The death of Tire Nichols in Memphis at the hands of police officers and recent protests surrounding a proposed police training center in Atlanta have recently made national headlines, raising questions of race and power.
Georgian teachers who want to discuss current events like this with their students must do so under a new law. The so-called “Divisive Concepts” law bans teachers from discussing nine race-related topics.
These include: not teaching that one race is superior to another and teaching that the US is a fundamentally racist country. Critics have said the law’s language is so vague it could have a “chill effect”, meaning teachers avoid any talk about race for fear of breaking the law. Supporters of the law say it must not interfere with proper history teaching. Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives last year.
“This law does not restrict an educator,” Wade told the House Education Committee. “It empowers parents to ensure that children and children of all races are not pitted against one another in our schools.”
The law’s critics said the language was vague, which could confuse educators. However, some teachers say they can’t worry about the legal ramifications of having open discussions with their students.
“If I talk about putting sugar in grits, I could run afoul of this law,” says Alison Cundiff, a middle school language arts teacher.
Although Cundiff doesn’t teach history or social studies, she wanted her students to know they could talk about Nichols’ death after the video was released.
“I mentioned that, ‘Hey, you know, I know that happened in Memphis, and I just want you to know that it hurts me that that happened, and if you want to talk about it, that’s in okay, and if you don’t want to talk about it, [if] They want to concentrate on the task, that’s ok too,” she says.
Cundiff is a white teacher working at a school that primarily serves black students.
“The thing is, if a white educator doesn’t even bring up this stuff or even acknowledge it or just try to pretend everything is normal, it’s been shown to harm children of color,” she says. “Of course I don’t want that. I care about them and I want them to know that I care.”
Under the law, each local school board was required to establish a procedure for handling parental complaints about educators who violated the law. The legislation outlines potential consequences for districts, including removing state exemptions for charter districts and allowing the state Board of Education to decide on impacts on educators.
Paige McGaughey was told she would face the consequences of her school district in 2020 after she hung a Black Lives Matter poster in her classroom shortly after the death of George Floyd.
Schools were still remote back then, and a parent of a student she taught saw the poster hanging behind her as she taught virtually. Shortly thereafter, she received a call from the Gwinnett School District Human Resources Department.
“I was told it was hampering my effectiveness as a teacher and that my Black Lives Matter poster was divisive and I had to remove it,” says McGaughey.
Georgia’s Divisive Concepts Law was not in force at the time. Still, McGaughey says HR indicated there would be consequences if they didn’t take down the poster. She made it through.
“I respectfully said that the First Amendment exists and I won’t do it,” she says.
McGaughey says she brought up Tire Nichols’ death in class because she was discussing current events with her students. She is also a white language arts teacher at a middle school that serves primarily black students.
McGaughey says she teaches because she loves it, but doesn’t need the job. That means she’s willing to stand up for what she believes in, she says, where other teachers might be intimidated.
Brian Westlake, a high school history teacher and president of the Gwinnett County Association of Educators, believes some teachers may avoid controversial issues because they don’t think principals would support them.
“I think most teachers would feel that we generally don’t trust administrators to support us when there is resistance,” he says.
Some teachers said they felt supported by their administrations but did not want to speak publicly for fear of further repercussions, possibly from their school district or the state.
