EAG News reports that the public school district of St. Paul has spent $3 million over the past 5 years to work with “Pacific Educational Group, a San Francisco-based organization that tries to help public schools deal with achievement and disciplinary issues involving black students.” PEG’s educational philosophy: That standard curricula are inherently biased against black students due to “white privilege”.
Curriculum changes, however, were not at the top of their list. Instead, St. Paul schools were required to revise discipline policies in order to cease suspending black students, instead punishing them via “time outs” from the classroom, along with school officials “forgiving or ignoring” violent behavior.
“The result has been general chaos throughout the district, with far too many students out of control because they know there are no real consequences for their actions.” As a result of the disciplinary changes, students run wild in the hallways, teachers have “secret knocks” for students who want admission into classrooms, and the number of students attending non-district schools has ballooned. It is, in short, a nightmare. Most students don’t even feel safe going to the bathroom.
The teachers’ union has partnered with local organizations to push certain school board members out in the upcoming election. However, the heat really needs to be turned up on Pacific Educational Group, the source of the policies that resulted in such turmoil. PEG’s client list contains the names of over 100 public school districts across the country, including 22 in Minnesota alone. They’ve also partnered with over a dozen independent and charter schools as well as nearly 50institutions of higher education including the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. A number of state departments of education are also included on their client list.
According to a 2006 article in the Rocky Mountain News, PEG’s president and founder Glenn Singleton, who charges a six-figure consulting fee, holds radical views on race, claiming that ”‘white talk’ is ‘verbal,’ ‘intellectual’ and ‘task-oriented,’ while ‘color commentary’ is ‘emotional’ and ‘personal.’”