Gee and Ursula: ‘Shameful’ that Washington schools must worry about DEI threat

Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal is standing up against a presidential directive aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools and universities, as reported by The Seattle Times.

The U.S. Education Department issued a memo that warned institutions to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions and financial aid, or other areas, or risk losing federal funding. Reykdal, however, advised Washington’s school districts not to alter their DEI initiatives, noting that letters like the memo from the U.S. Education Department “do not hold the power of law.”

The debate over how to handle DEI rollback has stirred considerable discussion on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

What should school districts do regarding DEI rollback?

Co-host Ursula Reutin posed the question: What should school districts do regarding DEI rollback? Her co-host Gee Scott offered a clear directive.

“Continue doing what you’re doing,” he said. “The state of Washington, in its schools, continue to do what you’re doing,” Gee added. “Stay away. Don’t let people coming here and like, ‘Oh, the race-based doctrine, they’re doing this and they’re grooming kids.’ Those are all lies, and they’re lies. And I’m gonna be very specific, the same way nobody’s ever specific. When they tell me about these teachers that are grooming right, they never have a specific story. For example, they’ll say, ‘It’s happening’ but they won’t say, ‘In this area, at this school, this teacher in their lesson plan, did this.'”

Uncertainty around Washington schools

Ursula said that even before the memo was released, uncertainty had gripped school districts.

Tacoma Public Schools, for example, stated in their announcement, “It is disheartening that we are in this position today, trapped between direction from the federal government and existing state laws that appear contradictory.” Meanwhile, the Auburn School District noted that it was too early to determine the full impact of the order, particularly given that nearly 10% of its budget comes from the federal government.

Ursula added that the Auburn School District said it’s too soon to know what the impact of Trump’s order will be as nearly 10% of its budget comes from the federal government. She also thanked the University of Washington (UW), which wrote in a statement, “It does not view diversity and access as being in opposition to merit and excellence” and that the school will not be taking preemptive actions.

“So imagine getting this threat and when we talk about DEI, because DEI is just thrown around and people automatically think it’s giving preference to black people or people of color, regardless of merit, and that is not what it is,” Ursula said. “We can talk about some of the DEI programs would be, like something as simple as making sure that kids from low-income backgrounds have access to things like free meals or school supplies or extracurricular activities. Or if you have a neurodivergent kid or a kid with a disability, they would be ensured special education services. I mean, it’s the fact that there are schools right now that have to worry about this within the first month of this administration is shameful.”

To listen to the full conversation, click the player below:

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