An Alabama official in charge of early childhood education has been forced to resign after the governor expressed outrage over a pre-K training manual supposedly containing “woke concepts.” Barbara Cooper—director of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education—resigned this week after she reportedly used training material for teachers from a national accrediting board that mentioned structural racism in the United States and called on educators to support members of the LGBTQ+ community, AL.com reports. A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Kay Ivey told AL.com the training book told teachers there are “larger systemic forces that perpetuate systems of White privilege,” and that the governor found it concerning the book said “LGBTQIA+ need to hear and see messages that promote equality, dignity and worth.” The spokesperson also told the outlet Ivey “strongly believes that woke concepts have no place at any level of education in the state of Alabama.” The news comes as Alabama’s legislature reckons with a pending bill to ban “divisive concepts”—such as discussions of racism and gender discrimination—from K-12 curriculum.
