FAYETTEVILLE -- The Fayetteville School District said this week that no teachers were compelled to complete a survey distributed at a training session last month that included questions about white privilege and drew criticism from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who equated it to critical race theory.
Sanders said her administration "will not tolerate this kind of CRT [critical race theory] and indoctrination in our public schools," according to a statement issued by her office.
"We've already reached out to the district to ensure no teacher is forced to sign this pledge. We're making sure it doesn't happen again. We will teach kids how to think, not what to think."
Kimberly Mundell, director of communications for the Arkansas Department of Education, said the department agrees with the governor's statement.
The issue arose after a Fox News story Friday about the questionnaire, photos of which were tweeted out by the Washington County chapter of Moms for Liberty on March 22.
One page of the confidential survey, included in the photos tweeted by Moms for Liberty, states, "Culturally competent professionals acknowledge and continually examine the influence of culture, race, power and privilege and how that influence manifests itself in their personal and professional decisions."
The survey was intended only for self-reflection, according to a statement from Alan Wilbourn, the district's public information officer.
"The handout was part of a professional development session where teachers studied their student data in categories such as homeless population, race and ethnicity, percentage of students with a disability, and percentage of economically disadvantaged students," Wilbourn wrote in an email. "The handout was for self-reflection. While attendees were asked to complete the confidential reflection, no teacher was compelled to complete the handout. No information was collected from the handout. No handouts were submitted for review."
Moms for Liberty "is dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government," according to a statement on its website.
The training session was Feb. 16 at Fayetteville High School, and 112 staff members attended -- approximately 40% of the school's faculty, the district said.
On Jan. 10, her first day as governor, Sanders issued an executive order banning the teaching of critical race theory in Arkansas schools. On March 8, the governor signed into law her signature bill -- known as the LEARNS Act -- to overhaul the state's education system.