Grand Ledge Schools Get Heat For Hiring MSU Critical Race Theory Advocate

Several parents in Grand Ledge Public Schools are threatening to pull their children from the district after it hired a diversity consultant. The consultant, a professor at Michigan State University, has claimed that capitalism is racist and said, “Schools are manifestations of the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchal educational enterprise.”

Dorinda Carter Andrews is the chairperson for the Department of Teacher Education at MSU and a professor of race, culture, and equity. Grand Ledge schools hired her to assist with the district’s new Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.

Carter Andrews has participated in other state and national speaking engagements and owns DJCA Educational Services, LLC.

The Grand Ledge school district contracted with Andrews at $200 per hour. Parents are upset, citing her previous comments, which state that capitalism and school systems are inherently racist and built on white supremacy.

The contract proposal created by the board calls for Carter Andrews to help the district develop “anti-racist and anti-oppressive policies, programs, and practices.” It also calls for the board and its consultant to work toward creating “anti-racist and justice-focused school board leadership,” with the same goal for district administrators.

At a Flint community meeting in 2016, Carter Andrews stated, “Labor force and capitalism drives the way we do education. And capitalism in and of itself is racist.” She also told attendees she has been called a socialist, to which one person replied, “And there’s nothing wrong with that.” Andrews acknowledged the comment with a slight laugh responded, “Whatever.”

Carter Andrews also says health care, education, housing, and government operate under a capitalist structure that is based on white supremacy “where whites are always to be advantaged in the system.”

In a post on her Facebook wall, which can no longer be found, Carter Andrews wrote, “Please remember that school is not the most humanizing and safe place for many of our babies, especially in predominantly white settings but really in all contexts, because the majority of schools are manifestations of the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchal educational enterprise.”

At a June 14 Grand Ledge school board meeting, several parents threatened to pull their students out of the school system if critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs were implemented. A mother in the district testified:

“This BOE has worked and orchestrated to bring suppression, segregation, hate, and division to our schools under the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In August, you voted to contract with Dorinda Carter Andrews with taxpayer money to teach our children, teachers, and other Grand Ledge staff racism, bigotry, shame, and Marxist ideas.”

Several parents testified at a June 14 school board meeting that they either already pulled their children from Grand Ledge schools, or were considering it. They cited critical race theory, which, they said, was potentially being taught to their children. One parent stated that eight of her nine Hispanic children graduated from Grand Ledge Public Schools. But critical race theory, she said, was a factor in her not allowing her ninth child to continue in the district.

The Grand Ledge Public Schools Board of Education voted 6-0 to hire Andrews in an Aug. 11, 2020, virtual meeting. All Grand Ledge school board members were emailed, seeking comment, but none have responded. Carter Andrews did not respond to questions seeking comment.