Dear Castro Valley Unified parents, community members and concerned citizens,

On this Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 5pm, the Castro Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) will hold a board meeting, in which the board will vote on an agreement for Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC) Institute Professional Development Series (Item #8H). Please attend the board meeting either via zoom or in person at 4400 Alma Avenue, Castro Valley CA 94546 to oppose the item which will lead CVUSD to fully engage with critical race theory (CRT) through LESMC-rooted staff training with $150,000 of local funding.

In close resemblance to the first ethnic studies model curriculum which was rejected by the state in 2019, LESMC is the most radical version of ethnic studies steeped in explicit Marxist concepts. Under the guise of supporting professional development in local school districts, the LESMC Institute is also affiliated with "Ethnic Studies Now Coalition (ESNA)," an activist group backed by UdB with a mission to promote ethnic studies as "a form of liberation" and a pedagogy of "transformational resistance" throughout California. There is nothing inclusive or constructive about expending precious local education resources to promote a fringe, radical ideology that was even criticized by Governor Newsom as too controversial and offensive.

To urge the CVUSD Board to reject LESMC Professional Development series, you can:

1. Attend the board meeting in person and complete the "Request to Speak" form to give a public comment shortly prior to the 5pm meeting.
2. Attend the board meeting via zoom and complete the "Request to Speak" form via the Google form www.cv.k12.ca.us/publiccomment/ and submit it prior to the start of the agenda item.
3. Send an email to the CVUSD Board (find your board member's email here) and the Superintendent's Office at superintendent@cv.k12.ca.us.

Please take swift action to oppose the liberated ethnic studies program and urge for diverse viewpoints and true education in CVUSD.

Kindly see below a list of pertinent topics that we suggest you can incorporate into your comments and also a sample letter, both of which are prepared by CFER's partner group Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies. For longer sample speeches, please visit CFER's Reject CRT website at  https://www.rejectcrt.org/resources.