Two incumbent members of the Jefferson County Board of Education were re-elected on May 10, despite attacks that they were not sufficiently on guard against the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Elected to a third seat on the board, was a newcomer allied with the two incumbents. They defeated a slate of challengers who argued that CRT was an imminent threat to Jefferson County schoolchildren. The margin was approximately 60-40 in percentages, quite a comfortable victory for the incumbent-plus slate.

During this year’s Regular Session of the Legislature, which ended March 12, a failed attempt was made to pass legislation banning the teaching of CRT. Similar efforts, some successful, were made in other states.

While the West Virginia bill was considerably less punitive in tone than those in most other states, I’m glad we defeated it. I think it put teachers in an untenable position when trying to teach accurate history.

CRT is a theory of race relations discussed in law schools, graduate schools and in upper division history courses. Opponents argue that it holds all white people responsible for slavery, segregation and other racial ills. Many dispute this, and not all the people who voice support for CRT agree on just exactly what it means. Nor it seems do all who oppose CRT agree on its meaning.

CRT is not taught in West Virginia K-12 public schools, and I know of no public school system that teaches it. A minority of parents in nearby Loudoun County, Va., seem to think it is taught there, but I’ve talked with several folks who teach in Loudoun who insist that CRT is not taught there. Is it possible some folks assume that teaching the less savory parts of our country’s history is evidence of CRT?

We need to teach history accurately, and teachers need to know that the state and their community will fully support them if they teach our children accurate history. But teaching should be done in such a way that no child gets the impression that any of the past is his or her fault. There is a minority of parents who seem to believe that their kids are being indoctrinated that all of our country’s problems are the fault of Caucasians.

I’m a Caucasian, and I’ve made my share of mistakes, but I do not accept blame for the attack on Fort Sumter. I had an ancestor who raised a company of riflemen to fight for the Confederacy, but that’s on him, not me. I like to paraphrase the late great Senator John McCain and say about this ancestor that I honor his courage, but he was dead flat wrong.

The CRT problem is a needle. Can it be threaded? Maybe.

The decided minority of folks who wrongly believe CRT presents a danger to society are nevertheless sufficiently numerous that the situation requires addressing. But how might we best address it?

Perhaps, while writing language that assures no child personalizes the lessons of history, we also write language guaranteeing that those lessons are accurate, and that no teacher of history would be put in any jeopardy for teaching the facts.

Will this work? I don’t know. But I think we should try to find the right balance.

John Doyle is a delegate for the West Virginia District 67. He can be reached at johndoyle@wvhouse.gov.