[img]1942|right|Photo, cookingwithcurls.com||no_popup[/img]Supt. Dave LaRose might have been perspiring bullets this afternoon if he had known what motivated me to telephone him at 2 o’clock.
My question was so innocuous as to seem wasteful:
When the School District inaugurates its first Free Summer Lunch program a week from Monday at La Ballona Elementary, will the Food Chief, Julie Garcia, be serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?
Tensely, I inhaled, drumming on the floor with my left foot.
Even though the menu will not be released until Monday, the answer crackled succinctly through the wires from nearly a mile away: No – too many students allergic to peanuts would be affected.
I exhaled so aggressively the door at the far end of my office blew open and shut.
The bullets an unsuspecting Mr. LaRose could have been sweating just have been adroitly ducked.
With gratitude toward all Superior Beings, the School District – which hosts an immensely diverse student body of 6400 – will not be accused of fostering racism.
Our liberal betters – and they are rife among educators – could have been down on their haunches, ready to spring up and plaster Culver City with the ugly and permanent label of racism. Forget allergies. They say with a straight face that serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches promotes “white culture” and “white privilege.”
Politically Correct Portland can tell you about their experience with the Army of the Politically Correct last year.
They would tell you, except that in my favoritest city beyond Los Angeles, nearly all of its citizens are uniformed soldiers in the Army of the Politically Correct.
Villain No. 1 is Dr. Verenice (Very) Gutierrez, a principal in Portland, and villain No. 2 is Glenn Singleton, founder of the Pacific Educational Group.
My curiosity ran amok after discovering this report:
[img]1941|right|Dr. Gutierrez||no_popup[/img]Dr. Verenice Gutierrez, a principal with Oregon’s Portland Public Schools, has become convinced that America “white culture” negatively influences educators’ worldview and the manner in which they teach their students.
For instance, two years ago, a teacher in the district presented a lesson that included a reference to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Dr. Gutierrez says that by using sandwiches as an illustration, the teacher was engaged in a very subtle form of racism.
‘What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” asked Dr. Gutierrez, according to Portland Tribune. “Another way would be to say: ‘Americans eat peanut butter and jelly. Do you have anything like that?’ Let them tell you. Maybe they eat torta. Or pita.”
Dr. Gutierrez is not the only Portland administrator obsessed with identifying such forms of alleged racism. Almost all Portland school leaders have gone through “Coaching for Educational Equity,” a week-long seminar on race that’s conducted by the Pacific Educational Group.
The Pacific Educational Group’s mission is to enlighten educators about how public schools promote “white culture” and “white privilege.” He argues that those conditions are responsible for the black/white achievement gap that exists throughout America’s public education system.
The Portland school district has certainly taken Mr. Singleton’s message to heart.
Since the 2010-11 fiscal year, the cash-starved school district has spent $526,901 for services provided by the Pacific Educational Group.
What are Portland schools getting in return for all the money spent on PEG?
According to the Tribune, Portland educators are subjected to “intensive staff trainings, frequent staff meetings, classroom observations and other initiatives,” all based on Singleton’s premise that only by becoming aware of the pervasive “white privilege” can teachers change their classroom practices to reach minority students.
In addition to teaching that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are racist, PEG trains educators to view “rugged individualism,” “adherence to rigid time schedules,” and the belief that “hard work is the key to success” as traits of the dominant white culture.
PEG teaches that minority cultures value “color group collectivism,” “interdependence,” group success, shared property, learning through social relationships, and making life choices based on “what will be best for the family or group.”
Upon receiving this revelation from PEG, educators are encouraged to create culturally sensitive lesson plans that make use of “group homework preparation,” “cooperative projects,” and “choral reading.”
As for Dr. Gutierrez, it was reported last August that Harvey Scott School, where she is principal, is a focus school, which means it is among Oregon’s lowest performing 15 percent.
And they do not nosh on peanut butter and jelly.
