From Staff Reports

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Education Association released a statement from its president, Sherry East, after state Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver made the announcement on Sept. 16 of an agreement on a partnership between the state and PragerU, a conservative nonprofit organization that allows its videos to be used inside classrooms.

The following is the complete text of the SCEA’s statement:

“The SCEA is deeply concerned and disappointed by the recent decision made by the superintendent to partner with PragerU, an organization known for its extreme and often dangerous viewpoints.

“This move is baffling yet unsurprising, given the superintendent’s previous expressions of concern regarding harmful media influences on our students. This partnership raises serious questions about the current educational leadership in our state, which seems to prioritize manufactured national trends over the real needs of education in South Carolina.

“Teachers should be able to teach lessons free from bias and approved through a rigorous vetting process conducted by expert educators in the field. This arrangement seems to have disregarded that process lacking transparency in how the decision was made.”

“Our students deserve a learning environment that fosters critical thinking and creativity. Our classrooms should be free from politics and outside influences that expose them to harmful propaganda.”

In recent years, PragerU reportedly  has partnered with states such as Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma for potential use in classrooms.

Regarding the opposition expressed to South Carolina partnering with PragerU, Greenville-based television station WYFF (News 4) noted that  PragerU sent the station the following statement on Sept. 19:

“South Carolina is lucky to have a fighter like Superintendent Ellen Weaver who is doing everything she can to give families options to choose from when it comes to educating their kids. While many of our critics don’t actually take the time to watch our content because they would rather sensationalize it out of context, they don’t realize the overwhelming number of positive emails, messages, and comments we’ve received just in the last few days from South Carolina parents and educators who are thrilled to hear about the partnership!”

Elsewhere, the Charleston Post and Courier, which has Upstate editions, noted in a Sept. 21 story the following:

“Advocacy organizations are calling on the state legislature to increase oversight of decisions made by the state Department of Education following the recently announced partnership with PragerU that makes some of the conservative nonprofit’s media available in South Carolina school lessons.

“In a Sept. 20 press conference on the Statehouse steps, representatives from the South Carolina Education Association, the League of Women Voters and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union took turns blasting the media organization’s content.

“They particularly targeted Prager’s offerings on social studies and history as flawed and offensive, and tantamount to efforts to whitewash difficult topics like slavery in South Carolina’s education system. 

Much of PragerU’s content, they argued, presents inaccurate or fantastical accounts of history. Some highlighted animated videos representing historic figures like abolitionist Frederick Douglass or Christopher Columbus offering apologetic explanations for slavery.

“Others appear to downplay the severity of humans’ influence on climate change or make the case that America was founded on an explicitly Judeo-Christian value system — materials Courtney Thomas with the South Carolina ACLU said could violate the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution.”