One of five panelists scheduled to talk about ethnic studies at an Orange County Board of Education town hall Tuesday night is withdrawing from the forum in protest, complaining that other panelists are not experts on the subject and in fact, oppose it.
Theresa Montaño, a Cal State Northridge professor in the Chicana and Chicano Studies department, wrote in a resignation letter Monday, July 26, that “this panel will not effectively inform the community or build meaningful dialogue about Ethnic Studies.”
Montaño is scheduled to speak Tuesday at a press conference organized by a group calling itself “Truth in Education,” which argues that the Orange County Board of Education is using taxpayer dollars to “promote far-right agendas.”
“This group was started about a month ago by concerned parents, teachers, clergy and others to be a voice for the community,” said Ajay Mohan, executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County, which Mohan said is offering support but did not start the group.
The group’s 3:30 p.m. press conference, scheduled at a school in Newport Beach, will be held an hour before Board of Education members hold their own press conference at the Orange County Department of Education in Costa Mesa. At 6 p.m., the Board of Education plans to hold the first of two summer town halls on ethnic studies and critical race theory.
That panel was to include Montaño, who stepped down Monday. In her resignation letter, Montaño said she was told she would be part of a diverse panel of ethnic studies experts. “Imagine my horror when I was instead facing a group of non-experts and anti-Ethnic Studies panelists,” Montaño wrote.
“Not a single person on this panel is a dedicated expert in, nor in my judgement thoroughly knowledgeable about, Ethnic Studies curriculum. In fact, my research reveals that all the panelists are vehemently opposed to Ethnic Studies and have made their positions on the topic clear.”
Board of Education President Mari Barke was not immediately available for comment Monday.
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