An Iowa teacher did more than take her work home with her. She featured it in her wedding.

Brandi Rickard's former students loved her second-grade class.

"She helps people a lot, like when they don't know a math question," Stella Fratzke, Richard's former student, said.

So when they found out last spring that she would be getting married over the summer, they wanted to celebrate with her.

"This was my way of including them," Rickard said.

The Wilkins Elementary teacher had her students create art ahead of summer break, which she displayed on the tables at her August wedding.

"I think it's pretty cool," Dale Wrage, a former student, said.

"Every student got to draw me and my now husband and what they thought we would look like at the wedding," Rickard said.

Watch the video above for more on this story.

There is a national child care crisis, and programs are looking for ways to help alleviate some of the issues families are facing when trying to secure child care.

Some parents are needing to wait between nine and 12 months to secure a spot on a waiting list. To help solve this problem, programs are turning towards education for refugees and immigrants to add them into the workforce.

“As refugees and immigrants come into our economy, we want them to enter into jobs right way,” said Deborah Young, the co-founder of Pamoja Early Childhood Education. “There are 27,000 teachers that are missing, so this is a great match. We have a huge talent force, and we have a need for them.”

The Pamoja Early Childhood Education workforce program is made up of refugees and immigrants from all over the world to serve as a pipeline for new early childhood educators.

Fatima Jafari, who is from Afghanistan, is in the program.

“For two years, I have studied early childhood education, and I am working as a teacher in the center,” Jafari said. “The program is so important for all the women in my community. They come into the United States, and they need to learn to communicate with the children and how to live in the United States in a new environment. They also need to learn to grow their kids in a new country.”

According to Child care Aware of America research, it shows that nearly 9,000 daycares closed in 37 states between 2019 and 2021. While there are also less day cares, child care center costs increased across the country at an average rate of 41%.

For this reason, Pamoja Early Childhood is utilizing refugees and immigrants by not only giving them the education to start a new life in this country but to help decrease the childcare worker shortage and promote diverse people in the industry.

“We need childcare, and we don’t have enough childcare. We don’t have enough childcare workers, mostly because we do not give professional wages or living wages even,” Young said. “Really investing in our refugees and our immigrants to get higher education, to get the credentials and knowledge and get into the workforce, they’re contributing in one way or another to our society, let’s get them to contribute in ways that creates the whole increase in well-being for everybody in our communities.”

According to the CDC, 94% of childcare workers are female and 40% of those are people of color.

“Right now, almost two years ago, I started the study of the children,” Jafari said. “One of my children is a little bit delayed, but I just want to learn a lot about the behavior and learn about growing the brain for him. Also, I want to help others who have children like me, and I can help them.”

“We want childcare workers to speak the same language and look the same as the child,” Young said. “We want child identity to really be confident in who they are who their family are and what their background and historical context are. And most of the background of teachers and leadership positions look like me.”

The developers of this program believe that bringing in women of color who speak multiple languages can help provide more options for child care to the country and overcome cultural differences while also closing the work shortage gap.

A Western Hills University High School teacher has been placed on administrative leave until further notice following a physical altercation with a student. Cincinnati Public Schools said they are aware of the incident and are investigating whether disciplinary action against the employee or student will be necessary.Cincinnati Public Schools released a statement saying: "CPS is aware of a physical altercation between a teacher and student at Western Hills University High School. CPS is investigating this incident. Additionally, the teacher has been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave until further notice. CPS does not tolerate physical altercations, and upon its findings, may issue either employee and/or student disciplinary action as necessary."

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. —

Concerned staff warned administrators at a Virginia elementary school three times that a 6-year-old boy had a gun and was threatening other students in the hours before he shot and wounded a teacher, but the administration "was paralyzed by apathy" and didn't call police, remove the boy from class or lock down the school, the wounded teacher's lawyer said Wednesday.

Later in the day, the school board voted to relieve district superintendent George Parker III of his duties effective Feb. 1 as part of a separation agreement and severance package.

Diane Toscano, an attorney for Abigail Zwerner, said during a news conference that she has notified the school board in Newport News that the 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School plans to sue the school district over the Jan. 6 shooting, which left Zwerner with serious injuries.

"On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times — three times — school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people. But the administration could not be bothered," Toscano said.

She said that Zwerner first went to an administrator at around 11:15 a.m. on the day of the shooting and said the boy had threatened to beat up another child, but no action was taken.

About an hour later, another teacher went to an administrator and said she had taken it upon herself to search the boy's bookbag, but warned that she thought the boy had put the gun in his pocket before going outside for recess, Toscano said.

"The administrator downplayed the report from the teacher and the possibility of a gun, saying — and I quote — 'Well, he has little pockets,' " Toscano said.

Shortly after 1 p.m., another teacher told an administrator that a different student who was "crying and fearful" said the boy showed him the gun during recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone. Again, no action was taken, she said.

When another employee who had heard the boy might have a gun asked an administrator to search the boy, he was turned down, Toscano said.

"He was told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over," she said.

About an hour later, "Abby Zwerner was shot in front of those horrified kids, and the school and community are living the nightmare, all because the school administration failed to act," Toscano said.

"Were they not so paralyzed by apathy, they could have prevented this tragedy," she said.

School district spokesperson Michelle Price declined to comment.

"Since the school division's investigation is ongoing, I cannot comment on the statements presented by Ms. Zwerner's lawyer at this time," Price wrote in an email.

The shooting raised questions over security at the school and stunned Newport News, a city of about 185,000 people roughly 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Richmond.

Parker's departure had been expected since a school board agenda was posted Tuesday showing that the panel was set to vote on his separation package. The school board announced his departure following a closed-door special meeting Wednesday evening.

The board voted 5-1 in favor of the separation agreement and severance package. Effective Feb. 1, Parker will be "relieved of his duties" as superintendent. Surles-Law said the decision was made "without cause," and said Parker has been a "capable division leader" who has served Newport News for nearly five years through challenging times.

Parker, who has been sharply criticized by parents and teachers in the wake of the shooting, has said that at least one administrator was told on the day of the shooting that the boy might have a weapon, but no weapon was found when his backpack was searched. Police have said that school officials did not tell them about that tip before the shooting, which happened hours later.

Cindy Connell, a middle school teacher in Newport News, called the events described by Toscano "beyond horrifying."

"This is just another example of administrators not listening to the concerns of teachers, and the only reason we're talking about this one is because Abby Zwerner got shot," Connell said.

"I think any administrator that was told repeatedly that this child has a weapon, we think this child has a weapon — anyone who knew about this situation and did nothing should lose their job."

Police Chief Steve Drew has repeatedly characterized the shooting as "intentional," saying the boy aimed at Zwerner and fired one round, striking her in the hand and chest. Zwerner was hospitalized for nearly two weeks but is now recovering at home, Toscano said.

"The road to full recovery will be long ... and the psychological scars will be lasting," Toscano said.

The boy's mother legally purchased the gun used in the shooting, police said. The boy's family said in a statement last week that the gun was "secured." The family's attorney, James Ellenson, told The Associated Press that his understanding was that the gun was in the woman's closet on a shelf well over 6 feet (1.8 meters) high and had a trigger lock that required a key.

The family also said in its statement that the boy has an "acute disability" and was under a care plan "that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day." The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.

James Ellenson, an attorney for the boy's family, released a statement Wednesday saying they "continue to pray for Ms. Zwerner and wish her a complete and full recovery."

"Our hearts go out to all involved," Ellenson said.

The school, which has been closed since the shooting, is scheduled to reopen next week. Karen Lynch, a longtime principal in the Newport News school district, has been named as an "administrator on special assignment" at Richneck, Lynch said in a note to parents on Monday.

Ahead of the reopening, administrators and teachers held an Open House at the school Wednesday for students and their families to visit staff and participate in activities. Signs along the sidewalks in front of the school offered reassuring messages to the students: "You've got this," "We are Praying for You" and "You are Loved."

__

Associated Press reporter Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland, contributed to this report.

Burnout could reduce the number of teachers in our schools.

55% of teachers say they are thinking about leaving the profession early because of the stress of the last two school years, according to a recent survey from the National Education Association.

The number is higher among Black (62%) and Hispanic (59%) teachers.

"I've thought more than I ever have in my career about leaving education," said Kevin Adams, a 16-year veteran of the Denver Public Schools system who teaches a mix of high school and middle school social studies classes. "Some of the work feels unsustainable."

Adams' story is a common one. 90% of teachers reported "burnout" as a serious issue for educators, according to the same NEA survey from early February. Other issues included low pay and a lack of support staff.

Adams said educators of color are dealing with an added stressor: Racial battle fatigue.

"It feels like there is a lot of pressure, particularly on Black educators, to solve problems with kids of color," Adams said. "We are seen as the experts when it comes to kids of color. Oftentimes, we are given a heavier burden when it comes to dealing with the issues and challenges facing kids of color."

Adams said those fights happen in places beyond the classroom.

"Black educators are criticized and critiqued for the way we present ourselves," Adams said. "For being unapologetically and authentically our Black selves. Sometimes it's, 'I didn't appreciate your attitude in the meeting when you brought stuff up.' But if we're talking about how our kids are oppressed, we're going to bring that up in a passionate way."

The lack of diversity in U.S. schools is a problem that spans decades.

But it's gotten worse in the last few years.

In 2018, 15% of public school students were Black, compared to only 7% of teachers.

"We are absolutely concerned with the diversity of our teaching profession," said Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association. "It's not just teachers going into the profession. Teachers are leaving the profession at disproportionate rates."

Several grassroots organizations have emerged recently to address racial disparities in the teaching profession.

The list includes the Center for Black Educator Development, whose mission is, in part, to "rebuild the Black teacher pipeline."

"Students are seeing this," said Mimi Woldeyohannes, the director of strategic partnerships for CBED. "It's playing out right in front of their eyes. They're seeing teachers leave for a variety of reasons, or they're seeing that teachers are not lifting up this profession as much as they used to."

Woldeyohannes and the team at CBED are focused on addressing educational inequities. The group is working to get more teachers of color into the classroom, and to keep the teachers who are already there.

"We're trying to get our educators to understand the true impact they can have," Woldeyohannes said. "You may not see the fruits of your labor in a year, or in a few years, but they will never forget the kind of long-lasting impact that you had."

Adams, the Denver teacher, agreed, calling the students the top reason he keeps clocking in for work.

"When I see the kids connect and be silly and be themselves," Adams said, "those are the things that bring me joy, and pull me through the harder stuff, the racial battle fatigue. Those are the things that tell me, 'This is why I'm doing the job.'"

MOBILE, Ala. (Video: WPMI via CNN) —

A kindergarten student in Alabama put a recent lesson about kindness into action.

"We just had a whole lesson on how you show love to everybody no matter what, kindness, you treat people how you want to be treated," kindergarten teacher Mandy Strawbridge told WPMI.

The lesson inspired one of Strawbridge's students, 5-year-old John Reese Booker, to ask his favorite teacher to dinner to make sure she's not alone for Valentine's Day.

Deborah Peterson is a teacher's aide who started working with John Reese at Huxford Elementary School last year and said they've become close.

"He's attached to me and I've been attached to him ever since," she said.

John Reese gave Peterson a rose and asked her to dinner in a card he made himself.

"And I opened up the card and it said, 'will you go to dinner with me at David's Saturday at 6 o'clock?' and I said of course, yes," Peterson said.

John Reese said he picked the restaurant because he knew it was Peterson's favorite.

Watch the video above to see the pair talk about their upcoming plans.

CINCINNATI —

A local runner is a new world champion in one of the toughest races in the world.

"It was a wild experience," said Harvey Lewis, a teacher at the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts. "This race is a race with no end so it's kind of crazy but there's only one person that actually gets to finish the race and everyone else is considered 'did not finish.'"

Lewis broke the world record for the Backyard Ultra at the Big Dog race this past weekend.

Every hour participants run 4.167 miles. The faster they finish within the hour, the longer break they have.

"So if I finished my lap in 50 minutes I'd have 10 minutes to work with. I could like take a five-minute nap. I could eat four or five minutes. You have to make sure you're eating and drinking constantly," Lewis said.

The race doesn't end until there's one person left.

Lewis ran 85 consecutive hours.

"You really have to get into some special places in your mind to be able to withstand the intensity of the amount of time and distance and challenges that come across the journey," Lewis said.

Practicing for the race was intense.

"So I would actually practice five-minute naps. Believe it or not. I would just lie down on a Yoga mat and see if I could fall asleep," Lewis said.

Although sleep wasn't as easy to come by during the race, motivation was.

His students wrote inspirational messages on note cards that he used to keep going.

"My crew chief was able to hand me at different points in the race especially when I was in dark moments and that was just incredibly powerful. And the inspiration, it goes both ways. Because I get a lot of inspiration from my students as much as I might give back," Lewis said.

Lewis fell on rocks during hour 80 and broke his wrist.

Now, he has a cast that he's calling "a souvenir" from the experience.

"Got me bandaged up and they said it would only take two or three weeks to heal and I said, wow really. That's amazing!" Lewis said.

He will run the Flying Pig Marathon again this year as a "streaker," running every year since its inception.

COVINGTON, La. —

An 18-year-old student in Louisiana is facing a felony charge and up to 10 years in prison for an alleged TikTok challenge, resulting in the assault of a disabled teacher.

St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Warren Montgomery announced Tuesday that Larrianna Jackson, of Covington, Louisiana, was charged with felony second-degree battery and cruelty to the infirmed.

Jackson was arrested on Oct. 6 by the Covington Police Department for felony battery of a school teacher.

Police said she assaulted a 64-year-old teacher who is disabled after the dismissal bell rang.

Due to injuries sustained by the attack, the teacher had to seek medical attention at an area hospital, according to police.

Officers on the scene were provided a video that captured the entire incident.

In the video, police say you can see the schoolteacher sitting at her desk where she appears to be talking to Larrianna Jackson.

After a moment, police say Jackson punches the teacher, causing the teacher to fall to the ground. As the teacher fell to the ground, Jackson continues to violently closed-fist punch the teacher. The video then turns off at this point.

Officers said they learned that the attack may have been prompted by a viral social media application known as TikTok.

Evidently, users on the app have deemed it to be a challenge to damage school property and attack teachers, according to police.

"The Covington Police Department would like to remind everyone that anyone who participates in such a challenge will be booked accordingly. In this post we also attached the video that has been circulating around the internet. This matter is still under investigation and more arrests are forthcoming," a statement issued by Covington Police said.

TikTok released the a statement regarding the challenge circulating on its app.

"The rumored 'slap a teacher' dare is an insult to educators everywhere. And while this is not a trend on TikTok, if at any point it shows up, content will be removed," according to a statement posted on Twitter.

Jackson faces up to 10 years and will be arraigned by 22nd Judicial District Court Judge Richard A. Swartz on Dec. 8 at 9 a.m., according to Montgomery.

One of two teachers at a Texas junior high school who died last week of COVID-19 was nervous about returning to school because of the delta variant, her sister told CNN.

Natalia Chansler, a 6th-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High in Elm Mott, Texas, died of COVID-19 complications on Aug. 28, just days after testing positive for the virus, according to an email sent to parents by the Connally Independent School District.

Chansler, 41, was not vaccinated because she had underlying health conditions and was trying to decide which vaccine would be best for her, her older sister, Annice Chansler, told CNN New Day on Friday.

Video above: Fourth-grade teacher supports vaccine mandates

"She was close to getting vaccinated and then of course this happened," Annice Chansler said. "And then she was really more thinking, 'Okay, when I get better I'm going to go ahead and get vaccinated.' But of course, she passed before that."

Chansler was last on campus on Aug. 25, according to the district.

Annice Chansler said her sister wore a mask even though there is no mask mandate in the district. Connally ISD does recommend masks for students and staff.

She said her sister was nervous during the first wave of COVID-19 infections, adding, "When the variant came, she was even more nervous. But she had to work. She had no choice."

Connally ISD closed every school in the district after classes on Monday in response to the deaths of Natalia Chansler and 59-year-old David A. McCormick, who taught 7th-grade social studies at the junior high.

McCormick died from COVID-19 on Aug. 24 and had last been on campus on Aug. 18, which was the first day of school, according to the district.

Neither teacher had been identified as having close contact with a COVID-positive person on campus and the district has no definitive evidence of how they contracted the virus, Connally ISD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jill Bottelberghe told CNN in an email Wednesday night.

The district serves the cities of Lacy Lakeview and Waco and the communities of Elm Mott, Chalk Bluff, and Gholson.

The closure would give the district a chance to deep clean and sanitize all of its facilities and hopefully give anyone exposed to the virus a chance to isolate and recover, the district said in its announcement.

It also canceled all extracurricular activities, including high school football games.

In-person classes are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday.

The district said the two teachers were beloved and described their deaths as heartbreaking. District administrators brought in counselors to support students and help them cope with their loss.

Bottelberghe said that as of Aug. 30, there had been 165 positive COVID-19 cases reported and that more cases were identified in testing on Wednesday.

A drive-through testing session held Wednesday morning for staff, students and community members had a 26% positivity rate, according to a post on the district's Facebook page.

Annice Chansler said Natalia was the youngest girl out of their 10 siblings and described her as "fun-loving" and "the best baby sister I could ever have."
She said her sister was quiet but had an inviting personality.

"Students, parents, anyone who came across Natalia, they immediately liked her and liked her personality," she said.

McLennan County, Texas, where the district is located, has had 34,951 confirmed cases and 547 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Annice Chansler says some of her family members who were reluctant to get the shot are now getting vaccinated.

"They've made that move and I'm so proud of them for doing that. I hate that it took Natalia's passing for them to understand how important it is, but I'm just glad they've done it," she said.

Video above: Fourth-grade teacher supports vaccine mandate

An unvaccinated elementary school teacher who took off their mask to read to students ended up infecting more than half of them last May — and they went on to infect other students, family members and community members, California public health officials reported Friday.

It's a prime example of how easy it is to undermine efforts to protect children too young to be vaccinated, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

The teacher came to work even though they had COVID-19 symptoms and then took off their mask to read to the young students, a team at Marin County Public Health reported in the CDC's weekly report on death and disease. The teacher assumed the symptoms indicated allergies, not infection, the investigators found.

In the classroom of 22 students, 12 became infected — including eight out of 10 students in the two front rows.

And that's despite layers of measures intended to prevent transmission of the virus.

"The school required teachers and students to mask while indoors; interviews with parents of infected students suggested that students' adherence to masking and distancing guidelines in line with CDC recommendations was high in class. However, the teacher was reportedly unmasked on occasions when reading aloud in class," the report read.

"Throughout this period, all desks were separated by six feet," it added. "All classrooms had portable high-efficiency particulate air filters and doors and windows were left open."

It wasn't enough to protect the kids.

Eventually, 27 people, including the teacher, were infected. None were seriously ill and all recovered. Those cases that were analyzed involved the delta variant of coronavirus, although the researchers said they were not necessarily able to test everyone who may have been infected in the outbreak.

The CDC highlighted the case as an example of how schools need to follow all recommendations if they want to protect students and staff.

"The introduction of the virus into the classroom by a teacher who worked in school, while she was both symptomatic and unvaccinated and who was unmasked when reading aloud to a class, resulted in cases within the classroom, across the school and among families of students and staff in the community," Walensky told a White House COVID-19 briefing Friday.

"We know how to protect our kids in school. We have the tools."

The CDC's guidance for schools lists vaccination as the No. 1 way to protect everyone. "Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports," it says.

Kids under 12 are not eligible for vaccination, and the CDC says it's important for the adults around them to get vaccinated to protect them.

Dr. Lisa Santora, deputy health officer for the county, said officials there had been urging teachers to be vaccinated since January, but many had not done it. "We saw firsthand that it wasn't kids who were going to get teachers sick. It was going to be the reverse," Santora told CNN.

Santora said Marin County had organized "Super Saturday" events to encourage teachers and staff to get vaccinated, but some teachers still remain unvaccinated. "Adults are underestimating their risk of hospitalization when they are choosing not to get vaccinated," she told CNN.

She said 90% of people in hospitals with COVID-19 in the county right now are unvaccinated — and many are between the ages of 30 and 50.

The outbreak at the elementary school was a heads up to the county that the Delta variant was going to make it harder to prevent outbreaks, she said.

"We had a few of the adults who were part of the outbreak -- they were parents of children in school — they were vaccinated. That was another indication to us that delta was different," she said.

"Among the five infected adults, one parent and the teacher were unvaccinated; the others were fully vaccinated," the report reads. "The vaccinated adults and one unvaccinated adult were symptomatic with fever, chills, cough, headache, and loss of smell. No other school staff members reported becoming ill."

The county was able to conduct an intensive contact tracing operation that painted a good picture of what happened. Several children appeared to have been infected during a sleepover, and some from the infected teacher's class appear to have infected siblings.

Testing of most of the children who were exposed was key because many of the children never developed symptoms.

"The school was on point with all of their mitigation strategies," Santora said. "I think if it wasn't delta, I don't think we would have seen this."

Nonetheless, the CDC concluded, schools can safely open for in-person classes if they take care.

Los Angeles County officials studied cases in their schools from September to March. They counted 463 cases among students in that time that could be linked back to a school exposure, and 3,927 among staff who were back in person. This was a far lower case rate than in the community at large during the same period, they reported.

"In schools with safety protocols in place for prevention and containment, case rates in children and adolescents were 3.4 times lower during the winter peak compared with rates in the community," they wrote.

"This analysis reflects transmission patterns before the more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (delta) variant became predominant in the United States. A multipronged prevention strategy, including masking, physical distancing, testing, and most recently vaccination of children and adolescents aged 12 years and above, will remain critical to reducing transmission as more students return to the classroom," they added.

"These findings from a large and diverse county present preliminary evidence that schools provided a relatively safe environment during the 2020-21 school year."

Jose Villaruel, known as Mr. V by his students, has been living in his 1997 Ford Thunderbird for several years. He said he lives in the car so he can provide more for his family. "I couldn't possibly support my family and extended family in Mexico and rent an apartment here at the same time with the income that I can have. That's why," Villaruel told KCAL. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the substitute teacher and tutor in California lost his hours.That inspired his former students to step in and help. "Like every day I'd go out to work around 5 a.m. and see him going through his trunk, and I just felt the need to do something about it," said Steven Nava, one of Villaruel's former students. Nava created a fundraising page that he shared on social media, with a goal of raising $5,000 for Mr. V. But instead, this week, on Villaruel's 77th birthday, Nava presented him a check for $27,000."Still haven't been able to digest the whole experience. It's extraordinary. It's totally unexpected," Villaruel said.Nava said the gesture shows the impact Villaruel and all educators have on their students."We don't appreciate these teachers enough. And that's something that we should be doing," he said.

The idea of teaching critical race theory has become a contentious issue. Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and a handful of other states have banned the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 classrooms in recent weeks.

But, what is it?

“Critical race theory is the theory that our systems in this country are bound up in race,” Kerry Goldmann, a lecturer at the University of North Texas, said.

“It pretty much offers a space where we recognize how race plays a part in everything that happens in the lives of people in this country,” Jalaya Liles Dunn, the Director of Teaching Tolerance program at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said.

The center is a national nonprofit that specializes in civil rights and public interest cases.

“The idea was to research the institutionalization and the systematic use of racism or some kind of discriminatory behaviors in laws, policies, behaviors, social norms,” Diane Birdwell, a high school history teacher, said.

Birdwell has been a teacher for over two decades in Texas -- one of the states that recently banned the teaching. She said while she’s not opposed to critical race theory, it’s not commonly seen in her history lessons.

“It’s not taught in schools. It’s not a curriculum. It’s a theory,” she said.

Birdwell said what she teaches focuses a lot on primary documents, having students look at context, perspective, and purpose.

“What we’re trying to teach students is the why,” she said. “Critical race theory doesn’t mean you ignore anyone. It doesn’t make anyone evil or bad. It just says make sure you tell the story.”

However, that’s not how everyone sees it. Parents and teachers have been voicing their opinions across the nation.

“How are our youngest learners supposed to love and accept one another when they are told they are inherently bad or inherently a victim because of the color of their skin,” one woman said at a board meeting in Wisconsin.

“I don’t think children should be focusing on the color of their skin, focusing on past traumas,” another woman in Florida said, referring to critical race theory.

“I think the reaction to critical race theory is fear, to be honest. I think it’s fear of accepting that our history is not always pleasant, it's not always pretty, and it was downright wrong in a lot of cases,” Birdwell said.

While it’s creating quite a bit of buzz, University of North Texas history professor Kerry Goldman said up to now, critical race theory was mostly used by academics.

“It really hasn't been brought to the forefront of the public realm until really this past year, and it’s been really politicized,” she said. “Critical race theory started as an intellectual movement and a legal theory in the mid-1970s and really formally organized by the 1980s.”

Goldmann said it started as a law theory and slowly found itself in other fields such as humanities and social sciences. As for banning it from classrooms, Goldmann said she’s seen instances like this happen before.

“If you look at the early to mid 20th century, you had a lot of pressure put on educators K-12 to not teach about class inequality. And the reason for that is because politicians were fearful that children would be indoctrinated into ideals of communism simply from learning about class inequality existing,” she said.

“Teachers have a fine line to make sure students feel safe, but understand they don't live in a safe space. The world is not safe for them, not for all of them,” Jalaya Liles Dunn said.

For teachers like Birdwell, she plans on continuing to teach history with the facts she has at hand, with context. “Part of history is to see the things that make us uncomfortable, that make us unhappy,” she said.