Dear Editor,

In the June 22 edition, Mike Fetzer wrote addressing DEI in our schools; about how it was imperative to move forward with DEI to make sure our children are prepared.
His letter tells our community much about the current situation of our school district. While there is not currently a DEI curriculum or mission statement, his letter assures us that there are DEI lessons in our schools, and worse a push from DEI supporters to strengthen and enhance the DEI curriculum within CCS. I felt it important to address some issues/myths that I have been faced with on my journey as an advocate, board candidate, and now supporter of two conservative candidates.
DEI has very little to do with diversity and inclusion. These policies seek to create differences where for years we have fought hard for equality. They seek to drive a wedge between races, and income levels where for generations we have sought harmony. DEI is not about placing special-needs children in mainstream classes. That is actual inclusion and without speaking for any of our candidates, I am confident both Love and Giampetroni would support this type of inclusion. DEI is not about helping kids of a majority race better accept and embrace members of a minority race. It is about demonstrating differences, pointing fingers, and blaming future generations. It is about sowing discord in racial relations. For generations, we learned about Dr. King’s dream, but DEI is encouraging us to judge based on the color of our skin, not character. Only this time we look backward and make the same mistakes of our forefathers, only in reverse.
When Fetzer says our economy is “increasingly open, diverse, and competitive,” I certainly won’t argue but the skills our kids need to compete are not a detailed knowledge and shame for the faults of our fathers, but they will need to be better at the core curricula than our competition. Recent testing showed that less than half our graduating seniors were “college-ready.” This is because our district has weakened rigor in order to focus on social issues. This is clear in Fetzer’s opinion, “reading and writing are important… and parents should do more to promote them at home. But social and critical skills… are more likely to be developed in school environments” He is wrong. Our schools are for reading, writing, science, math, and history: Our dinner tables are for teaching our kids social, political, and moral standards.

Sincerely,
David Meyer
Clarkston