Florida school bans teaching CRT, gender fluidity, and 'mainstream narrative surrounding Covid'

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A Florida school has a policy against teaching critical race theory, arguing that such curriculum is the result of a “controlled” message from the media.

“As a school, we do not subscribe to or promote Critical Race Theory, Gender Fluidity, or the mainstream narrative surrounding Covid, all hot topics that many schools are now choosing to teach as factual rather than as the theories they are,” reads a section of the website for the Centner Academy, a private school in Miami, Florida.

Amy Carney speaks on behalf of parents during a protest against critical race theory being taught at Scottsdale Unified School District.
(Reuters)

The policy comes as debate has raged in recent months about the inclusion of elements of critical race theory in school curriculum, with proponents arguing that the lessons are needed to inform students about the country’s past injustices.

But the Centner Academy called critical race theory “controlled messaging from the media,” which it said comes at the same time as “unprecedented censorship in the United States.”

“The repeated messaging from the media shapes cultural norms and the way we view social and cultural issues,” the website reads. “Rather than jump on board with the mass media’s storyline, we challenge our students to question, research, analyze and consider issues from multiple perspectives before coming to their own conclusions.”

The school’s rejection of critical race theory comes as many states have moved to ban the curriculum from public schools, with 32 states introducing some form of legislation aimed at limiting critical race theory’s inclusion in lessons. Thirteen states have so far successfully banned critical race theory curriculum in their public schools.

Opponents of the academic doctrine known as Critical Race Theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia.
(REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Centner Academy, which costs over $30,000 per year to attend, also vows to take a less-than-mainstream approach on vaccinations, saying they “value freedom of choice and honor freedom of religion.”

“At CA we believe in health freedom,” one section of the website reads. “There is no one size fits all to vaccines. This is why we follow the Florida law and allow our parents to complete a medical or religious exemption form to opt out of the school vaccination program.”

Centner Academy has come under fire for its controversial policies before, most notably for sending a letter to parents last year asking them to hold their children out of school for at least 30 days or wait until summer if they choose to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because “there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease.”

Shelley Slebrch and other angry parents and community members protest after a Loudoun County School Board meeting was halted by the school board because the crowd refused to quiet down.
(Reuters)

But the school promises a “unique approach” to education, which it does by promoting a blend of “social and emotional learning with problem-solving and critical thinking.”

“Instead of teaching students what to think, we teach them how to think,” the website reads.

Representatives for Centner Academy did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.

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