A screenshot allegedly taken inside a Sumner County classroom shows a lesson plan that disparages supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The screenshot recently appeared on Facebook.
An unidentified person, likely a student, apparently took the photo inside his or her classroom. The lesson plan teaches students that “a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol” on January 6.
“Protestors stormed past police officers, took over the Capitol, and threatened to locate and injure members of Congress,” the lesson plan said.
“Five people died and 140 were injured before the National Guard could remove rioters from the Capitol.”
A parent who requested anonymity said this is part of a new curriculum for all Sumner County Schools (SCS).
“They [school administrators] won’t allow any of the children to bring books home from school. I feel like that looks like they are hiding. They don’t want you to see what they are teaching our kids,” the parent said.
“There was some pushback, and I have also been told by a teacher that this is in a trial phase. If they get enough pushback on this then they could do away with the whole Wit and Wisdom curriculum. It should make you angry as a parent. I don’t know why children can’t just go to school and learn. I don’t know why everything has to be controversial and political. I feel like they are indoctrinating our children.”
Parents in Williams County criticized the Wit and Wisdom curriculum in their school district in May. They described it as dark and divisive and said it robs elementary students of their innocence.
Williamson County parents said at the time that second-grade children had to read books that contained themes of racism, segregation, infidelity, suicide, rape, scalping, and the murder of naked women and children in the middle of the street. They also complained about books that depict white characters degrading African-Americans and also Hispanics. Other books, they said, contained themes of infidelity, murder, and suicide.
The Sumner County parent told The Star that she contacted her school board member about the matter and that the school board member defended the curriculum. That school board member, Sarah Andrews, did not return a request for comment Thursday.
SCS officials also did not return our requests for comment Thursday.
In May the Cox Media Group, quoting the Washington, D.C. chief medical examiner, reported that two of the five people whose deaths were allegedly linked to the January 6 incident passed away from natural causes. Another person died of an accident. The fourth person, Ashli Babbitt, who was pro-Trump, died when a Capitol Police officer shot her as she climbed through a broken window.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Classroom” by Sumner County Schools.
