Nearly one-third of all Defense Department school libraries carry copies of the controversial “racial justice” children’s books that were authored or contributed to by the self-described “woke” diversity chief of the Pentagon’s education wing, according to a new audit from government watchdog OpenTheBooks.com.
Kelisa Wing has worked as a chief of equity, diversity and inclusion at the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) since December 2021, where she is involved in influencing curriculum and hiring at 160 military schools in the Americas and other portions of the world.
She faced scrutiny last fall after OpenTheBooks.com auditors looked through the book catalogs of all DOD school libraries and discovered that 11 schools collectively carried 45 copies of children’s books associated with Wing.
Those numbers, according to the watchdog group’s January audit that was shared first with Fox News Digital, have risen 1,200%. A total of 49 schools carry a combined 606 copies of works that were authored or contributed to by Wing.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital in November, Wing co-wrote “racial justice” children’s books that said White people must confess their privilege and were de facto hurting Black people by being benefactors of unearned advantages. . . .
. . . .Speaking to Fox News Digital about the latest audit, Adam Andrzejewski, the CEO and founder of OpentheBooks.com, said the “Department of Defense has strict rules in regard to conflict of interest policies.”
“The central question here is whether civilian leadership is subject to the same set of rules regarding those conflicts as military men and women, the rank and file members of the service. If they’re not, this raises troubling questions regarding military readiness,” Andrzejewski added.
“The second reason this report is so important is because this is a new position in the Pentagon’s K-through-12 schools, the diversity, equity and inclusion chief, and it touches all aspects of education for 67,000 students, all of our military men and women, our service members. It touches the hiring decisions. It touches professional development and curriculum.”
Andrzejewski said the watchdog’s findings revealed that Wing’s books in the libraries within the Pentagon’s K through 12 schools “promote discredited public policy like defunding the police,” as well as “Marxist frames, critical race theory frames and radical ideologies.” . . . (read more on Fox News)
Stefanik Blasts Biden’s DoD for Allowing Woke Radical Teachings to Increase in DoDEA Schools During Investigation (Press Release, 2 MAR 23)
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik today blasted Biden’s Department of Defense for allowing their woke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chief Kelisa Wing’s radical teachings to proliferate in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools, while failing to provide transparency on their investigation into her racially divisive statements.
Following Stefanik’s advocacy, the Department of Defense (DoD) opened an investigation into Wing in September. Despite this controversy, a January 2023 audit shows the number of Wing’s books has increased over 1200% in DoDEA schools since October 2022. Now, at least 606 copies of her radical writings are in 49 DoDEA schools.
“Far Left Radical Kelisa Wing is under investigation for her racist and divisive statements, but Biden’s Department of Defense is allowing her to continue to infiltrate the classrooms and minds of our servicemembers’ children,” Stefanik said.
“Even though Biden’s Department of Defense has already admitted this is a problem, they have allowed the number of the radical books Wing authored to increase in DoDEA schools during their investigation.
“Our servicemembers deserve transparency for what their children are learning, not more stonewalling from the Biden Administration. The Biden Administration can no longer hide from parents that they are pushing their radical agenda on our servicemembers’ children, and it is past time for the Department of Defense to release the findings of Kelisa Wing’s divisive and radical ideology she is imposing in our DoDEA schools.
“These radical teachings are one of the reasons I introduced my Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights, which I will continue to advance to support military families and hold the Biden Administration accountable to prioritizing the strength our national defense rather than forcing their woke ideologies on our nation’s military.”
When Stefanik heard concerns from parents regarding DoDEA schools teaching radical gender ideologies with DoDEA training materials, Stefanik introduced a Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights, which reinforces that servicemembers with children in DoDEA schools have the right to be involved in their children’s education, while increasing transparency and accountability in DoDEA schools.
In September, Stefanik and Congressman Franklin demanded answers from the Pentagon regarding troubling statements made by Wing. Following their advocacy, the Department of Defense, through the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, announced they were launching a 30-day review of Wing and her racist, woke posts. In November, they followed up with Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requesting an update on the findings of the review, and have not received an answer.
Military Stonewalls Investigation Into Controversial Diversity Official Leading K-12 Schools (Open the Books, 2 MAR 23)
While DOD obfuscates, Kelisa Wing’s racial justice propaganda proliferates, and she doubles down on her ethical and ideological controversies.
Kelisa Wing, the Pentagon K-12 school diversity chief, is doubling down on her commitment to “tear down” and “uproot” the curriculum taught to the children of our military families.
Despite public scrutiny, her controversial children’s books keep proliferating in school libraries and ethical questions about her outside consulting work remain.
All the while, the government has blown past its own deadline to review her employment, Wing has retained her job, and the Pentagon continues stonewalling in the face of questions from Congress.
(Kelisa Wing has not been accused of wrongdoing by the Pentagon and the DOD refuses to answer whether or not her activities were approved.)
HIGHLY COMPENSATED POSITION
The Pentagon has invested a lot of money into Kelisa Wing’s position.
As the first ever, Chief of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chief in the K-12 Pentagon schools (Department of Defense Education Activity), Kelisa Wing is highly compensated. The Pentagon admits to paying Wing as a GS-14 level executive officer on the federal pay scale between $126,233 and $164,102 in 2022 (source: via FOIA).
We estimate that if Wing earned $160,000 this year, then adding 30-percent for the cost of benefits means that the position costs taxpayers $210,000 annually.
For context, the base salary of the Secretary of the Department of Defense, Lloyd Austin, is $221,000.
BACKGROUND
In September 2022, Wing first came under fire for her disparaging Tweets against white people. During the firestorm, Wing responded by deleting her entire Twitter account.
Last Fall, our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com reported on Wing’s activities that Wing may or may not have run afoul of the strict DOD conflicts of interest policies.
For example, during her presentation at a DOD conference, she included a “shameless plug.” Her books – which are stocked in DOD school libraries – include controversial discussions on race with titles like What is White Privilege? and What Does It Mean to Defund Police?
Wing has since then denied that she used her government position and public platforms to promote her many side businesses. But questions remain.
Using FOIA, we kept following the money and uncovered her offer letter and job description. Other documents reveal tens of thousands of dollars paid to her as a private consultant and hundreds of Wing’s books added to DoD school libraries since October. . . . . (read more)
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