Washington, D.C. – On Friday, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Congressman Scott Franklin (R-FL) followed up with Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requesting an update on the findings of the Pentagon’s 30-day review of Department of Defense Education Activity’s (DoDEA) Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI) Officer Kelisa Wing’s history of racially divisive statements.
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.
“Our servicemember families deserve transparency for what is going on in their children’s schools,” Stefanik said. “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, so we can have transparency and prioritize our military’s focus on strength rather than wokeness. The Department of Defense must realign their priorities away from woke ideologies and back to strengthening our national defense. I am committed to continuing to work to restore Americans’ trust in our military by providing our servicemembers with the resources needed to win our nation’s wars and support their families.”
“Apparently the Biden Administration did not understand the first time, so we will make it clear: They must explain why racist and pornographic materials are being taught to military children in government-funded schools. It is clear that the DoD Education Activity is aggressively pursuing its woke agenda with no accountability from the Pentagon. Both Kelisa Wing and the toxic materials she has allowed to infiltrate our schools must be removed,” Franklin said.
In addition to reiterating their previous questions, including whether the ideologies expressed by Wing are included in the DoDEA curriculum and whether the DoD endorses these ideologies, the lawmakers made a push for transparency by requesting answers to whether the Department has completed its review and will transmit its findings to Congress and make them available to the public. Today’s letter also requests information regarding recent reports of sexually explicit books in DoDEA schools, who within DoDEA determined these books’ appropriateness for children, whether the Department will provide Congress with documentation regarding such a determination, and whether the books in question will be removed from DoDEA libraries.
In June, Stefanik introduced a Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights amendment, which received bipartisan support in Committee, and was included in this year’s House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Read the full letter here.