Open Letter To Irvine Public School Foundation on Annual Giving Day Oct 19 2023

October 19, 2023

Dear Irvine Public School Foundation:

On this “Turn Irvine Orange Annual Day of Giving” I regret to inform you that after having given thousands towards the cause (supporting Irvine Public School Foundation IPSF) since 2018 with our largest donation given last year, our family foundation is no longer able to renew our support for your mission. While we believe in the value of public education and appreciate that our contributions over the years have gone towards expanding access through small group learning, fostering innovation and empowering students within Irvine Unified, our foundation has grown ever more concerned that our contributions are going towards supporting IUSD’s explicit focus on Social Justice as part of an overarching Environmental Social Governance (ESG) agenda which is something our foundation rejects. The explicit focus on Social Justice within IUSD codified in the spring of 2020, propagated by the Assistant Superintendent of Education Services, and approved by the IUSD Board of Education on an annual basis since July 2021, is NOT developing learners prepared to meet the challenges of a complex future. It is NOT serving its intended purpose of bringing the community together. It is NOT apolitical. Instead, the explicit focus on Social Justice has effectively produced a student population well versed in activism but unable to think critically. It has created tension amongst families and studentswhere such tension did not previously exist. Furthermore, the explicit focus is attached to (and motivated by) Learning For Justice- an arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center- that openly states it “serves to be a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people.”

Our family foundation embraces IUSD’s core mission, vision and values as articulated on their website. Those stated values align beautifully with what our foundation recognizes as truly providing the best possible educational experience envisioned. Social Justice free of politics can be attained when IUSD’s core values as stated on the website are upheld and adhered to. It is also attained when our Irvine Unified Administration and Board consistently accept full responsibility for their decisions- especially when such decisions do not produce the desired results or outcomes sought.

 The IUSD Board and Administration (copied on this correspondence) are aware of our concerns as I have expressed them at in person meetings, through written correspondence to administration and through multiple public comments shared during board meetings. I have supplied data and evidence in support of our concerns- a summary of which I have included in this correspondence (see figures 1 & 2 below). Our sentiments are shared by other members of the community- IUSD staff included. IUSD is the last entity we ever expected to compromise its core values in favor of a political movement propagating communist tenets and corrupting the minds, hearts, and souls of our innocent youth. We expected IUSD to know better than to be influenced by political minutiae. We expected IUSD to rise above it remaining undistracted and undeterred in its mission.

In closing, I’d like to paraphrase a recent quote from Marc Rowan (billionaire, mega donor, chair of Board of Overseers of the Wharton School of Business University of Pensylvannia) that captures the essence of what has been articulated above:

“Close your wallets. The responsibility rests with those who have sat by quietly as the pursuit of truth- the ostensible mission of our institutions- was traded for a poorly organized pursuit of social justice and political correctness. Sitting on the sidelines has undermined trust in academia and hindered the production and acquisition of knowledge. While the moral and human cost for what we have done to a generation of students cannot be calculated, the picture is ugly. The financial cost of these policies is large and increasing. Much of this loss is kept silent as acknowledging it endangers the status quo and would encourage questions in the direction of the university from trustees, alumni and students.”

We thank you for the opportunity to share our rationale for why we can no longer support Irvine Unified Public School Foundation. We thank you for your understanding.

Respectfully,

Tiffany Craft

Figure 1- email sent to IUSD Board of Education ahead of July 11 2023 Board Meeting renewing IUSD’s explicit Focus on Social Justice

Figure 2- Acknowledgment of receipt of my email by IUSD Board President.

Continuous Improvement Efforts referenced in the email can be round here.