“There have been 4 Racial Equity Committee meetings this school year, I have attended all 4,” FWISD mother Hollie Plemmons told the DCNF. “Quinton Phillips, the chair of this committee, said they have very important work to do at these meetings but parents attending has caused a ‘circus’ at the meetings.”
According to Plemmons, community members and parents were invited to speak at the last meeting on Feb. 10, but Quinton did not prepare for it well, she told the DCNF
“We asked for the rules multiple times … but never got an answer of anything more than ‘we are just going to have a conversation, no time limits,’” she said. “We show up to the meeting to find a lottery system is being held for who gets to speak, only 20 were going to be allowed to speak for 3 minutes each,” allegedly contradicting what parents were previously told.
“He (Phillips) also called the police on us for recording the open meeting like we have always done before without issue, we refused to stop recording as it is our right under the law,” she added.
Plemmons explained that the REC cited public interference as the reason for closing the meeting to the public.
“I have all 4 meetings recorded,” Plemmons said. “No circus was brought by the parents.”
“They don’t like the light of truth that we have shown on them, they want to lurk back to the (sic) shadows to hide while they waste our money and divide our children, our city,” Plemmons said. “Equity has not helped the students, it’s only made those in the business of equity rich. If that money had been spent on extra teachers to help the kids struggling to read just imagine how much better off the students and scores would be.”
In December 2021, Norma Garcia-Lopez, former REC co-chair, resigned after admitting she left profane voicemails and doxxed the parents she disagreed with concerning school policies. In addition, Garcia-Lopez shared confidential parent information and encouraged others to call parents out for ideological beliefs she disfavored.
After a pro-CRT parent claimed he has 1,000 soldiers “locked and loaded” for those who “dare” question the need for race-based curricula, FWISD gained national attention in November 2021.
Administrators have openly admitted to teaching CRT at multiple equity forums held by the district and its REC.
“The fact is there are so many … things, policies, practices, procedures, programmings that we have that have been deep … in our system so long that when we really dissect it through a Critical Race Theory lens, is one of the lens that we use, we see how these inequities come up and show up,” Jonathan Pérez, a former “Equity Specialist” at FWISD said in August 2020 equity training for teachers, according to video footage obtained by the DCNF.
Altheria Caldera, a district educator and racial equity consultant, gave a presentation at the district’s Equity Summit in December 2021 where she told attendees they should “never be embarrassed to be antiracist, (sic)” saying it is “totally okay to be woke,” as depicted in a video shared with the DCNF.
“They don’t want the rest of the public to know what a scam on our children and waste of money equity is,” Plemmons concluded. “Equity is a business, not a movement. Don’t be fooled.”
