There is an old story about former USAF Chief of Staff Curtis E LeMay 60 years ago. It is the height of the Cold War. The Soviets just did or threatened something awful. A seeing eye Colonel charges into his office, panicked, saying some version of “we’re all gonna die!” LeMay leans back in his chair, takes a drag on his cigar, and tells the Colonel ‘Son, this isn’t a problem. It’s an opportunity.”
Such is the opportunity presented by the Alaska Black Caucus promise to mount a campaign to bring Critical Race Theory (CRT) into Alaskan classrooms. The opportunity also presents itself with the CRT-friendly requirements the Anchorage School Board is using to hire the next Superintendent.
Where is the opportunity in this?
It comes by virtue of the campaign for the next Alaska governor. Virginia just elected its first Republican governor in decades, mostly on the back of public anger at public schools. And there was a lot of anger to go around, with issues ranging from COVID restrictions, School Board intransigence, trans ideology, and CRT. The winner, Glenn Younkin, promised to do his level best to return control of the public schools the Virginia parents.
Upon taking office, he issued a handful of Executive Orders. The very first one of these (Executive Order Number One) prohibited the teaching of CRT in state classrooms. He went farther and deconstructed a state education office tasked with pushing the hateful ideology on the kiddos.
Here in Alaska, the race for governor is heating up nicely, and while CRT is not yet an issue, it can and should be one. While ASD is doing its level best to deny it is being taught in Anchorage schools, we have multiple teachers publicly stating they will continue teaching it in the face of any law or order prohibiting it. We have the Alaska Black Caucus promising to mount a campaign to formally introduce it into the classroom. And the Anchorage School Board is hiring their next Superintendent with a lot of CRT language in their criteria (equity is one such red flag).
The first gubernatorial candidate who proposes to ban it from Alaska’s schools (and for the rest of state government at all levels, for that matter), will have a leg up in the campaign. It wouldn’t even take all that much work, as they can use Youngkin’s Executive Order as a model. The trick here is being first, as any follow-up will be a faint and feckless “me too.”
Governor Dunleavy can (and should) issue such an order. He can do it at any time. If he hasn’t or won’t, that would be a good question to ask him during the campaign.
From a political and persuasion perspective, this is a layup, an opportunity to get on the right side of Alaskan parents and kiddos in the public schools. In what is expected to be a tight campaign for governor, you can’t blow too many layups and stay in the game. Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
