Unfair Park from p10 few months on revisions to standards called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills that would change how social studies is taught in the state. The changes were meant to be more inclusive. They included more lessons about the experiences and contributions of diverse ethnic and racial groups, as well as efforts to end discrimina- tion against LGBTQ communities in the U.S. in recent years. They hoped the State Board of Educa- tion would approve their proposal, but in- stead, it chose to delay action on the changes. The board voted to approve only changes that made the curriculum compli- ant with state law regarding “critical race theory.” The changes would have seen kindergar- ten through second-grade students learning about Texas, U.S. and world history. Stu- dents in third through fifth grades would study world history. They would then focus on American and Texas history from sixth through eighth grade. At last week’s meeting, which included several outbursts from attendees, members of some of the work groups tasked with drafting the changes urged the board to ap- prove their proposal. One of them was Mohit Praful Mehta, the assistant director of the Center for Asian American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, who has seven years of experience as a teacher in state public schools. Mehta said, “As teachers and scholars of education, we know that the social studies curriculum has not always included our his- tories.” He said some at the meeting would try to label their efforts to be more inclusive as “an example of critical race theory.” “This is falsely misleading,” Mehta said. “There’s not one single mention of critical race the- ory.” He also said none of the proposed changes violate the state laws. “There are dizzying culture wars hap- pening in our state, and Texas librarians, teachers and students are at the center,” Mehta said. “Books are being pulled from shelves and educators across the state are getting toxic phone calls and hate mes- sages. This environment is resulting in widespread fear about teaching accurate and factually based historical accounts of Texas and U.S. history. “Texas history is much more than the Al- BEST HAIR SALON DALLAS OBSERVER 17-TIME WINNER BEST COLOR SALON ALLURE MAGAZINE VOTE FOR US Avalon - Best Salon | Spa Michelle Bowden – Best Stylist 1212 214-750-5667 • www.avalon-salon.com West Village BEST BRAZILIAN WAX LUCKY MAGAZINE EXPERIENCE D MAGAZINE BEST IN THE USA HARPER’S BAZAAR BEST Unsplash amo. It’s a history of all of us in this room to- day.” Marisa B. Perez-Diaz, a member of the board, said board members’ inboxes, hers included, were flooded with thousands of emails about the changes. Many of them, she said, were littered with inaccuracies about the proposed revisions and the pro- cess that yielded them. Perez-Diaz said some have criticized the process, claiming it was rushed. But members of the work groups who spoke at the meeting said they never felt rushed throughout the process. Some of the opponents included House Republican lawmakers, who told the board in a letter that they would intervene with legislation if changes weren’t made to the proposal, according to The Texas Tribune. But parents like Southlake’s Jolyn Po- tenza also spoke out against the revisions during Tuesday’s meeting. Potenza said she and others signed a pe- tition opposing the changes. Their petition said, “the revisions are unnecessary, age in- appropriate, and neglects the true teaching of our Texas heritage, U.S. and world his- tory, government and geography. The [Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills] re- visions are slanted with a globalist view and not American exceptionalism.” Po- tenza called the revisions a radical over- haul and claimed they were trying to rewrite history. Mary Castle, a senior policy advisor with Texas Values, a conservative Christian orga- Republicans are interfering with educators planning how social studies will be taught. nization, said the revisions aren’t sufficient and the group has specific concerns about lessons that would be included in the K-8 and high school curriculum. For example, the group suggested removing the study of the pride movement in eighth grade. She also said there are inappropriate lessons included in the high school curriculum, such as teach- ing about the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the gender in- equality index and other historical figures that are “still struck from the standards.” At the end of the day, the board would take a preliminary vote on the revisions. Members voted 7–2 to include only changes that made the state compliant with Texas law on “critical race theory.” At a press conference in the Texas Edu- cation Agency lobby on Wednesday, board member Aicha Davis, who represents parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said the delay was politically motivated. On Friday, the board voted to delay the social studies curriculum update until 2025.. Proponents of the revisions worry that more conservatives could be elected to the board in that time and make their efforts more challenging. The general election for the board will take place in November. At the press conference last week, board member Perez-Diaz said she was at a loss for words. “There’s frustration for a lot of different reasons,” she said. She didn’t sound confident about the final vote on Fri- day, saying so many hours of work by so many people have been made moot. “Where I stand, I still want to see us move forward with approval of these stan- dards at the end of this year, but I also stand in front of you recognizing I don’t have the votes to get that done,” she said. “So, our best effort is, unfortunately, to push this re- view process to 2025 where we can have more individuals across the state weigh in.” ▼ POLITICS ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE HOEDOWN L THE EVENT IN THE WOODLANDS WILL FEATURE TED CRUZ AND MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, AMONG OTHERS. BY PATRICK STRICKLAND ast month, conservatives from around the country flocked to Texas to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) second annual gather- ing in Dallas. There, they heard former President Don- ald Trump describe himself as “the most persecuted person” in the country’s history, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz recycle old jokes and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick apparently assert that God wrote the U.S. Constitution. If you were hoping CPAC Dallas would be Texas’ last conservative hoedown before midterms later this year, you’re out of luck. On top of an upcoming QAnon-linked gath- ering in Dallas, a pair of conservative youth summits are coming to Texas. First up is the Texas Youth Summit, a conservative meeting scheduled for Sept. 16–17 in The Woodlands, near Houston. Organizing the summit is Christian Col- lins, who fell short earlier this year in the GOP primary for U.S. House Texas District 8. On Twitter, Collins recently declared him- self a “Christian nationalist.” (He wrote, “We should all be Christian nationalists who fight for our values to save America from be- coming a godless, socialist abyss where we lose our religious liberty and all freedoms.”) Among the speakers at Collins’ youth summit are several prominent Republicans from around the country, including some from the party’s far-right flank. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for promoting QAnon conspiracy theories, MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com dallasobserver.com
