Key Points
- President Biden has nominated LaWanda Toney for a role at the DOE.
- LaWanda has promoted CRT and gender ideology on her podcast Notes from the Backpack.
- Most Americans have a negative view on Critical Race Theory.
President Biden has nominated LaWanda Toney, current director of strategic communications at the National PTA, to be the Department of Education’s newest assistant secretary for the Office of Communications and Outreach. Toney certainly has the education and communication experience —but that’s not all she has.
According to the Federalist, “Toney frequently co-hosts a National PTA podcast called ‘Notes from the Backpack’ where she often discusses and promotes radical race and gender ideology with left-wing ‘anti-racist’ and LGBT experts such as people from the Human Rights Campaign.”
“Toney also facilitate[s] conversations about ‘identity’ in a podcast called ‘Our Culture is More than a Holiday,’ guns in a podcast titled ‘How to Talk to Your Kid about Gun Violence,’ and ‘misinformation’ about COVID-19 and vaccines in a podcast with a bureaucrat from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Teaching CRT and gender ideology to children is not popular among American adults. According to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, 58% of Americans find the controversial curriculum somewhat or very unfavorable. Only 38% said they viewed critical race theory favorably.
More parents are tuning in to what their children are being taught in the nation’s classrooms. Loudoun County Virginia, in particular, has been a flashpoint for school board conflicts regarding CRT and gender ideology. School board member Beth Barts was forced to resign or face a recall — she’s since been replaced by previously-retired board member Tom Marshall.
“We should focus more on the academics and less on social-political issues that are divisive by nature,” Marshall says.
…we’re not so sure Ms. Toney agrees, Tom.
