A conservative California college board staunchly against educating homosexual rights in its social research curriculum lastly reversed course after holding a heated nine-hour debate and publicly feuding with Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
On Friday, Temecula Valley Unified School District voted to undertake “California’s Cultural Contributions” textbooks, reversing a May vote rejecting the curriculum. A listening to was held in June throughout which many mother and father disagreed with the board’s 3-2 determination, adopted by a nine-hour assembly earlier this month.
Governor Newsom had threatened to not solely ship the textbooks to Temecula however wonderful the district $1.5million if it didn’t implement curriculum which had been accepted by the State Board of Education for Grades 1-5.
“We’re going to purchase the book for these students – the same one that hundreds of thousands of kids are already using,” the governor tweeted on 13 July. “If these extremist school board members won’t do their job, we will – and fine them for their incompetence.”
“Fortunately, now students will receive the basic materials needed to learn,” he mentioned in a press release following the Temecula district’s determination.
“But this vote lays bare the true motives of those who opposed this curriculum. This has never been about parents’ rights. It’s not even about Harvey Milk – who appears nowhere in the textbook students receive. This is about extremists’ desire to control information and censor the materials used to teach our children.”
Much of the district’s controversy had centred on Mr Milk, the primary recognized out homosexual man to carry public workplace in California who was assassinated at San Francisco City Hall in 1978.
Allison Barclay, a board member of the Temecula Valley Unified School District, instructed CNN that there was “no mention of Harvey Milk in the textbook that I know of”.
“He is listed in a supplemental section titled ‘Biographies’ where there are several hundred short, age-appropriate biographies of historical figures,” she mentioned.
Within the curriculum classes, she mentioned, “there are several sections, such as artists, architects, writers, educators, discussing Californians who made substantial contributions in these areas. Under the heading ‘Protests,’ one paragraph discusses gay rights in California and under the heading ‘Court Cases,’ there are two paragraphs that discuss the court cases that allowed gay marriage in California.”
Gov Newsom –a vocal opponent of ebook bans and different Republican efforts throughout the nation, not simply California – continued in his Friday assertion: “Demagogues who whitewash history, censor books, and perpetuate prejudice never succeed. Hate doesn’t belong in our classrooms and because of the board majority’s antics, Temecula has a civil rights investigation to answer for.”