Disappeared: (v) the act of removing and hiding something and then acting like it never existed (e.g., The School Board disappeared its racist list of CRT resources.)
Underbussed: (v) the act of metaphorically throwing someone under the bus (e.g., When the members of the School Board were criticized for recommending racist CRT resources, they shifted blame to and publicly underbussed the librarians.)
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For the past year, the EISD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion website included a recommended resource list for parents and students. The Resources list had the imprimatur of both the School Board and Dr. Gooden.
But sometime this past spring, the District began to distance itself from the list by appending a note to the top; the note read, in part, “Our district librarians have been instrumental in the selection of these resources.” Oh! Before it was a Resources list supported by the District as a whole. But with this added note, the School Board made clear that it was the District librarians who were responsible for the awful recommendations.
You’re on notice, Eanes librarians . . . and teachers, too: if concerned parents raise their voices against the School Board, then the Board will not stand behind your work. Instead, they will shift blame and distance themselves from something that’s become difficult. When that’s not enough, your work will be erased, as if it never happened.
And you’re on notice, too, Eanes Parents. The School Board’s pattern is established. As this contentious battle-of-wills continues, the School Board will
- first ignore your concerns
- then attempt to build plausible deniability: “This is just for parents, not for classrooms. We’re just being helpful.”
- then distance even more: “This was prepared by the librarians. They’re acting on their own.”
- finally, pretend the whole thing never happened: All the information on the Resources page was taken down.
It’s sneaky. No notice of the removal. No explanation of why it was removed. No acknowledgement that it was wrong for it to be posted in the first place. Just disappeared, leaving (almost) no trace.