A deferred Iowa conference on equity and education is just one illustration of the nation’s about-face on centering race and equity in teachers’ work over the past year.
The Iowa House of Representatives passed an initial version of the legislation in March 2021, about a month before the scheduled date of the equity conference., said the proposal would ensure that schools did not unfairly portray entire groups of people as inherently racist or sexist, and that concepts such as White privilege would be taught as part of more in-depth lessons.
“Either those involved in the cancellation had not taken the time to understand the provisions of the bill,” Holt wrote in an email, “or in fact they intended to teach the divisive concepts identified in the bill that scapegoat and stereotype entire classes of people, in which case canceling the conference was appropriate.
In a phone call, panelists were told the conference was being postponed until the fall. “We were mindful of the presenters’ time in making this decision because we did not want to move forward with sharing content without knowing whether or not it would be compliant with the final bill language,” Doe, the education department spokeswoman, told Chalkbeat in an email.