RAMONA TEXTBOOK REVIEW FEEDBACK MIXED

Teachers’ Association president has concerns about ‘personal’ agendas

Ramona Unified School District trustees heard mixed feedback at their recent meeting about the ongoing process of having a committee review a history/social sciences textbook for perceived political bias.

Trustee Rodger Dohm said he favored continuing the review process that is being used for the “American History: Reconstruction to the Present” textbook for other subjects, while trustee Daryn Drum, a member of the committee, opposed the idea, saying the process is too time consuming.

Cori McDonald, president of the Ramona Teachers’ Association, expressed several concerns at the March 7 meeting about the History/ Social Science Ad Hoc Committee, composed of school board members, teachers, administrators and residents. Among them are the perceptions of how the committee members were selected and the continued delay in getting an updated history textbook into classrooms.

McDonald also said the committee is incorporating personal opinions and political views when making decisions that affect classrooms.

The committee was formed in January after board members expressed concerns that some of the materials submitted by staff were biased and not politically neutral, Superintendent Brian Thurman has said. The committee has had two meetings so far.

Dohm said at the meeting that reviewing curriculum is one of the school board’s main responsibilities, along with working in coordination with the superintendent and helping the district meet its financial obligations.

“I think what we do is important,” Dohm said. “I’m in favor of having an ad hoc committee for every curriculum.”

Drum described the review as a

“successful program.” However, he said the school district doesn’t have the time and resources to repeat the process for other subjects.

“Do we really need to have this ad hoc committee process for calculus?” Drum said. “Count me out. It’s too time-consuming.”

Dohm said he was aware there may be limitations due to logistics and funding, and suggested the board consider a revised process of reviewing textbooks that would take less time. Reviewing textbooks may seem redundant to some teachers who later pilot recommended books, he said, adding that reviewing curriculum is one of the board’s responsibilities that up until now has not been taken seriously.

“The more knowledge we have of what happens in the classroom, the better we can support the district and allocate money,” Dohm said. “Communication and transparency are key. This is one of the best things we can do.”

In her report to the board, McDonald said she had a variety of concerns, chiefly with the committee.

One issue, McDonald said, is how the committee was established and the fact that the board is allowing Bob Stoody, a former trustee who no longer lives in Ramona, to be a part of the committee. Additionally, curriculum concerns never arose when the district piloted math, science or English textbooks, but only came up with U.S. history, she said.

“The perception is that this is being driven by personal and political views of specific board members,” McDonald said. “Ironically, this is also what seemed to be the accusation of teachers in board policy created last year and multiple statements were made about staff keeping their personal opinions out of the classroom.

“To be clear, we do not disagree about keeping personal opinions out of a classroom,” she added. “But we also believe that personal opinions and political views should be kept out of this board room when making decisions about the classrooms.”

McDonald said she was also concerned by delays in approving a textbook to replace “American History,” which was adopted by the school district in 2005. History teachers have not received an updated curriculum in almost 20 years, she said, and the district is not much further along in making a decision about which textbook to adopt one year after an initial set of books were presented to the school board for consideration.

In addition, McDonald raised concerns about a board member who she said has asked to observe specific classrooms. After the meeting, McDonald declined to identify the board member.

“When a board member hand-selects only specific history classrooms, there again seems to be a personal agenda behind that,” she said in her report.

In response to McDonald’s comments, Drum said after the meeting that history and social science are very different subjects than math, science and English.

As one of the committee members, Drum said he was grateful to have the opportunity to learn how the state sets curriculum through the state standards and framework. School board members do not receive any training on how it is done at the state level when they are elected, Drum said, noting that he respects McDonald and the teacher’s association, which are “relied on for so many things in the district.”

Drum said that he agrees with McDonald’s statements that personal opinions and political views should be kept out of the school board room when making decisions about classrooms.

Regarding McDonald’s comments that a school board member has recently been visiting history classrooms, Drum said he has not requested any visits in the past few months. But he said school board members do visit classrooms regularly and it is widely encouraged.

The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the school board on whether to use the “American History” book on a trial basis in classrooms.