by children.
“The interpersonal and cultural context of learning has a profound impact on students' motivation and performance. If students feel: a lack of belonging, a low level of trust in the people around them, or a sense that teachers do not value their intelligence, then their feelings of competence, their motivation, and their performance will be lessened,” the workbook reads in its Stereotype Threat Research Summary section.
The publishing company was paid $46,000 by the school board to conduct teacher training but won't say what that training entailed. A Freedom of Information Act request made to Elmhurst School District 205 was refused, according to Elmhurst Patch. "These materials are valuable and protected trade secrets of Corwin," Kathy Schmidt, the district's Freedom of Information Act officer, said in a letter to Patch.
Chavez previously called out the school system for a lack of transparency over the use of Corwin’s Deep Equity program in its curriculum. Chavez, who has been an Elmhurst resident for 16 years and has graduated two kids from the district and has a third in the school, said he disagrees with the lack of transparency the district used in denying Patch’s FOIA request.
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