Over the past few months, a set of proposed reading materials for students in Cody has led to more than 40 complaints from parents, the resignation of a school board trustee—and that board’s decision to form a group to address all the complaints before any resources are adopted.
But, on Monday, the group of teachers that recommended the contentious reading materials decided to pull back their recommendation until policies change.
Cody High School teacher Rick Stonehouse chairs the group—and says the process hasn’t been working well so far.
“It’s just a mess,” says Stonehouse. “And this is just the beginning of curriculum adoption. We still have social studies. We have all the science stuff coming down the pike. But we need to have a streamlined way of getting them approved—or getting them kicked out—one way or another. But let’s not involve this huge political diatribe from so many different constituents.”
Some Cody parents and school board members complained that the reading resources showed a “liberal bias.” These opponents alleged the materials included misleading information about climate change and an overemphasis on the accomplishment of non-white Americans.
The Park County 6 School Board was scheduled to vote to approve or reject the new materials last month. But, it chose instead to form a “challenge committee” to work through the complaints—as local school board policy required.
Monday’s decision means the challenge committee will no longer need to be formed.
“We’re certainly not giving up on our curriculum—or this particular resource even,” says Stonehouse. “We’re just going to kind of pause it—or call it a retreat if you want—and take all of this political blither of the last month or so and set it aside and say ‘what do we really need to do that’s right to provide resources for the kids of our schools?’”
Park County Six School Board Chair Jake Fulkerson says his group will work to come up with a new curriculum adoption process in the months ahead.
The reading materials in question are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. They include a K-5 reading curriculum from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt called “Journeys.”