McGeachin says Idaho indoctrination task force will take public testimony next month

Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s education task force on claims of indoctrination in Idaho’s schools met Thursday for the third time, hearing from presenters on critical race theory and higher education.

Members also talked about their plans for their final meeting, which will take place in August — and McGeachin said that meeting will feature public testimony.

“We want to make sure that anybody who has a concern about anything that we’ve discussed so far will have an opportunity to speak at our final meeting,” McGeachin said, “when this committee will also consider some recommendations to either the State Board of Education or the members of the Legislature.”

During Thursday’s meeting, the task force devoted about an hour to a presentation from a man with no ties to Idaho: Trevor Loudon, an author and speaker from New Zealand identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a far-right conspiracy theorist.” Members also heard from a Boise State professor who spoke out against censorship and discussed point-counterpoint teaching, and watched a video in which a former North Idaho College student talked about his claims of “partisan instruction.”

During this meeting, as it was the past two meetings, the task force heard mainly from people who appeared to support their claims of indoctrination in Idaho schools and their mission to root out the “scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism, and Marxism.”

The start of the meeting, however, featured Boise State professor Nafees Alam, who started his presentation by saying it would “likely be somewhat of a dissenting opinion, relative to past task force meetings.” Alam said he was trying to address the problem of confirmation bias and focused his presentation on the point-counterpoint teaching philosophy.

Alam — who emphasized that he was not speaking on behalf of Boise State — said it was important to account for a diversity of thoughts and values in education. If the aim is to teach understanding, he said, people need to embrace controversial parts, destigmatize disagreements and increase intellectual diversity. As an educator, he said, he doesn’t try to push his values on anyone else, but the point of education isn’t to shut down certain ideas, either.

“This is the manner in which I teach, this is my personal teaching philosophy,” he said. “In any classroom that I’m in, I try to foster a safe environment, a safe space for different ideas and different thoughts.”

He said he stands against censorship and “banning any ideas and concepts.”

“I’m not in favor of promoting anything. But more importantly, as per this conversation, I’m not in favor of banning anything,” he said. “I’m not in favor of censoring anything. And that’s where I’m coming from with critical race theory as well.”

The task force also heard at length from Loudon, who said he has researched Marxism for decades and wrote a self-published book titled “Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress.” During his presentation, he described critical race theory as “pure Marxism.” The theory, he said, “makes anybody who wasn’t born a person of color guilty of the sins of their birth,” is “intrinsically evil” and “divisive,” and aims to destroy everything about the culture, tradition and history of the United States.

Loudon also made references to Adolf Hitler and called for curbing the power of teacher unions.

McGeachin’s announcement about public testimony in August came after multiple students told the Idaho Statesman last month that they wanted the task force to listen to them and let them share their experiences in the classroom. The students also said they were worried that what comes out of the task force could affect their education.

McGeachin on Thursday also gave presentations relating to the State Board of Education’s proposed policy addressing diversity, equity and inclusion, and responses from university presidents to questions from the task force. She said the group had invited representatives from the State Board and the presidents of universities in the state to attend, but they declined. The presidents had responded to written questions, she said, but she did not expand on what they wrote.

State Board President Kurt Liebich released a statement during the meeting in June saying that the board was focused on “helping our schools and students rebound” from the coronavirus pandemic and had seen no evidence of indoctrination in Idaho’s schools.

The task force has struggled to form its definition of critical race theory. Per the American Bar Association, it “recognizes that racism is not a bygone relic of the past. Instead, it acknowledges that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation.”

Many teachers told the Idaho Statesman this month that critical race theory is a complex premise that is not taught in K-12 schools. Teachers did say it’s important to discuss race at times in the classroom, and to help students be critical thinkers.

The task force is expected to hold its final meeting at the end of August.

Becca Savransky covers education for the Idaho Statesman in partnership with Report for America. The position is partly funded through community support. Click here to donate.