Critical race theory will not be taught in Northampton Area School District, according to school district administration.

The topic of teaching critical race theory was raised by several district residents at recent NASD Board of Education meetings. The school district administration plans to introduce Elevate NASD, expected to be unveiled at a future board meeting, possibly this fall.

“Elevate NASD is our plan to provide all students with the opportunities to succeed,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said to The Press in a July 2 email.

Renee Sallit, Northampton Borough Elementary School principal, is the lead administrator for Elevate NASD. She began working on the program in November 2020, she reported after the June 28 school board meeting.

“Critical race theory will not be part of the curriculum,” Sallit said June 28 when discussing Elevate NASD.

Critical race theory, which originated in the 1970s but has entered the political discourse in recent years, is defined as an academic movement of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States who examine law as it pertains to race.

As of June, eight states enacted laws banning teaching critical race theory and nine other states are in the process of doing so.

Also mentioned by district residents at recent NASD school board meetings is The 1619 Project - an article published in The New York Times Magazine in 2019 on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia, then an English colony. The 1619 Project proposes to place the consequences of slavery at the center of teaching and discussion in the United States.

At the June 28 meeting, Kim Breznik raised the topic of critical race theory in a reference to the No Place For Hate program.

“The last exercise was critical race theory based,” Breznik said.

No Place For Hate is a program offered by the Anti-Defamation League, which endeavors to offset bias and bullying in schools.

NASD utilized No Place For Hate but no longer does. The program banners, which originally hung in the Northampton Area Middle School cafeteria, are no longer there.

“We knew we had to part ways with No Place For Hate,” Sallit said.

Breznik said an equity survey was administered by Lehigh University as part of a consortium the university coordinates with school district administrators in the region.

“We had an in-service with a professor who had an in-service about toxic masculinity,” Breznik said.

Breznik cited “good points” of encouragement to students made by coaches in NASD and urged the district to not get on the “equity, inclusion, diversity bandwagon.”

“We’ve been in partnership with Lehigh University for seminars,” Kovalchik said. “Lehigh University doesn’t dictate what we do. The people at this (school) board do.”

He noted the Lehigh consortium is a group of school districts.

“I can assure you we’re not teaching critical race theory in grades K through 12,” Kovalchik said. “For us, equity means it’s providing those resources for those in need.

“We still need to educate people about what’s happening,” Kovalchik added.

The board of education is next scheduled to meet 6:30 p.m. July 19 in the cafeteria at NAMS, 1617 Laubach Ave. There is only one school board meeting in July.