Minnesota 4th-graders forced to complete 'equity survey,' told to hide questions from their parents, student says

A Minnesota fourth-grader and her mother are speaking out after a local school allegedly forced students to complete an "equity survey" and instructed them not to repeat the questions to their parents.

What are the details?

According to Alpha News Minnesota, fourth-grade student Haylee Yasgar said recently that she and fellow classmates were required by the Sartell-St. Stephen School District to complete the survey, which asked about students' race and gender identity.

Even when she and other students encountered questions they could not understand, their teacher told them they had to answer without consulting with their parents, the student alleged.

During a school board meeting last week, Haylee informed the public that the process made her feel "very uncomfortable."

Student says she was told not to discuss CRT survey with parentswww.youtube.com

"My teacher said that I could not skip any questions even when I didn't understand them. One question asked us what gender we identify with. I was very confused along with a lot of other classmates," Haylee said.

She added that students were told they were "not allowed" to ask their parents about questions and could not "repeat any of the questions to our parents."

"Being asked to hide this from my mom made me very uncomfortable, like I was doing something wrong," she said.

What else?

The survey was part of an initiative put on by the school district in partnership with Equity Alliance Minnesota, a left-wing group hired earlier this year for $80,000 to audit "racial inequities," Alpha News reported.

The initiative has reportedly sparked significant backlash within the community as some parents argued the district is putting politics over educating children by bringing critical race theory and other leftist ideologies into classrooms.

During an appearance on Fox News Monday morning, Haylee's mother, Kelsey Yasgar, said while parents were "informed that the equity audit was taking place, they were not informed on the date of the activity and not given other details."

She said she became "very upset" after learning that students were instructed not to talk to their parents about the survey. She added she doesn't believe it was an isolated incident.

"We had been informed that this came down from the administration and Equity Alliance of Minnesota instructed them to make sure the children did not share this information with their parents and that should pose a great concern in any parents' eyes," Yasgar said.

Neither the district superintendent nor the Equity Alliance of Minnesota responded to Fox News' request for comment. TheBlaze reached out to both parties for comment as well and will update this article when a response is received.