EXCLUSIVE — A Mississippi school district has been using teacher trainings to incorporate ideas of critical race theory and asked parents if they were comfortable discussing gender identity and sexual orientation with school staff, according to documents obtained by a parental rights organization.

Activist group Parents Defending Education claimed the documents, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, show Oxford School District in Mississippi incorporated concepts prevalent in critical race theory, such as "addressing racial injustice," and surveyed the parents of students about their comfort level with discussing gender identity and sexual orientation with school staff.

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The survey, which was taken in December 2020, asked parents about their experience with diversity, equity, and inclusion at schools and asked if parents "feel like [they] can talk to adults from [the] school about" their religion, sexuality, gender identity, and race.

The documents revealed that the district held a presentation on "student services," which began by highlighting the percentage of students who report mental health issues, and said teachers should embrace "restorative practices" when maintaining order in the classroom. The presentation also said the district intended to work with Second Step, a social emotional learning organization, which said it is "committed to addressing racial injustice" in one of its resource materials and has offered guidelines on "talking to kids about racial identity.”

Social emotional learning has been criticized by conservative groups and parental rights activists for introducing students to concepts that lead to ideas from critical race theory.

"We must expand the conversation from the individual," one slide of the presentation said, "that is, moving away from asking what one person can be doing differently to improve their own mental health — and begin to address the issue as a collective concern: What can organizations, groups and schools specifically do to better support the mental health of their young people?"

Scarlen Valerez, a public school advocate associate for Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner that the school district's decision to embrace "restorative justice" ignored the importance of parental involvement.

"It's appalling to see schools in states like Mississippi adopt transformative social emotional learning that aims to divide students into ideological groups," Valerez said. "What is also concerning is the adoption of restorative justice that is clearly not improving student behavior in schools across our country. This goes to show the importance of parental involvement no matter where your home state leans on the political spectrum."

In another email obtained by Parents Defending Education, a school counselor who was employed at Bramlett Elementary School in Oxford, said they were doing "extra professional development and training in the equity area," which included the Anti-Defamation League's "Pyramid of Hate."

The pyramid says that things such as "genocide" and "bias motivated violence" are supported by behaviors such as "seeking out information to confirm one’s existing beliefs" and "cultural appropriation."

"While every biased attitude or act does not lead to genocide, each genocide has been built on the acceptance of attitudes and actions described at the lower levels of the Pyramid," the training says. "When we challenge those biased attitudes and behaviors in ourselves, others and institutions, we can interrupt the escalation of bias and make it more difficult for discrimination and hate to flourish."

Casey Ryan, a staff writer for Parents Defending Education, blasted the pyramid as a "chart of lies" that says "using 'non-inclusive language' can lead to the systematic annihilation of an entire people on the level of the Holocaust."

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"This is part of an ideology intent on turning children into activists that belongs nowhere near any school," Ryan said. "Schools in every state are facing this problem. Unfortunately, Mississippi is no exception."

Oxford School District did not respond to a request for comment.