Newspaper Page Text
Page 2— Wednesday, August 10, 2022, The True Citizen
Williams says no problem here with “divisive concepts”
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
A trio of recent Georgia edu
cation laws will not have much
bearing on the way the local
school system is managed.
Superintendent Angela Wil
liams said local administrators
met recently with BOE attor
ney James Hyder to make sure
they understand how to explain
the “Divisive Concepts” laws
to BCPS teachers. However,
it requires more of an under
standing of the consequences
more than it does understand
ing new policies within the
school system.
“The things that this divisive
concept (law) states, these are
not things that we teach,” Wil
liams said. “We teach history
and nothing about this law is
going to change our curricu
lum.”
The new bill informs school
administrators and instructors
that in their teachings they
cannot espouse their personal
beliefs and try to sway the way
children think. Williams said
teaching kids that one race is
inherently superior to another,
for example or that the United
States is fundamentally rac
ist are not beliefs that have
ever been condoned under her
leadership.
“We teach facts,” Williams
said. “We can still teach his
tory, we can still teach slavery,
all the things that we have
taught.”
The purpose of the divisive
concepts law is to disallow
educators to convey personal
beliefs that do nothing to bring
people closer together, but in
stead promote racial division.
“What we are supposed to
be doing is teaching diversity,
tolerance and unity and those
types of things,” Williams said
of the educator role in general.
Training is necessary to ease
the anxiety that some teachers
may feel about the new law.
Some are afraid that they can
no longer teach historical facts.
However, Williams points out
that the new law simply prohib
its employees from discrimi
nating against students based
on race and requires curricula
that encourage employees and
students to practice tolerance
and mutual respect.
The law is not intended to vi
olate free expression, respond
ing to questions regarding divi
sive concepts in a professional
manner, or prohibit discussion
of slavery-related issues. It
prohibits educators from con
veying personal beliefs that
amount to race scapegoating
and race stereotyping.
“We want to teach Civil
War, we will continue to teach
WWII, we will continue to
teach about civil rights,” she
said. “It’s not in our curricu
lum and it’s not in our Georgia
Standard of Excellence and it’s
not in our local curriculum to
teach (divisive concepts).”
The new law also requires
school systems to adopt a
divisive concepts complaint
resolution process for students,
parents and staff. BCPS ad
opted a new policy last month.
State legislators also passed
the Parent Bill of Rights law,
giving them the right to review
curriculum during the first
two weeks of every nine-week
grading period. The new law
focuses on parents’ right to ob
ject to sexually explicit mate
rial that holds no literary value.
BCPS already had a media
policy giving parents the right
to complain about books they
believed were questionable.
The third recently adopted
legislation pertains to the gov
ernance structure of the Geor
gia High School Association
(GHSA) and provides it with
the opportunity to ban trans
gender high school sports.
Williams said that is an issue
BCPS has never had to address.
“We have completed the
training with the principals, the
next step is to train the teach
ers,” Williams said. “We want
them to understand that no one
is asking you to throw away
your history book, no one is
asking you to throw away your
English novels.”
NO APPLICATION FEE! for individuals 55+
L-R: Tony Gray, Holt Sapp, Abby Joyner, Susanna Murray, and Emmaline Cunningham.
Not pictured: Mary Helen Coble
Burke 4-H’ers honored
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BCPS Superintendent Angela Williams says new legislation
pertaining to divisive concepts will not require many changes
within the local school system.
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New patch for Midville Police Department
Midville Police Chief C.J. Green (right) acknowledged resident
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2. Sheppard used his artistic ability to help design the depart
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