At its July 13 meeting the Putnam County Commission unanimously approved a resolution to deny public funding to the teaching of Critical Race Theory.

Critical Race Theory teaching is not currently part of any curriculum funded by the Commission but it is possible that it could become a future focus of the Putnam County 4-H program. The Putnam County 4-H program is administered by West Virginia University. WVU recently established the School of Social Work and Anti-Racism which has a priority of sharing curriculum resources to promote the teaching of anti-racism, white privilege, white supremacy, equality and justice reform — the very elements of Critical Race Theory.

The purpose of the resolution was to put WVU on notice that future funding of the WVU Extension Service would be at risk if CTR were to be taught.

News of the Commission’s resolution prompted WVU President Gordon Gee to meet with Commissioners Ron Foster and Andy Skidmore on Wednesday, July 14. According to media reports, Gee told Foster and Skidmore that the university does not teach any doctrine or adopt any doctrine. Gee said that Critical Race Theory is not taught in WVU extension programs.