Tonight’s shaping to be one of those wild and crazy Tucson Unified School District governing board meetings.
First, it’s a five-page agenda that you can view here, so that means we’ll gladly take bets at Weekly World Central on what time the meeting will end. They’ve been known to go late, no matter how many times board member Michael Hicks looks at his clock or press the Easy button.
Here are some agenda highlights. Executive session starts at 5 p.m. and the meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting takes place at 1010 E. 10th St.
On the agenda for executive session are culturally relevant court curriculum personnel issues, and property discussions on the closed Menlo Park and Wrightstown elementary schools. However, CRC books, specifically for Mexican-American studies, are back on the agenda:
s) Approval of Middle School Supplemental Materials — 500 Years of Chicano History
t) Approval of HS Supplemental Materials — Occupied America: A History of Chicanos
u) Approval of HS Supplemental Materials — Message to Aztlán
v) Approval of HS Supplemental Materials — Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement
w) Approval of HS Supplemental Materials — Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years
x) Approval of HS Supplemental Materials — Critical Race Theory
y) Approval of HS Supplemental Materials — Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The other big discussion is on the district’s magnet plan that’s required and part of the federal desegregation plan, and a study item on University High School admission, also part of the desegregation plan.
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2013.
So the new CRC classes use the same books as the banned MAS studies. These books are controversial to say the least. I’ve read a couple and they represent very radical viewpoints. They were used specifically in the court case in which the judge concluded the class was for a specific ethnic group and advocated the overthrow of the US govt.
The question to me is are these the only books used in the class, or are various points of view presented? High school students are capable of forming opinions on opposing views and are capable of defending or debating those views after reading. I have taught 6th – 8th graders to do exactly that. Radical viewpoints should be explored and/or exposed as the case may be. This is what education is all about.