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While corporations, universities, and even some school districts across the country have dialed back or rebranded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs amid growing parental pushback and legal scrutiny, Connecticut’s PTA and its national parent organization show no such hesitation.
Earlier this year, Connecticut PTA emailed members promoting a “Blueprint for Belonging” train-the-trainer Zoom workshop focused on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ). The May 19 session featured Michelle McQueen, a celebrated DEI leader affiliated with Yale Ventures and Yale’s amplifyHERscience initiative. The pitch was clear: equip local PTA leaders with an actionable blueprint to spread the DEIJ framework further into Connecticut schools.
Connecticut PTA is not inventing this approach. It is following the National PTA playbook that has been firmly in place since 2020.
National PTA’s official materials—still prominently featured on its website—make DEI central to the organization’s mission.
Its “Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” defines equity as going beyond equal treatment to “recognize and address bias and privilege” and ensure different groups receive different resources based on need.
The accompanying Local Leader Guidance for DEI walks PTAs through a rubric that treats “color-blind” or “identity-blind” approaches as the most basic (and implicitly least desirable) stage. Higher stages require explicit focus on race, power dynamics, and “historically marginalized” groups.
National PTA also provides toolkits, multicultural reference guides, a DEI resource guide (which covers illegal aliens), action-plan templates, a DEI profile template, podcasts on microaggressions and allyship, and guidance on “responding to pushback” against DEI efforts.
It maintains position statements supporting inclusive curricula that highlight the experiences of African American, Latino, Native American, Asian, LGBTQ+, and other “historically targeted” groups, as well as statements on systemic racism and LGBTQ protections. Awards such as the Jan Harp Domene Diversity and Inclusion Awards continue to recognize PTAs that advance these priorities. A standing Diversity, Inclusion & Outreach Committee operates at the national level.
National PTA materials stop short of mandating a dedicated “DEI chair” or board officer in every local unit, preferring language about integrating DEI into all PTA work rather than siloing it. In practice, many local and state affiliates have gone further. The Greenwich PTA Council’s 2020–2021 annual report, for example, announced the creation of a special Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee under its VP-at-Large position for the 2021–2022 year—right in the post-George Floyd wave of institutional DEI expansion.
That pattern continues across Connecticut. The state’s PTA appears to be still actively recruiting and training leaders in DEIJ frameworks years after the initial surge, even as national political and cultural winds have shifted. The “Blueprint for Belonging” workshop from May is just another recent example of the organization still "doing the work" of DEI.
Before parents fork over money to join the PTA this fall, think about what your dues money will actually be supporting. Sure, the PTA often does good work on school events and basic academic support, but the continued emphasis on DEI is nothing short of divisive.
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