Teaching kids that race trumps everything

What are these people thinking?

In a year in which hundreds of district teachers received pink slips, meanwhile, TUSD [Tuscon Unified School District] spent thousands on recruiting teachers from out of state. . . .

The recruiting was prompted by what is fast becoming the consuming passion of the TUSD governing board and its allies - to establish a corps of teachers that precisely mirrors the racial make-up of its heavily minority student population.

Unbelievable. I thought the goal was to teach kids that race doesn't matter -- that whole content of the character rather than color of the skin. This does exactly the opposite, sending the clear message that race does matter, that we can't escape it, that we are defined by it. This is pure idiocy.

But it gets worse:

The board is calling for a two-tiered form of student discipline. One for Black and Hispanic students; one for everyone else.

With the goal of creating a "restorative school culture and climate" that conveys a "sense of belonging to all students," the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect "no ethnic/racial disparities. . . . "

The board approved creating an "Equity Team" that will oversee the plan to ensure "a commitment to social justice for all students."

The happy-face edu-speak notwithstanding, what the Tucson Unified School District board of governors has approved this summer is a race-based system of discipline.

Offenses by students will be judged, and penalties meted out, depending on the student's hue.

Certainly, from the point of view of a public-school administrator, such a policy is beyond insane.

TUSD principals and disciplinarians (assuming such creatures still exist) are being asked to set two standards of behavior for their students.

Some behavior will be met with strict penalties; some will not. It all depends on the color of the student's skin.

Once again, the clear message that race trumps everything.

It really is getting to the point where it's impossible to imagine something so stupid that no one could possibly consider it. If it's stupid, and you can think of it, someone, somewhere is already doing it.