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Michael Powell spoke to White County Board of Education members at their meeting on Sept. 28. (Photo/Stephanie Hill)
A member of a citizens group that has claimed elements of critical race theory and Marxism are in local schools spoke again before the White County Board of Education.
During the public comment period of a Sept. 28 school board meeting, Michael Powell revisited his previous criticism and objection to a faculty group called Warriors for Social Justice.
White County School Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett and other school officials had stated the group met for discussion on its own time outside off school hours and that the school system’s instruction follows Georgia standards.
Powell believes the group’s existence had fostered support for other ideologies. In his comments Tuesday, he accused Burkett of “negligence” when he alleged she “practices and embraces social justice throughout the school system.”
School board member John Solmon later asked Powell what evidence he or the citizens group had that anything like what he has stated had infiltrated the classroom. Powell referred to previous digital files sent to officials that he had cited as a basis for the claim.
Board Chair Missy Jarrard said the information was given to board members following the last presentation from Powell at a July 27 meeting. School board members Charlie Thomas and Linda Erbele both told Powell they want to see the “evidence.” Powell said he didn’t have his computer with him, but asked if they could come back to present it to the board. Thomas asked why Powell couldn’t simply tell him what the evidence was. Powell replied that is part of a slideshow presentation presented elsewhere.
Erbele inquired if it had proof the students had been “subjected” to critical race theory in the classroom.
“Students have been subjected in all of your county schools via social justice warriors,” Powell said. “Take a look at their mission statement. Their mission statement is to expand and go into the classroom.”
According to files shared by the citizens group, the mission statement for Warriors for Social Justice is “Warriors for Social Justice aims, through action and education, to promote a school environment in which all stakeholders feel safe and all identities and backgrounds are embraced.”
Thomas said it was not in the classroom, and Powell asked how he knew that. Thomas asked how Powell knew that it was, and Powell stated “I see it with my eyes, brother.”
Jarrard told Powell they were trying to understand where he was coming from, and asked if he had kids or grandchildren in the school system. Powell said that he has a few kids, two of which are teachers, and has grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But when Jarrard asked again if they were in the White County School System, Powell said they were not.
Jarrard clarified with Powell that what board members were asking for was new evidence from the last time he spoke to the board in July. Powell referred to an open records request for school emails sent among faculty purportedly associated with the Warriors for Social Justice group.
“There are, according to your council, your legal attorneys, they have stated there are 160,000 emails on your server, and they want us to pay a little less than $1,000 to see those,” Powell said. “I’m saying to you, take a look at those 160,000 emails and see what kind of evidence is there.”
(The Georgia Open Records Act provides for agencies subject to disclosure of documents to charge for the search, retrieval, redaction and production or copying costs of records, using “the most economical means reasonably calculated.” State law sets a limit of 10 cents per page for regular copies of records and specifies the labor charge for producing records “shall not exceed the prorated hourly salary of the lowest paid full-time employee who, in the reasonable discretion of the custodian of the records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the request.”)
Jarrard asked if the 160,000 emails had been sent since July 27, and Powell said he didn’t know about the exact dates.
Powell said the emails were “related to social justice warriors in the county school system,” however, Burkett pointed out that the open records request was for any e-mail between a list of 19 people. Board members clarified with Burkett that it was for any communication that two or more of those people had, whether it was about scheduling or regular school matters, and had to be produced. Burkett said yes.
“So the 160,000 emails, if there were two or more of those 19 people on an email, it was included in the open records request because that’s what the open records request asked for,” Burkett said.
Burkett said open records requests are sent to a school attorney for review, because some of the information included in records has to be redacted due to privacy laws.