A right-wing panic over a high school's 'race based grading system' had its roots in a 'pink slime' news outlet

• An Illinois high school became the subject of right-wing outrage this week.
• An article that inaccurately claimed the school planned to grade students differently based on race.

An Illinois high school became the subject of right-wing outrage after an article written by a conservative website falsely claimed the school system planned to grade students differently based on their races. Despite the article making baseless claims and coming from a questionable source with no listed author, the story gained attention after several influential conservative media figures shared it on social media.

The article claimed officials at the Oak Park and River Forest High School, a school located in the suburbs of Chicago, at a May 26 meeting discussed plans to "adjust their classroom grading scales to account for the skin color or ethnicity of its students." The headline was more brash, claiming the school system had decided "to implement" a "race-based grading system" for the upcoming school year.

But the claims were not true. The May presentation that was the subject of the article was an initial report, and the school system had not decided to change any of its policies. While the presentation called on educators to explore "equitable assessment and grading practices," it did not suggest grading students differently based on their race.

The school's administration in a statement on Tuesday said the article was "misleading" and contained "inaccurate statements."

"OPRFHS does not, nor has it ever had a plan to, grade any students differently based on race," the statement said.

The story was published by an outlet called West Cook News. According to its website, its core belief is in "limited government, in the constructive role of the free market and in the rights of citizens to choose the size and scope of their government and the role it should play in their society."

The website is part of the Local Government Information Service, a larger network of conservative outlets in Illinois that give the appearance of being a local news outlet. As established local news outlets had their long standing worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations such as LGIS News Service and partisan outlets such as West Cook News have begun to take their place.

The story did not have an author but was credited to the LGIS News Service. LGIS was co-founded by Dan Proft, a conservative radio host and former GOP candidate for Illinois governor, according to the Columbia Journalism Review.

Neither West Cook News nor the LGIS News Service returned Insider's request for comment.

LGIS is connected to the conservative think tank the Illinois Policy Institute, according to the CJR report. Many of the stories are written by an algorithm, co-founder Brian Timpone told the outlet, and the stories that are written by humans are authored by freelance writers often outside of Illinois.

LGIS is part of a broader network of similar websites across the country connected to Timpone, a conservative businessman and former journalist, according to Dan Moynihan, the McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

"As local news media has disappeared, 'pink slime' outlets like LGIS have taken their place, relying on low-cost or automated content repeated across sites, and eschewing basic journalistic practices," Moynihan wrote in a Substack post Wednesday.

Proft, one of its co-founders, appeared to stand by the story on Wednesday despite the criticism, writing in a tweet: "A lot of the dismissive ad hominem from the identitarian Left about this story--the usual."

The story was amplified by several high-profile conservative figures online, significantly broadening West Cook News' audience. The conservative Substack author Andrew Sullivan shared the article on Twitter, writing: "but of course." He deleted the tweet Wednesday. It was also shared by Libs of TikTok, the right-wing and anti-gay social-media personality known for sharing inflammatory an sometimes misleading stories about educators in an effort to enrage conservatives.

"At no time were any statements made recommending that OPRF implement a race-based grading approach," the school said in its statement. Officials said any changes to grading policies would be discussed at a public meeting before implementation.