On Jan. 30, PAUSD Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Dr. Guillermo Lopez moderated the second ethnic studies community meeting alongside Gunn and Paly teachers on the district\u2019s Ethnic Studies Committee.<\/p>\n
Although the virtual meeting was advertised as a \u201ccommunity input session,\u201d per Superintendent Dr. Don Austin\u2019s Jan. 26 Superintendent\u2019s Update, many questions in the Zoom chat \u2014 where participants were directed to ask their questions \u2014 remained unanswered.<\/p>\n
Instead, toward the end of the meeting, which ended 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, community members could fill out a form with any remaining questions. When a similar form was sent out last December, however, parent of PAUSD alumni Lori Meyers emphasized the difficulty of giving specific feedback, as the substance of the course\u2019s units and lesson plans wasn\u2019t included.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community in general, and myself included, found it really difficult to understand exactly what we were giving feedback on, because it was something like, \u2018What is your feedback on the section titled \u201cIdentity?\u201d\u2019\u201d Meyers said. \u201cWe were like, \u2018We don\u2019t have any information\u2019 \u2014 (the form) didn\u2019t give us any real content to delve into.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a follow-up conversation with Â鶹·ÅÓ³Ãâ·Ñ<\/em>, Lopez said that responses to questions asked on the form would be posted to the district\u2019s ethnic studies webpage<\/a> in the near future, but wasn\u2019t able to provide a firm date.<\/p>\n The Jan. 30 meeting was one of many instances in which community members raised questions about PAUSD\u2019s new ethnic studies class. Passed in October 2021, California\u2019s A.B. 101 mandates an ethnic studies-course graduation requirement for all public and charter high schools. The requirement aims to acknowledge the state\u2019s diverse population in its curriculum, and follows research co-authored by Stanford Graduate School of Education professor Thomas Dee<\/a> in 2021 demonstrating ethnic studies\u2019 positive impact on attendance and graduation rates for ninth-grade students.<\/p>\n In PAUSD, freshmen will first take a semesterlong ethnic studies course \u2014 which aims to \u201cexamine California as a microcosm of the United States and focus on themes of social justice, social responsibility, and social change by increasing student agency\u201d \u2014 before covering world history in the second semesters of ninth and 10th grade.<\/p>\n While ethnic studies has long been a contentious matter, tensions have risen since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, with educators, parents and students attempting to reconcile their ideas for the content and structure and content of the course.<\/p>\n On Nov. 6, 1968, the Black Student Union and Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of ethnic student organizations, went on strike at San Francisco State University<\/a> (then San Francisco State College) to advocate for more diversity in the admissions process and for the creation of a school of ethnic studies. After more than four months of striking, San Francisco State established the nation\u2019s first College of Ethnic Studies, which began operating in fall 1969.<\/p>\n Though it remains one of the only institutions of its kind in the U.S., ethnic studies courses have since become more common at other colleges and universities.<\/p>\n Five years prior to A.B. 101, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed A.B. 2016<\/a> into law on Sept. 13, 2016, mandating the Instructional Quality Commission to develop an ethnic studies model curriculum for high schools. When the commission completed their first draft, however, it faced backlash for being ideologically left-leaning and excluding certain topics, such as antisemitism. On Aug. 12, 2019, California Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond announced that the Instructional Quality Commission would be submitting a new draft to the Board for approval.<\/p>\n \u201cEthnic studies can be an important tool to improve school climate and increase our understanding of one another,\u201d she wrote in a press release. \u201cA model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom\u2019s vision of a California for all. The current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.\u201d<\/p>\n After three additional drafts, on March 18, 2021, the California Board of Education adopted a 688-page model curriculum<\/a>. Although the course\u2019s primary focus remained on African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Native Americans \u2014 the groups most college ethnic studies courses center around \u2014 the model curriculum expanded to include lessons on other ethnic groups in the U.S. Furthermore, the final draft included guidance to teachers on establishing trust when discussing complex topics and presenting balanced coverage of issues.<\/p>\n Some on the commission, however, were dissatisfied with the final model curriculum. A September 2023 letter<\/a> from the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council expressed concerns over the weaponization of \u201cguardrails,\u201d which preclude ethnic studies from promoting any discrimination, bias or bigotry.<\/p>\n The first draft of the state model curriculum included lesson outlines on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and studies of figures such as U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, whom some have criticized for anti-Israel comments. The final version does not include these lessons, instead focusing on the history and contributions of Arab American communities, as well as common stereotypes that Arab Americans encounter.<\/p>\nPath to a state mandate<\/h3>\n
Current concerns<\/h3>\n