May 13 meetings

The school board is meeting tonight to amend the FY2009 budget calendar and budget amendment process. It's a special meeting of the full board, and no testimony will be taken. We'll let you know the revised schedule for the budget process here, if you don't feel like listening in tonight.

Also, if you're interested in some of the details, here is the presentation (pdf) that Stephanie and KMcMahon referred to in their report on the May 6 Strategic Planning and Budget Committee meeting.

The other meeting tonight that may be of interest to educators is the School Board's Innovation and Reform Committee, starting at 6:30 p.m. This is the committee that acts on charter school contracts, among other so-called reforms.

On tonight's agenda is contract renewal for the Hmong American Peace Academy Charter School - a non-instrumentality charter. The resolution is for a five-year contract renewal. You can read more in the meeting's Blue Book (pdf).

Also on the agenda is textbook adoption, which may be of interest to many educators. The criteria and process for textbook adoption looks great and very thorough, with lots of input from teachers and parents, and teams appear to take their work very seriously. The Administration is recommending that the Board take action on textbook adoption in the following areas:

• Bilingual ed: Spanish language arts, K-8
• Foreign language: Spanish, 9-12
• Trade and tech ed: auto body, 9-12
• Business ed: keyboarding, 9; principles in business, 9-12
• Math: algebra and geometry, 9-12
• Science: chemistry and physics, 9-12

Social studies was also supposed to be recommended for adoption at this meeting, but the Administration is allowing more time for schools and community to provide input. Why, you ask? Despite how good the textbook adoption process looks when you read it over in the Blue Book (pdf), perhaps it doesn't play out the way it should. Several social studies teachers in the district caught a glimpse of the social studies textbooks that were being recommended to the Board, and deemed them inappropriate and culturally insensitive. They made some noise (in a good way!) and convinced the Administration to put a hold on the social studies textbook adoptions.

Social studies teachers who were involved in the exchange might be able to offer more information about what they saw that was unacceptable, and how they went about expressing their concerns to the Administration. Also, what's next for social studies? Will a better recommendation come to the Board in June? Or are the teachers who expressed concern stuck?