Mars Area School District's school board has proposed an addition to its mission statement that would promote “informed, engaged and patriotic” education as a core value.

The addition would list a number of ways in which the district would demonstrate the value, including “prohibiting the teaching of concepts that assign fault, blame, or guilt to people solely because of race, sex and religion,” displaying the flag and saying the Pledge of Allegiance, playing the national anthem at sports games and ensuring the “impartial study and discussion of political/controversial issues that relate to course content.”

The policy expressly states that “social theories such as Holocaust denial, The 1619 Project, the 9/11 theory, Critical Race Theory, etc.” will not be presented to students unless approved by the school board in a public meeting.

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