ATLANTA — Today marks one year since a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to interrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
And as the country still processes those events a year later, what Georgia students will learn in their classroom about the insurrection on Jan. 6 is effectively nothing, according to one of the state's leading educators.
“We have no indication that the unfortunate circumstances of January 6 are going to be rehashed, reviewed, or talked about in schools,'' said the President of the Georgia Teacher Federation, Verdaillia Turner.
The GTF is the state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, a union made up of educators. The Georgia chapter is made up of public education employees and currently has about 9,000 members, according to Turner.
She said that she didn't hear from any of her members who said they had received specific guidance on teaching the Jan. 6 events in their classrooms.
"We have no indication, no teachers have come to us about January 6. We reached out to teachers though, many of our members, asked them what they've been asked to do - anything with lesson planning or to discuss some of the particulars of January 6th - and none have it on their radar screen," said Turner.
School Boards in Georgia
Cobb County, historically a predominantly white and affluent, but now rapidly changing suburb northwest of Atlanta is one example of how school boards in Georgia are not specifically teaching the Capitol insurrection in their classrooms.
11Alive reached out to the Cobb County School District on whether state guidance on the subject has been issued.
"Our teachers are expected to teach the standards every day of the school year and January 6th is no different,” said a district spokesperson.
11Alive reached out to three of the Republican members of Cobb County's Board of Education without response.
According to the one Cobb County Board member that responded to 11Alive, Jan. 6 will not be discussed in the classroom.
‘Our board has not had a specific conversation about January 6,” said Dr. Jaha Howard, the Post 2 representative on the Cobb County school board.
Dr. Howard linked this decision to the board’s vote to ban Critical Race Theory last June. The board split along party and racial lines in that vote.
The Cobb school board vote was four in favor and three abstaining, because they did not know what they were voting against according to Dr. Howard.
The four in favor were the board's four Republicans, all white men. The three abstentions came from the board's three Democrats, one Black woman, and two Black men.
“I can't help but see a clear connection between... January 6th sympathizers who are on our board and also in state leadership," said Dr. Howard. “I can't help but see that connection and also the connection between a refusal to talk about current events under the banner of them being political or uncomfortable.”
While Democratic political leaders in Georgia, such as Rep. Hank Johnson, have tied Jan. 6 to, "America’s original moral dilemma — the demon of racism and white supremacy," in Cobb County, Howard said: "No school is talking about race here. None."
The challenge with teaching recent history in Cobb County is an example of how once uncontroversial things are now being viewed through the lens of politics, according to Dr. Charles Bullock, a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia.
"What we see happening is that so many things now are being interpreted along party lines," said Dr. Bullock.
Dr. Bullock attributes some of how people view what happened on Jan. 6 to their belief of who won the 2020 presidential election.
"It expands to how one interprets what happened last year and January, the 6th, where Democrats use the language and believe it was an insurrection. Most Republicans do not see it as being that serious," said Dr. Bullock.
What other school boards in Georgia are saying
The U.S. Department of Education commented and cited a public message on their website over providing federal guidelines for Jan. 6 in schools.
No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction,
11Alive reached out to the Georgia Department of Education on whether state guidance on the subject has been issued, as well as several other counties, but did not receive a response.
Gwinnett County Schools - no response
DeKalb County Schools - “At present, the district is focused on the provided standards-driven instruction that is based on the Georgia Standards of Excellence. While the events of January 6, 2021, have been documented nationally, we are focused on preparing students for the Georgia Milestones Assessments that will occur later this semester.”
Atlanta Public Schools - “Our teachers and school-level administrators are working together to determine the best way to approach this topic.”
Cherokee County Schools - no response
Forsyth County Schools - "We follow the Georgia Standards, so we don’t have additional guidance created."
Bartow County Schools - no response
Although no statewide plans are set to discuss the Jan. 6 events in schools this year, GTF President Turner hopes that it will be in the years to come.
"I do believe that as time moves on and as we begin to heal, hopefully as a nation that one day, it will certainly be somewhere on the pages of our textbooks," she said.