Fairfax, Va. School District Spent $24,000 On Ibram Kendi Books For U.S. History Classes

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Sitting in their living rooms, kitchens, and dining rooms on the morning of August 6, principals, teachers, and other leaders from Fairfax County Public Schools here in northern Virginia tuned into an “exclusive” one-hour “conversation” with author Ibram Kendi. The bill: $20,000, or $333.33 per minute of the chat.

Because I was curious what my son’s school district had spent for a one-hour talk by a celebrity author, I broke the news of the price tag for the talk in a column for Quillette last week. Now, in new reporting, I’ve learned the one-hour video conversation was just the tip of the iceberg. According to Fairfax County Public Schools spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell, the school district spent another $24,000 on books by Kendi, peddling the ideology of “critical race theory” and “anti-racism” as “required reading” for K-12 students.

That means Fairfax County spent $44,000 on promoting Kendi for this one event—almost an entire year’s salary for a first-year teacher. Meanwhile, in heartbreaking appeals, two cash-strapped county schoolteachers are soliciting online donations for tools like “Distance Learning Survival Kits” and “Resources for Our Virtual Classroom.” On Sept. 29, the school system’s Minority Student Achievement Oversight Committee issued its 26th report, chronicling schools failing black and Hispanic students from kindergarten, and lamenting that it couldn’t even publish its Parent Advocacy Handbook in Spanish because it didn’t get the $50,000 it needed in its budget.

Fairfax County School Board members and the school superintendent, Scott Brabrand, are coming under considerable scrutiny for their relationship with a star of “critical race theory,” but this isn’t the story of just one school district. This scandal speaks volumes about the dangerous and divisive infusion of radical ideology into K-12 education, from New York to California. Weeks ago, I asked parents to send me examples of critical race theory in their K-12 schools, and I’ve been flooded with examples that I’m confirming. (Stay tuned.)