Beaver Area School District is a public education leader. Our excellent test scores, world-class educators, and technological innovation ensure our district is ranked among the state’s best public schools.
Our district is a leader on many issues, but when it comes to diversity, racial issues, and cultural literacy, our school falls behind. Sadly, the district’s racial and cultural pitfalls were on full display during last month’s Curriculum Committee Meeting.
The meeting (which was also available via Zoom) was May 19 in the high school’s Little Theater. A flyer featured on the district website announced the event beforehand: Dr. Donald Sheffield and Dr. Anthony Mitchell were to present on Critical Race Theory.
Dr. Donald Sheffield and Dr. Anthony Mitchell are longtime Penn State educators and administrators with extensive experience in multicultural outreach as well as programs promoting academic excellence.
Shortly after the meeting began, attendees were informed that a third speaker had been added to the event: Dr. Elana Fishbein. Dr. Fishbein, it was later learned, was invited to speak by school board director Luke Berardelli.
Dr. Fishbein is a full time mother of three with a doctorate in social work.
Dr. Sheffield began the presentation by explaining the importance of equity in education, and spoke from his personal experience in Beaver County as an African American. His address was succeeded by Dr. Mitchell’s, who also described his anecdotal experience within the community.
They were followed—without introduction—by Dr. Fishbein, whose rhetoric drastically differed from Dr. Sheffield and Dr. Mitchell. In fact, Dr. Fishbein attacked the previous speakers. After vehemently dismissing the anecdotal evidence cited by the previous speakers as irrelevant, she embarked on a 40 minute monologue in which she suggested teachers manipulate students to identify as LGBTQ+, espoused that racism doesn’t exist in America, attacked Critical Race Theory as “Marxist”, touted her recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s television program, denounced Planned Parenthood, and downplayed police violence.
Her speech, which seldom related to the topic at hand (curriculum and equity), was filled with many egregious and unbelievable statements. Dr. Fishbein argued that studies which opposed her point of view were “fake research.”
Dr. Fishbein, who resides in Eastern Pennsylvania, hosts a website titled “No Left Turn in Education.” Her website’s “About” page features a personal anecdote about her withdrawing her two elementary age children from public school a year ago.
Dr. Fishbein railed against Dr. Mitchell’s and Dr. Sheffield’s anecdotal evidence while she herself used anecdotal evidence to illustrate her perspective. Dr. Fishbein railed against the implementation of Critical Race Theory in public education (which she labels “indoctrination”), yet her personal experience amounts to dissatisfaction with her wealthy suburban Philadelphia district suggesting she has limited insight into all public school classrooms—especially Beaver Area’s classrooms.
Dr. Fishbein, rather than engage in conversation or debate (which I welcome), politicized and smeared Critical Race Theory: yet her criticisms were not of Critical Race Theory itself but rather her caricature of the culture surrounding Critical Race Theory.
The days following the curriculum meeting were filled with anger and confusion among community members, teachers, and students. Much of this anger and confusion was voiced at the May 24 School Board meeting. After discovering that Director Berardelli had invited Dr. Fishbein to speak before the previous week’s curriculum meeting, several in the audience hurled questions at Director Berardelli. Some community members voiced criticisms about Dr. Fishbein’s credentials on Critical Race Theory, her limited knowledge on public education, and her conjecture-filled critique of Dr. Sheffield and Dr. Mitchell.
The outrage seemed to indicate that the community was less upset about hearing an opposing argument and more upset about how that opposing argument was constructed. Some speakers criticized Director Berardelli for not informing the community and his fellow-board members about the addition of a third speaker until the day preceding the curriculum meeting.
Other community members criticized Director Berardelli for dividing and politicizing the issue.
One speaker underscored what the meeting demonstrated: “The need for an equity committee has been made clear by the nature of the [curriculum] meeting.”
A letter signed by 22 community members, arguing for the formation of an equity committee, also was presented to the Board.
Director Berardelli, who has not publicly commented on the controversy, did not provide a comment per our request.
There’s no sense denying that racial and cultural issues exist within our community. As indicated by a community speaker at the School Board meeting, the dialogue at the curriculum meeting confirms the need to address these issues.
We may be the school district “where tradition dictates a standard of excellence,” but if that tradition is culturally and racially regressive, then we need a new tradition.