Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and other congressional Republicans are blasting the Pentagon over reports that the Defense Department’s school system wants to indoctrinate the children of service members with “divisive gender, racial and cultural ideology.”
The Department of Defense Education Activity manages about 160 schools in the U.S. and overseas for an estimated 66,000 military dependents. Last year, tweets by Kelisa Wing, the agency’s former diversity, equity and inclusion director resulted in her being transferred from the position and the department shut down.
“It is evident that the dissolving of the DEI office and the removal of Kelisa Wing only served as cover-ups to enable DoDEA to further integrate DEI into every aspect of our nation’s military schools,” the GOP lawmakers wrote in a July 29 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The letter cites a report from the watchdog group Open the Books that accuses DoDEA of promoting sexually explicit content to children and pushing an agenda intended to turn students into radical activists.
“Instead of disbanding the DEI division, DoDEA has institutionalized radical social and racial ideologies through the promotion of books such as ‘How to Be an Antiracist’ and ‘Coaching for Equity’ to their staff for professional development,” the letter stated. “These books are blatantly racist toward hundreds of millions of Americans and delegitimize the founding of America itself.”
Ms. Stefanik said she led calls in Congress to dissolve the education agency’s DEI office to stop the “far-left DEI propaganda” in their classrooms.
“Our service members face many challenges, and ensuring their children receive a high-quality patriotic education should not be one of them,” she said in a statement.
The letter calls for a shake-up of senior leadership and greater transparency and accountability at DoDEA. It also accuses the Pentagon of failing to produce a report on parental rights that was legally required by this past January.
“It is shameful and unsustainable that while our servicemen and women are risking their lives to defend our nation, their children are being taught that America is a racist country not worth fighting for,” said Rep. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican who signed the letter.
The GOP lawmakers sent Mr. Austin questions about the Pentagon’s education agency, including information about the transparency of the materials used to train teachers and whether parents can remove their children from classrooms if they believe the curriculum is objectionable.
“Radical woke ideology is rotting out the schools of our service members’ children, and instead of addressing this, you have only exacerbated it,” the letter to Mr. Austin said. ”Our service members should not have to choose between serving their country or saving their children.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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