A former Rochester Public Schools staff member claims she received Teaching Tolerance materials from the Southern Poverty Law Center during a district professional development session in January 2024. The allegation directly contradicts Superintendent Dr. Kent Pekel's recent public statement that the district doesn't use SPLC materials, raising questions about what training resources Rochester schools actually employ and who approves them.
The former staffer, who requested anonymity, says she received the packet during a January 19, 2024 professional development session at RCTC Heintz Center and noted the date in both her personal planner and work calendar at the time. According to the report published by the Center of the American Experiment, one document is titled "Common Beliefs" and bears the Teaching Tolerance logo with the line "A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center." The materials are structured around "common beliefs" educators may hold that are viewed as needing correction, paired with background explanations and discussion questions intended for staff training. A "Common Beliefs Survey" was also included in the packet. The session was reportedly led by two RPS staff members, who have been contacted but haven't yet responded.
The timing matters because Pekel pushed back on a letter from U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad, who asked the Minnesota Department of Education to investigate SPLC's educational arm — Learning for Justice, formerly branded Teaching Tolerance — in Rochester classrooms. Pekel told reporters the district doesn't use "products from that curriculum" and claimed the reference in Finstad's letter was an "obscure, old" footnote in a 2022 school board document that was never voted on or adopted. The report notes that the date of the alleged January 2024 session hasn't been independently verified through a district record or session agenda, and American Experiment is seeking additional corroboration.
The claim gains significance against the backdrop of intensified national scrutiny of the SPLC. The organization was recently federally indicted on wire fraud and money laundering charges related to funds connected to extremist groups. For nearly 10 years between 2014 and 2023, the U.S. Justice Department alleges the SPLC "secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Party of America." Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche characterized it bluntly: "The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence." The report notes that Learning for Justice is already documented in Minnesota's education system, including citations in materials promoted by the Minnesota Department of Education and Education Minnesota, and embedded in several districts' equity or curriculum frameworks such as Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, Lakeville, and South St. Paul.
The report concludes that at minimum, Rochester Public Schools should clarify what materials were used in the January 2024 session, who approved them, and whether similar materials have appeared in other trainings since. Parents have a right to know what's shaping staff development, especially when a superintendent's public denial is now being questioned by firsthand accounts from inside the district.