Vote for Ashley Murray for school board today

This letter is to endorse Ashley Murray for the Cape Henlopen school board when you vote Tuesday, May 11.  Ashley is a committed parent of three, who loves her community and pledges to always focus and advocate for the educational excellence for the well-being of every child. She is committed to bridging the transparency gap between the Cape District and the community, especially the parents.   

Here are some things for you to consider when you vote:

Do you know what your children are being taught in the Cape Henlopen schools?  I live in the district, raised two children, have a grandchild in elementary school here and know a great many teachers in the district at every level.  

It has been extremely disappointing to learn that Cape schools are pushing the 1619 Project, a revision of history that has been described as a myth by many historians and scholars in our country.  

Further, Cape is pursuing Critical Race Theory and pushing white privilege. How would you feel if your child or grandchild came home from school and said, “I am ashamed to be a white male after the class today?” 

Ashley opposes this radical approach to education and believes schools should be fully opened and teaching actual history, rather than revisionist history, as well as STEM studies, so they can be better prepared for adulthood with real critical thinking skills.  For clarification, STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics for development of key skills, including problem solving, creativity and critical analysis.  

In this critical election, the open seat is an at-large seat, covering the entire school district. The current board, of which her opponent is a member, is largely comprised of long-term educators who are clearly promoting these progressive ideologies that malign the founding principles of America.

If this board of mostly educators really believed that our schools were there to educate and advance the self-esteem of the students, why are they pursuing curriculum that belittles white males, so they become embarrassed by their race and gender?   

What is accomplished by Cape High School students taking class time for an Equity Test which gives points for having parents who are married, but takes points away if your parents didn’t graduate from high school?   

What gives the school the right to invade any family’s privacy?   

How does that facilitate determination of the student’s value or what successes he or she can be expected to achieve?   

How will this exercise help students become productive citizens?

This appears to set up some children to be humiliated and others to be victimized.  It seems to me that the Cape District students would be far better served spending class time addressing the math proficiency of 33 percent and the 58 percent proficiency in reading and language, particularly in the period of this pandemic.  

This denigration of male children and training minority children as victims does nothing for the children and is not advantageous to society at large.      

Ms. Hanwell has been a member of the Cape school board while these shocking principles have been crawling into the curriculum.  One would think she would have known better as a career educator in Cape. But perhaps she has been part of the problem all along. 

Vote for Ashley Murray to stop indoctrination and bring education back to the classroom.  You do not need to be registered to vote in Delaware’s school board elections.  Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, May 11, at Cape High, Mariner Middle and Rehoboth Elementary schools. Eligible voters must be Delaware citizens  age 18 and older who live in the Cape district. 

Proof of identity and address, such as a Delaware driver’s license or ID card, or other document such as a recent utility bill or rent receipt, must be provided.