Miami-Dade Schools adopt social studies books, community has 30 days to challenge process
Miami Herald | By Sommer Brugal | October 11, 2023
The Miami-Dade County School Board Wednesday approved new social studies textbooks and instructional materials for grades K-12 without any discussion, even though an outcry arose earlier this year about the state approving books that deleted references to racism.
But before the district can implement the 20 titles for courses ranging from to Grade K social studies to AP Macro Economics, the public can object to the procedures surrounding the adoption process, not the materials themselves. The challenge period begins Wednesday and lasts for 30 days.
The adoption of new textbooks is part of the state’s effort to move away from the Common Core standards and adopt new standards, the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking, or B.E.S.T., approved in 2020 by the Florida Department of Education. The social studies textbooks are the final curriculum to be overhauled.
TEACHER, OTHERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST BOOKS
The new standards, however, have come under fire in recent months — concerns that were again raised by a handful of people Wednesday. One speaker, Crystal Etienne, a Homestead seventh-grade civics teacher, argued the standards were written by majority “right-leaning groups.”
Teachers are “constantly attacked and accused without defense for indoctrinating students. But when you look at these standards and these books, tell me who is doing the indoctrination,” she told board members.
Another speaker, Holly Zwerling, president of the Fatherhood Task Force of South Florida, called out the fourth-grade book for what she said was the exclusion of the definition of slavery. She also argued that while board members have said teachers can use supplemental materials, teachers are afraid to do so in the current political environment.
In July, the Florida Board of Education, which approved the new standards, was criticized sharply for including teachings about how enslaved people benefited from their enslavement. The standards also attempted to diminish the role America played within the global history of slavery, which many argued was an attempt to whitewash history.
Various textbook review committees composed of about 1,100 district parents, teachers and education professionals recommended the books to the board, according to staff. The committees reviewed a list of textbooks from the state’s approved list, which was announced in May by the state education department, before recommending the select titles to the board.
STATE HAD PUBLISHERS REMOVE GEORGE FLOYD REFERENCE
The initial list of state-approved titles was heavily criticized for including books that were approved only after the department worked with publishers who “updated their materials to comply” with state standards.
One of those changes was the removal of a section titled “New Calls for Social Justice,” which included topics such as the Black Lives Matter movement and references to the murder of George Floyd in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer.
