This is a follow-up story to the Georgia Record article from October 13, 2021. And, the district was called out for discrimination on October 7, 2021.
The Savannah Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) purchased a Panorama Social Emotional Learning (SEL) License for $95,375.00 with CARES ACT 1 federal funding. SCCPSS and Panorama Education, Inc. contracted on April 19, 2021. The current contract term is one year. The terms 'Critical Race Theory' and 'Social Emotion Learning' are nearly synonymous by definition. This is yet another example of the imaginary world of leftist language manipulation to pacify stakeholders in a way that blurs and denies the truth.
Stealthily, or so they thought, on Tuesday, October 19, Chatham Schools finally published their press release announcement of the full roll-out of the Panorama Education Program DAYS AFTER implementation had begun. The full, district-wide plan to use the data to “conduct school-wide SEL focus lessons...” is based on the first phase of teacher and student surveys, which began the week of October 10. This is an example of failing to inform property owners and all those involved in the educational system of a program spanning the entire district in every grade.
Is this snap and race-focused behavior new? No. Chatham is so renowned for race-based practices that it is on a national School Board Watch List for racist hiring practices. Additionally, the district is known for moving teachers in and out of their roles on account of their born trait of skin pigmentation, though masked by other excuses.
Under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Ann Levett, Chatham schools have implemented this inconspicuous plan by appearing to manipulate county families, students, staff, teachers, and even the School Board. It was far back in April 2021 that Missi Sukanek, Interim Director of Compensatory Programs, coordinated the purchase of the Panorama Social-Emotional Learning Platform License with Larry Jackson, Chatham Schools CFO, signing the contract. And, per School Board By-Law Article VIII, Section 5, the check was signed by the Superintendent and either the President of the Board, Joe Buck, or Vice President of the Board, Shawn Kachmar of District 4, the strongest conservative district in the county consisting of Skidaway Island, Wilmington Island, and several other barrier islands.
A statement of Shawn Kachmar from a meeting on October 20 -- “I am not supportive of CRT period. Back in the summer, I said to the Superintendent: ‘I am concerned with what is going on around the country with CRT. What are we doing as a district? Is anything happening at the district level…?' Her response was this -- ‘We don’t teach CRT. We have no plans to teach CRT. We follow the state guidelines issued by the Georgia Department of Education.’ I’ve asked her that three times since May. Same thing.” It seems that Dr. Levett is lying and denying. It seems that Mr. Kachmar is not keeping up with the news and rebranding of CRT program materials. It is highly possible that he himself signed the check for the Panorama Social Emotional Learning Program License as Vice President of the Board.
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The district purchased the Panorama Program for utilization in K-12 throughout the full district. The contract includes access to the platform and support, survey resources, project management and reports accessible even to contractors in the district. Users receive unlimited access to Panorama Academy instructional training for teachers to receive baselining and tutorials to learn to conduct effective lessons. The Chatham government schools have now unpacked a systematic tool for achieving CRITICAL RACE aims, among others, and it is currently in the first steps of active implementation. The district distributed 'Opt Out' forms in late September, with a return date of October 7. However, there are many reports from parents this week that staff gave their children surveys irregardless of the fact that they filed a form.
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To be clear, the strategy of Dr. Levett and others on administrative thrones in the district is singular at this point -- DENY, DENY, DENY, BASED ON SEMANTICS and say that they purchased the Panorama SEL Program and NOT CRT.
In a letter to a citizen on October 19, Dr. Levett wrote: “SCCPSS DOES NOT NOR DO WE HAVE PLANS to implement the Critical Race Theory curriculum. We continue to implement Georgia Standards… Thanks for giving me another opportunity to share accurate information with you… Your opinion is noted.”
Sheila Blanco, Public Information Manager with Chatham Schools, on October 20, wrote in a hail mary request for the matter to disappear: “Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools are happy to share information on the survey referenced, as well as our curriculum which adheres to the Georgia Standards… The school district does not have a contract in place for Critical Race Theory Curriculum.”
Yet, America, Georgia, and CHATHAM FULLY KNOWS the district has purchased REBRANDED material, and the knowledge of this SUGARCOATING OF CRT has been in the press for months.
Here is only a small portion of the resoundingly clear alert network and journalistic work of citizens across the United States of America presenting the information that SEL is CRT or to some it is the 'gateway' to CRT:
Forbes Article October 12, 2021
The American Thinker blog, October 10, 2021
The Federalist February 8, 2021
The Federal Expression blog June 24, 2021
Cape May, New Jersey describes a similar plight September 22, 2021
Glenn Beck Organizational Resources for Parents on Critical Race Theory
In The Washington Examiner October 7, 2021:
Panorama cites the definition of “social-emotional learning” created by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, which released a June 2020 webinar on “SEL as a Lever for Equity and Social Justice” in which CASEL President Karen Niemi said that “We see SEL as a tool for anti-racism.” One Panorama lesson, dubbed the “Social-Emotional Learning Survey,” argues that “it is essential for educators to consider how situational or systemic forces, such as racism and racial bias, shape students’ lives."
Panorama generates its curriculum materials in collaboration with a controversial Harvard Graduate School of Education-based project called Reimagining Integration: Diverse & Equitable Schools (RIDES). Their goal is to ensure that "all students understand the role that institutional racism and other forms of oppression play in our society." The “RIDES Booklist 2021” includes White Fragility, White Rage, and How to be an Antiracist.
The Letter from Panorama Educations’ CEO, Our Stand Against Systemic Racism, is written like she clipped it from the Black Lives Matter website.
Here is another denying and deflecting Savannah Chatham District claim: "They [student] will not answer any demographic questions regarding race, ethnicity, or gender."
However, all of this demographic information is already gathered in school databases on the students, so the district statement is irrelevant. Though, they are correct, in a way. Students will answer much more psychologically manipulative and racially leading questions, such as from the ‘Cultural Awareness and Action’ section for grade 6-12: “At your school, how often are you encouraged to think more deeply about race-related topics with other students?” and “How often do students at your school have important conversations about race, even when they might be uncomfortable?” and “How well does your school help students speak out against racism?” and “How fairly do students / adults at your school treat people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?”
Do not be fooled. Dr. Levett knows exactly what she is doing, as a committed member of AASA, the School Superintendents Association. She may say that she is, a woman 'born oppressed,' but today she is making nearly as much as the President of the United States thanks to our U.S Constitution and the freedoms we share. She is part of the National Commission to provide leadership to ‘transform’ America’s government education system.
The goals read: “By 2025, our nation’s approach to social, emotional, and cognitive learning must aim to reverse the legacy of marginalization and.... We must: 2) Develop and implement an anti-marginalization curriculum for ALL learners… The units must be developmentally appropriate and touch on multiple forms of oppression, including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or disability. and 3) Engage all educators in personal identity exploration to determine how their identities intersect with others and are revealed through the engineering of learning experiences...”
All documents indicate that an essential component of this program is to re-educate & indoctrinate the teachers on race. Professional Development is part of the district contract. Citizens are already finding this has commenced an abusive and disgusting presumption of compliance on the part of our educators, most of whom desire to simply lead and invigorate the fundamental learning skills of our Georgia children. Adding this to the pressure-filled medical mandates could be a lethal blow to the morale and employment of the teachers at a critical time when much of education has fallen a full year behind. The value of the American worker, to the left, continues to rapidly decrease.
To summarize again, the question is NOT semantics, but how can the school system partner on anything with such an overtly racist vendor? One parent says: “Levett is trying to distract us by quibbling over CRT or SEL when the issue is the vendor chosen and for what it stands. I feel for teachers having to sit through sessions that Panorama prescribes to cure them of their 'privilege and discrimination!'"
From PragerU, Control the Words, Control the Culture Video: Words exist so that we might discriminate one thing from another. Words shape how we think. They color how we view the world. Nobody understands this better than the left because they know that words matter. They have a special gift for euphemisms, soft words selected to sugarcoat harsh realities so as to make these harsh realities easier to swallow. Though, these soft words are insidious. Their sole purpose is to deceive.
The apparent strategy of Chatham's seemingly cultural Marxist Superintendent ::: “DENY, DENY, DENY.” Karl Marx wrote the famous piece, The Communist Manifesto. In communism, overstepping property owners and denying them an open and legitimate say in the use of their own funds is the first step in eliminating private property. Dr. Levett conducts herself in these manners routinely in regards to the Board, of which she is Secretary ex-officio, in addition to parents, staff, and teachers to whom she actively exerts her social power.
In conclusion, there was a ‘school’ lesson that happened in a Chatham elementary school recently that separated black and white children. They were made to choose which babydoll, black or white, represented either a bad person or a bad thing. It was a 4th grade classroom. Even the children know that the school is playing in lessons CRITICAL OF RACE.
Public Records Legally Released from Kimberly Hancock, Associate Superintendent in Learning and Support Services and Brian Dennison, Assistant School Board Attorney and Open Records Custodian with SCCPSS (Chatham Schools). Immense Thanks, from Chatham County Citizens and the Great State of Georgia!
Attorney General Merrick Garland's son in law, Xan Tanner, works for Panorama.
The fact that school districts can use CARES act funding to enrich America's elites, while indoctrinating our children with racism, is both unsurprising and outrageous.
Yes. Extremely! Are you a new entity? Lots more coming from Chatham. They need reinforcement, too.
This is outrageous and should be stopped in its tracks!!!