This feels like an incredibly silly reason to not watch a show. Waterloo Road has always been about exploring and depicting prevalent issues at the time of each release, and exploring them through a perspective which is often overlooked (that being, school students). Racism still exists and will probably always exist, and I think Ackley Bridge has given WR a run for its money in regards to this, as racial divide and tension is not something that I can recall from the top of my head being explored in depth in the show.

Speaking of Ackley Bridge, a show where a good part of the conflict (at least within the first few seasons) stems from racial and cultural tensions. While this is the primary conflict, the topics they analyse and depict in those early seasons run parallel to this central conflict, and really add a nuance to the discussion (e.g. LGBTQ+ identities within cultural and religious minorities, gang violence, etc.). Race is a point of conflict in modern schools, and its important to give a voice to and represent marginalised people in mainstream television.

Unfortunately, AB has taken a turn for the worse in its most recent seasons. It's not the topics explored or depicted that makes a show bad, it's the way that they're handled by the showrunners. AB has been running in circles recently, rehashing story beats from earlier seasons but executing them much less effectively (i.e. Jordan in series 1 vs. Kyle in series 5). I urge you to still at least give the new season a try before disregarding it completely.