School Committee Chair Brands Mother as Member of 'Racist Group' After She Speaks Out Against Critical Race Theory
A Rhode Island mother trying to learn the extent to which critical race theory and gender theory would be taught to her kindergartener in the fall has been labeled a racist agent by a school committee that on Wednesday backed down from filing a lawsuit against her.
Nicole Solas began her battle with the South Kingstown School District while performing due diligence about what kind of school her child would enter in the fall.
“My child is enrolled in kindergarten and I became concerned that Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender theory were integrated into lessons when an elementary school principal told me that teachers don’t refer to students as ‘boys’ and ‘girls,'” Solas wrote for Legal Insurrection on Tuesday.
After filing multiple requests for information about the curriculum through the state’s Access to Public Records Act, the South Kingstown School Committee decided that enough was enough and spent part of Wednesday’s meeting debating whether to sue Solas for asking for information about her child’s potential school.
Although, as reported by WPRI-TV, the committee backed off of filing a lawsuit, committee chair Emily Cummiskey went on Facebook to brand Solas an agent of racism.
“This issue is a much larger one — one that involves a disturbing attempt by a nationally-organized, racist group to create chaos and intimidate our District in recent weeks as we discuss bringing equity and anti-racism curriculum to our schools,” Cummiskey wrote, without naming the group.
She said Solas was trying to single-handedly wreck the schools by submitting over 200 records requests to the district.
After explaining how complex it is to provide an answer to a records request, she said Solas’ actions “are a clear attempt to wreak havoc among our school administrators, faculty, and staff, because we are legally bound to respond thoroughly to each and every one, regardless of the request.”
She then went after Solas, saying the parent “has been linked directly to a national, racist group working to spread chaos, confusion, and dismantle anti-racism in schools nationwide. It’s disturbing to see a nationally-organized, racist group try to impact the quality, inclusive local public education we aim to bring our children here in South Kingstown.”
Solas appeared before the committee on Wednesday night.
“You told me to submit a public records request to answer my questions. I did what you told me, and now you are holding a public meeting to discuss suing me for doing what you told me to do.”
“This meeting was meant to publicly humiliate me,” she said. “It didn’t work.”
Solas said the school committee is “obsessed with treating students based on their skin color” and should worry about other things.
“The school committee should focus on equity, treating students without regard to race,” she said. “We need answers, not lawsuits against parents.”
During a recent appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Solas said she never meant to start this big a controversy.
“I wanted to speak out because I have to fight for my daughter’s education and I’m in a special position. I don’t have a job to lose because I’m a stay-at-home mom. My daughter is just starting out in school. So, you know, if I have to send her to private school, I will,” she said.
“And I think it’s really important for parents to start asking more questions, because the more parents that ask more questions, the harder it will be for schools to retaliate against a lot of parents.”
In her post on Legal Insurrection, Solas noted that the incident mushroomed because her questions never were answered, and she was greeted with stonewalling when she wanted to tour the school.
“No one in the school department ever told me it was a problem while I was in constant contact with them to request and purchase information. I purchased over $300 worth of public information and shared it to a private Facebook group to raise awareness about indoctrination in Rhode Island schools,” she wrote.
Solas said the discussion about the lawsuit was pure intimidation.
“The message was clear: ask too many questions about your child’s education and we will come after you,” she wrote.
“I suspect the South Kingstown School Department is displeased that a parent has found a way to legally compel responses to difficult questions surrounding CRT and gender theory in public school,” she wrote.
“The school committee also could have reached out to me and asked if they could answer my questions directly. But no. Instead, they sought to publicly vilify a mother.”
“Although I am shocked that a government body would use the threat of litigation to publicly bully, harass, and intimidate a mother who was advocating for her child’s education, I am not afraid. And I will not stop asking questions,” Solas wrote.
“This shameful retaliation against a parent who demand[s] transparency from public schools will not be tolerated. Every parent needs to keep asking questions. Every parent needs to submit more public records requests when they do not receive answers to their questions from school leaders. Hold your elected representatives accountable and do not allow them to prevent you from protecting and advocating for your children,” she wrote.
“If the school system starts to bully you because you are asking too many questions, then you’re winning. Don’t give up.”
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