Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance is drawing criticism from conservative critics who say he shouldn’t have re-tweeted another educator’s statement on Twitter that non-white students need to feel protected in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.
BCPS Board of Education member Ann Miller, a political conservative and frequent critic of Dance, said retweeting the statement bordered on “schoolhouse activism.”
“The tweet and the explanation both give the impression to me that you are instructing BCPS teachers to have a
Ann Miller
discussion about the election results framed in bigotry, fear, and hate, and that’s why our non-white kids need to be reassured about protection and love. I am concerned that your comments are creating an environment of fear where there is no evidence that it is warranted. People are welcome to their feelings, but that doesn’t mean those unproven opinions should drive the type of conversation I think you are suggesting we as a school system should initiate. That borders on schoolhouse activism. I recommend we leave those conversations up to our students’ parents,” Miller said in a statement.
“Let me further suggest that teachers could have discussions with their students about the election as a new beginning, and as an opportunity to demonstrate the democratic process in our great nation. This is the historical way the education system has addressed presidential elections with their students, as an educational and academic learning opportunity.”
In response to the criticism, Dance put out a statement that said:
Dallas Dance
“As the Superintendent of one of the largest most diverse school systems in our country, I always lead from an equity lens with an intense focus on all student populations and ensuring they feel welcome and supported. Education is not void of politics and during the last two years, our country has had one of the most divisive campaigns in modern history. Comments were made that disenfranchised several groups of students we serve in Baltimore County Public Schools.
As our nation moves forward, it is our collective responsibility to make sure all students feel safe and know we are their advocates. As I continue leading our school system and as a member of several educational organizations, my continued focus is to work with local, state and national government representatives to move public education forward for all students.”
On Facebook, Baltimore County parents reflected this divide. An example:
How many Baltimore county parents are offended by this post that our superintendent retweeted????? A man in his position SHOULD NOT have got involved in this one!!!
There is nothing at all offensive about showing love and concern for others. No politicians were named. Many students are feeling unsafe in schools and are being harassed and threatened. Regardless of politics, all students deserve to feel safe in their schools.
I’m all for showing other children you care. The problem is with the non white. My white child has family of all different recents and this is highly offensive coming from someone in his position.
Your right they do, but unfortunately there not concerned about the white children.!!
My kids are white and they’re afraid. He didn’t mention LGBTQ kids or children of LGBTQ patents. My kids got excluded.
Guess what: I’m not offended.
People are people. They aren’t perfect. The point is not everything is about you. Really, you want your kids to be in the afraid group? Be happy if they’re not.
My kids are afraid. They are white. They were excluded.
Me: not offended.
I can understand why white wasn’t included. Maybe the president-elect will include you in his pouty fits of who he wants to get rid of or get rid of your rights, then you can feel included, too. Yay!!!
Good luck with that.
Del. Joe Cluster, a Republican, said he would ask for Dance’s resignation over the re-tweet.
There have been numerous reports across the country of non-white or Muslim students being teased or bullied by white students who either invoke Trump’s name or who chant phrases such as “build a wall.”
At my daughter’s BCPS school, students were told on Wednesday that they could not discuss politics. My daughter also heard two white students tell a Latino student, “Dude, you are so screwed.”
How do you think educators should be handling this?
If we allow ourselves to get caught up over this latest gaffe by Dance (he is just impulsive and the fingers fly too fast on Twitter), we will miss the more egregious things happening in our schools and to our children – the unbalanced use of technology and lack of research to support it. Keep your eye on the ball, folks!
Political Science Educators should be the only individuals discussing this topic with Political Science Students. All other educators especially ones that can not use the English language properly (Dance’s commit about not wording the tweet correctly) have no business discussing political issues. For example you wouldn’t go to a Proctologist to perform Neurosurgery unless your name is Dance.
What’s funny is that your comment contains a grammatical error, as well. Maybe proofread your own posts before criticizing someone else’s mastery of a language.
My white children are being exposed to this ridiculous hysteria manufactured by Dance and his crowd. They are being bullied for taking a position. Thankfully, we have taught them to understand the dynamic and they are empathetic to those who are upset and behaving badly.
A lot of young people of any ethnicity are saddened and concerned about the current political scene and social divisiveness in our nation right now. I’m hoping we can reach out to them so they don’t feel targeted by rhetoric–sending a message instead of peaceful coexistence and respect, and standing up always to hate speech and bullying.
When you work in a BCPS school and have children (white, black lgbtq) in your office in tears over the presidential election and reports that other students were ‘high fiving’ over Trump’s victory… that is really saying something about our country’s state of affairs. Dr. Dance’s ‘retweet’ should not be read into, it wasn’t even his comment. We need to support all the marginalized children, regardless of their race or ethnicity, Dr. Dance was not suggesting otherwise.
We need to support ALL children. Period. End the singling out of any group – for whatever reason.
Hard to figure out what you mean here. Do you think that white children felt especially endangered after the election, given the atmosphere of racism (with neo-Nazis giving speeches in support of Trump)? Dance did the right thing.
Unfortunately, the worthy goals of diversity and opportunities for equity are being used at BCPS to put every child on a laptop screen, many with ear phones on, isolated—and not as involved in the interactions that makes us realize how we are all part of the human race. The support being talked about regarding this tweet and elsewhere can only be accomplished by actual humans. All humans.
To make sure we are careful and thoughtful, look at how a Detroit school system’s “personalized learning” and digital programs exploited Detroit’s most vulnerable children:
http://www.aclumich.org/article/guyette-how-eaas-buzz-program-exploited-detroits-most-vulnerable-kids
“software has “been developed to be agnostic to instructional delivery and resource source, which means it can be used for virtual schools, blended instruction, distance learning, traditional instruction with differentiation, and online assessment.”
But in reality, what internal EAA documents reveal is the extent to which teachers and students were, over the course of two school years, used as whetstones to hone a badly flawed product being pitched as cutting-edge technology.”
His tweet is just fine. And meanwhile at my kid’s school, they are shutting down any political speech at all.
I’ve disagreed with a lot of what Dance has done on numerous fronts, and would not call myself a fan (don’t even get me started on the laptops…) But on this point I have to say “right on Dr Dance.” It’s going to take a lot of courage for those of us in a position of privilege to stand up for the more vulnerable members of our society. He wasn’t asking teachers to call trump supporters bigots. He was encouraging our teachers to continue to make our schools a safe and welcoming space for all students.
Yes, well said. I am with you on the laptops (very concerning on multiple levels) , and many other bcps changes, but with this, I’m with Dance (this doesn’t happen often). I wish there was no tweeting by BCPS, and that tweet wasn’t well stated (seriously, so much complexity and thoughtfulness cannot be captured in 140 characters! There’s a reason our Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg address are quite a bit longer!) , but i believe the sentiment was good. I told my kids to pay attention to kids that may have felt more unsettled or scared than they did on Wednesday morning, and to make sure to stand up for them if necessary. I am sure i didn’t state it perfectly either. There are so many other issues that are more important right now.