ROYAL OAK, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – At the January 9th Royal Oak Schools Board Meeting, Superintendent Mary Beth Fitzpatrick made it crystal clear: DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) isn’t just a part of the district – it is the district. “There’s been a strong focus on DEI in the district for several years but in particular over the last two years,” she stated.

In case any new hires thought they might be there just to teach, Fitzpatrick assured everyone that all incoming staff members would receive a full DEI history lesson upon arrival. Fitzpatrick said “It’s very clear who we are as Royal Oak and what we represent and we ensure that each new staff member knows what that means.” Implicit bias training and “social inclusion” are regular fixtures in staff meetings Fitzpatrick said, because of the bias the teachers bring to work every day.

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But it doesn’t stop at the staff level – students get the full experience, too. Fitzpatrick emphasized the importance of “trauma-informed leadership” and integrating “social and emotional learning” into the daily classroom experience.

The buzzword buffet – serving up the same old DEI dish.

Fitzpatrick used all of the key phrases and buzzwords that liberals like to use when speaking about DEI to make it sound like a positive endeavor. DEI proponents have come up with a litany of buzzwords over the years in order to make something that is racist at its core (DEI makes assumptions about a person because of their race) something to be embraced and celebrated. In order to “brand” this new kind of racism, DEI supporters present word salads that use terms like diversity, equity, inclusion, intersectionality, microaggressions, institutional racism, justice, marginalization, positionally, privilege, social justice and white privilege.

Instead of promoting equality of opportunity, DEI prioritizes equity of outcomes. Under the Obama and Biden administrations, many schools eagerly adopted this approach – regardless of the harm inflicted on students subjected to the forced DEI policies and mandates. In the beginning, the policies were explored and implemented under CRT (Critical Race Theory) – and then they appeared under the DEI umbrella.

Harper Creek Schools: equity or else.

Over at Harper Creek Community Schools in Battle Creek, Superintendent Rob Ridgeway took the microphone at the January 10 MiCIP Conference (Michigan Integrated Continuous Improvement Process) to assure everyone that their district is also all in on equity.

“Harper Creek Community Schools is committed to providing an equitable education for all students,” Ridgeway said. Their equity goals include committing to ensuring “the principles of equity and inclusion are fully integrated into our policies, programs, operations and practices.”

To prove how serious they are, the entire staff has undergone “various phases of trauma training” and learned how traumatic events can “dramatically alter the functioning of the brain.” Forget the traditional three R’s – reading, writing, and arithmetic – for Harper Creek, it’s about trauma, behavior analysis, and multi-tiered systems of support.

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Not satisfied with just adjusting teaching styles, Harper Creek has also “revamped positive behavior intervention supports.” But even that is not enough. Although proud of their growth, Ridgeway declared that there is “much more equity work to do.”

Are students actually learning – or are the schools just focused on feelings?

Both school districts have gone all-in on DEI initiatives, ensuring that every school day is packed with self-awareness exercises, bias training, and trauma-focused interventions. But when it comes to actual academic performance? That’s a little harder to measure – and many parents have come to the conclusion that schools don’t appear to be as concerned and committed to those goals.

Both of these school meetings were held before Trump’s inauguration and before the president signed his executive order on January 29th titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” This order seeks to withhold federal funding from K–12 schools that teach concepts labeled as “discriminatory equity ideology” or “gender ideology” which treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored group.

Trump gets involved.

The constant focus on identity-driven curricula over core academics in many schools across the country is why the Trump administration moved to push back against what it deemed an encroaching agenda in public education.

Instead of ensuring kids master things like reading and math, the priority of these two schools appears to be making sure everyone is sufficiently self-actualized and emotionally validated. Parents hoping for a focus on academic rigor may want to check their privilege at the door – because, in these districts, equity is the lesson plan through bureaucratic babble.

Whether Michigan schools and others in the country will be able to continue their DEI-driven lesson plans under a second Trump presidency remains to be seen. With the Department of Education and others in the Trump administration tasked with enforcing new executive orders against “discriminatory equity ideology,” districts like Royal Oak and Harper Creek may soon find their word salads and feel- good policies tossed out with the federal funding they rely on. The coming months will determine whether these policies can withstand legal and political scrutiny – or whether schools will be forced to pivot back to a focus on academics over activism.