What would your reaction be if you found out your child had learned in her middle school English class that she would never succeed in life because of her ethnicity?
You’d be shocked, and rightfully so. But that situation isn’t just a hypothetical. It’s a reality in Albemarle County, Virginia, and it’s a direct consequence of the so-called “Anti-Racism Policy” that Albemarle County Public Schools passed in 2019.
The county’s policy, rooted in the ideology of critical race theory, teaches children to view themselves and their classmates through the lens of race, putting people into boxes like privileged vs. unprivileged, oppressors vs. oppressed, victimizers vs. victims, haves vs. have nots—all based on their race.
The school district’s policy requires that this ideology be integrated into every subject and even goes so far as to treat students differently based on their race, ethnicity, or religious background. Then, the district crushes debate on the issue by mislabeling any alternative opinions as “racist.”
This policy hurts children. That’s why these parents stood up and challenged the school board in court.
Parents defend their kids—and ADF defends them
Alliance Defending Freedom represented a religiously and ethnically diverse group of five families to challenge the racially discriminatory policies and practices of Albemarle County Public Schools. While these families come from a wide range of racial and religious backgrounds, they are united in opposing racial discrimination and ensuring the rights of parents to protect their children from harmful ideologies infiltrating the educational system.
One couple represented by ADF, Carlos and Tatiana Ibañez, grew up in Panama. The Ibañezes came of age during the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega, and their belief in the importance of freedom was shaped by seeing the regime’s violence and brutality. Carlos and Tatiana later immigrated to the United States to pursue their education. Both studied dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The couple planned to move back to Panama, but God had other plans for their lives.
As Carlos and Tatiana began raising their family, they realized that staying in the United States was the better option for their children—especially educationally. So the Ibañezes became U.S. citizens, settled in Albemarle County, and enrolled their children in the local public schools.
Everything seemed to be going well for the Ibañezes’ children, but one day Tatiana received a call from her seventh-grade daughter. She was in tears. In class, she had been shown a video that depicted two minority children enduring lives of hardship, suffering, and condemnation while a white girl their age enjoyed wealth and success.
The Ibañezes’ daughter understandably found these videos confusing and distressing. After all, her parents weren’t white—but they didn’t live lives of hardship and suffering. Far from it: her parents had worked hard to raise their family and build their careers.
Carlos and Tatiana met with staff at their daughter’s school and eventually learned that the videos were part of a broader curriculum on systemic racism that would be “woven through all the classes” taught at the school.
Critical race theory in action
In 2019, the Albemarle County School Board had adopted a so-called “Anti-Racism Policy” with the stated purpose of eliminating “all forms of racism” in Albemarle County Public Schools. The policy purports to do this through various programs, including training for teachers, staff, and administrators as well as through the implementation of an “anti-racist curriculum” for the students. On the surface, the initiative sounds laudable. Everyone should oppose racism.
But that’s not what the policy does in practice. Rather, the policy—rooted in critical race theory—teaches that students must be treated differently based on their race.
Albemarle County Public Schools has bought into this ideology completely. To implement its new policy, the district turned to critical race theorists like Ibram X. Kendi and Glenn Singleton, who prescribe a regimen of disparate race-based treatment and racial stereotyping.
In his book How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi argues for discrimination as the answer to past and present discrimination: “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”
The school board is seeking to indoctrinate children with the ideology of critical race theory. The district’s policy states, “Educators play a vital role in reducing racism and inequity by recognizing the manifestations of racism, creating culturally inclusive learning and working environments, and dismantling educational systems that directly or indirectly perpetuate racism and privilege through teaching, policy, and practice.”
ADF’s clients want to stop the indoctrination of their children in this discriminatory and harmful ideology. As Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts once wrote, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Those words have never been timelier than they are now.
Ibañez v. Albemarle County School Board
- February 2019: Albemarle County School Board adopted its “Anti-Racism Policy.”
- 2020-2021 School Year: The school district required all staff to attend an orientation covering the Anti-Racism Policy followed by a mandatory book study on Glenn Singleton’s book Courageous Conversations About Race.
- December 2021: Five families represented by ADF filed a legal complaint with the Albemarle County Circuit Court.
- February 2022: ADF filed a motion for preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of the Anti-Racism Policy.
- June 2022: The circuit court ruled in favor of the school board and dismissed the case. ADF attorneys appealed the decision.
- October 2022: ADF attorneys filed their opening brief with the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
- September 2023: ADF attorneys participated in oral argument at the court of appeals.
- March 2024: After the court of appeals affirmed the circuit court’s dismissal of the case, ADF attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
- August 2024: ADF attorneys presented oral argument to a panel of three Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia, requesting that they take the case for the entire court to review, a request they later denied.
