Minnesota fourth-graders are told not to tell their parents about 'equity survey' on race and gender OR skip questions (even if they don't understand them)

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A class of fourth graders in Minnesota were given an equity survey about race and gender, but were allegedly told by a teacher not to tell their parents about the questions that they were asked even if they didn't understand them. 

The survey was conducted at Riverview intermediate school in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District in Minnesota by the Equity Alliance of Minnesota, and comes amid a national debate on how to teach history and current events specifically focusing on matters of race. 

Student Hayley Yasgar addressed a school board on July 19 and told them she felt 'very nervous and uncomfortable' when her teacher instructed her not to talk to her mother about the survey. 

She also says she was not permitted to skip any questions even if she didn't understand them, in a video of the meeting posted by Alpha News.

One question said: 'Do you currently identify yourself as female, male, transgender (transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their assigned sex. For example, they were born male but now identify as female), or something else?' 

A young boy in Hayley's class asked the teacher if his mom could explain the question to him.

The teacher denied the student's request telling him that he could not ask his mother and that the class was not to repeat the questions to their parents. 

Hayley spoke to the school board to let them know 'how uncomfortable and nervous' this made her as she explained that her 'mom always tells [her] she can tell her anything but also tells her she can trust [her] teachers too.'

She said that 'being told to hide this from [her] mom made [her] feel very uncomfortable like [she] was doing something wrong.'

Hayley's mom, Kelsey Yasgar told Fox & Friends: 'We were told that this "equity audit" was going to be taking place but ... they didn't tell us the day it was taking place. We weren't really sure a lot of details behind it. 

'Due to the lack of transparency from the school district and Equity Alliance for Minnesota , the third party, we were not informed of the questions on this survey.' 

She added that she was 'very upset' when she learned that her daughter was told not to share the questions with her parents. 

She said: 'that should pose a great concern in any parent's eyes.' 

She was informed that this instruction came from the Equity Alliance of Minnesota and school administration and was not a singular decision made by the teacher.  

Superintendent Dr. Jeff Ridlehoover could not be reached for a comment. 

DailyMail.com have also reached out to  Equity Alliance of Minnesota.

The survey comes a year after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota which led the city to pay $27 million in a wrongful death suit and sparked a national reckoning with race. 

As the country looks ahead to the new school year, Critical Race Theory has become the new hot topic as schools and parents struggle to determine how to contextualize and explain current events in the classroom. 

CRT is the academic concept that race is a social construct and that racism is not only an individual bias but has been integrated into institutions such as policing, housing, voting, and even education itself to the determent of people of color.  

Former President Donald Trump has slammed critical race theory, referring to it as 'flagrant racism' that is being forced into 'every facet of our society' during a speech in Arizona on Saturday.

Trump took the stage at Arizona Federal Theatre in Phoenix for the 'Protect Our Elections Rally,' where he criticized Democrats for adhering to an 'America last' ideology. 

'We shouldn't be apologizing to the world,' he said. 'We're apologizing for America, just like Obama apologized. Remember, he apologized. They should be apologizing to America for what they've done to it. That's who I think should be apologizing to.

Trump also took a hit at the Biden administration, saying their 'America last' philosophy is making a mockery of our country right here at home.' 

'Earlier this year, Biden signed an executive order pushing toxic, critical race theory into our children's schools and into our military,' Trump continued.  'How about our military? This poisonous left-wing doctrine is flagrant racism, plain and simple, and it has no place in our schools, no place in our military and no place in our country.'  

That particular comment was in reference to President Biden's first day in office when he signed an executive order rescinding Trump's order restricting the federal government and its contractors from teaching critical race theory.

Furthermore, Trump also attacked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, who defended the military's examination of critical race theory in June, which Trump later referred to as 'a Marxist ideology.'

'Can you believe it?' Trump addressed thousands of his supporters. 'He said he wanted to quote, "understand white rage." He wants to understand white rage. 

'What the hell is he talking about that for? Our generals should not be focused on learning left-wing ideology. 

'They should be focused on defeating America's enemies and winning our future wars. Hopefully, we don't have them, but if we do, we have to win them.' 

But America's largest teachers' union has publicly endorsed the teaching of critical race theory in schools, wants to hire staff to 'fight back' against those who oppose CRT, and has called for an October 14 rally to be held in honor of George Floyd's birthday. 

The National Educator's Association recently approved a resolution to promote critical race theory through its existing channels, work to 'fight back' against opponents of the practice.

It also wants to assemble a team to teach it to union members and create a 'national day of action' to start a dialogue about systemic racism on October 14 – George Floyd's birthday.  

The resolution reads that the NEA will 'provide an already-created, in-depth, study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism (human centered points of view) and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society.'

It continues to say that the NEA plans to 'publicly (through existing media) convey its support for the accurate and honest teaching of social studies topics, including truthful and age-appropriate accountings of unpleasant aspects of American history, such as slavery, and the oppression and discrimination of Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other peoples of color, as well as the continued impact this history has on our current society. 

'The Association will further convey that in teaching these topics, it is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society, including critical race theory.'