STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO BOOK CENSORSHIP IN THE TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

[Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]

________________________________________

At 8:00 AM, Mountain Standard Time, teachers who taught in the Mexican American Studies Department distributed the statement below at the White House Hispanic Community Action Summit in Tucson, Arizona (updated at 10:33 AM, CST held a press conference where they read aloud the statement below). It is signed by national educational associations such as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the International Reading Association (IRA):

STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO BOOK CENSORSHIP

IN THE TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

January 30, 2012

The undersigned organizations are committed to protecting free speech and intellectual freedom. We write to express our deep concern about the removal of books used in the Mexican-American Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School District. This occurred in response to a determination by Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal that the program “contained content promoting resentment toward a race or class of people” and that “materials repeatedly reference white people as being ‘oppressors….’ in violation of state law.” The books have been boxed up and put in storage; their fate and that of the program remain in limbo.

The First Amendment is grounded on the fundamental rule that government officials, including public school administrators, may not suppress “an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” School officials have a great deal of authority and discretion to determine the curriculum, the subject of courses, and even methods of instruction. They are restrained only by the constitutional obligation to base their decisions on sound educational grounds, and not on ideology or political or other personal beliefs. Thus, school officials are free to debate the merits of any educational program, but that debate does not justify the wholesale removal of books, especially when the avowed purpose is to suppress unwelcome information and viewpoints.

School officials have insisted that the books haven’t been banned because they are still available in school libraries. It is irrelevant that the books are available in the library – or at the local bookstore. School officials have removed materials from the curriculum, effectively banning them from certain classes, solely because of their content and the messages they contain. The effort to “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, [or] religion” is the essence of censorship, whether the impact results in removal of all the books in a classroom, seven books, or only one.

Students deserve an education that provides exposure to a wide range of topics and perspectives, including those that are controversial. Their education has already suffered from this political and ideological donnybrook, which has caused massive disruption in their classes and will wreak more havoc as teachers struggle to fill the educational vacuum that has been created.

Book-banning and thought control are antithetical to American law, tradition and values. In Justice Louis Brandeis's famous words, the First Amendment is founded on the belief:

that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that, without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile; … that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination …. Believing in the power of reason as applied through public discussion, [the Framers] eschewed silence coerced by law …. Recognizing the occasional tyrannies of governing majorities, they amended the Constitution so that free speech and assembly should be guaranteed.

The First Amendment right to read, speak and think freely applies to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, or national origin. We strongly urge Arizona school officials to take this commitment seriously and to return all books to classrooms and remove all restrictions on ideas that can be addressed in class.

American Association of University Professors

Cary Nelson, President

1133 19th St., NW, Suite 200

Washington, D.C. 20036

202-737-5900

crnelson@illinois.edu

American Booksellers For Free Expression

Chris Finan, President

19 Fulton Street, Suite 407

New York, NY 10038

212-587-4025

chris@abffe.org

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona

Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director

P.O. Box 17148

Phoenix, AZ 85011-0148

602-773-6006

ameetze@acluaz.org

Antigone Books

Trudy Mills, Owner

411 N. 4th Ave.

Tucson, AZ 85705

520-792-3715

info@antigonebooks.com

Arizona English Teachers' Association
Jean Boreen, Executive Secretary
Northern Arizona University, English Department
P.O. BOX 6032
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6032
Jean.Boreen@nau.edu


Arizona Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
Craig Lefever, President
P.O. Box 881
Yuma, AZ 85366
Craig.lefever@yc.edu

Association of American Publishers

Judith Platt, Director, Free Expression & Advocacy

455 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20001

202-220-4551

jplatt@publishers.org

Association of American University Presses

Peter Givler, Executive Director

28 West 36th Street, Suite 602

New York, NY 10018

212-989-1010

pgivler@aaupnet.org

Atlanta’s Music & Books

Joan Werner, Owner

38 Main Street
Bisbee, AZ 85603

520-432-9976

Authors Guild

Paul Aiken, Executive Director

31 East 32nd Street, 7th Floor

New York, NY 10016

212-563-5904

PAiken@authorsguild.org

Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking

Dr. Kathryn F. Whitmore, President

N275 Lindquist Center

The University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA 52242

319-335-5434

Kathryn-whitemore@uiowa.edu

Changing Hands Bookstore

Gayle Shanks and Bob Sommer, Owners

6428 S McClintock Drive

Tempe, AZ 85283

480-730-0205

inbox@changinghands.com

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Charles Brownstein, Executive Director

255 West 36th Street, Suite 501

New York, NY 10018

212-679-7151

charles.brownstein@cbldf.org

Freedom to Read Foundation, an affiliate of the American Library Association

Barbara M. Jones, Executive Director

50 East Huron Street

Chicago, IL 60611

312-280-4226

bjones@ala.org

International Reading Association

Richard M. Long, Ed.D., Director, Government Relations

444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 524

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 624-8801

rlong@reading.org

Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association

Laura Ayrey, Executive Director

8020 Springshire Drive

Park City, UT 84098

435-649-6079

laura@mountainsplains.org

National Coalition Against Censorship

Joan Bertin, Executive Director

19 Fulton Street, Suite 407

New York, NY 10038

212-807-6242

bertin@ncac.org

National Council for the Social Studies

Susan Griffin, Executive Director

8555 16th St, Ste 500

Silver Spring, MD  20910

 301.588.1800 x 103

sgriffin@ncss.org

National Council of Teachers of English

Millie Davis, Division Director

Communications and Affiliate Services

1111 West Kenyan Road

Urbana, IL 61801

800-369-6283 ext. 3634

mdavis@ncte.org 

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Kichoon Yang, Executive Director
1906 Association Drive

Reston, VA 20191-1502

703-620-9840

kyang@nctm.org

National Education Association

Michael D. Simpson, Assistant General Counsel

NEA Office of General Counsel

1201 16th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

202-822-7035

msimpson@nea.org

National Youth Rights Association

Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Executive Director

1101 15th Street, NW Suite 200

Washington, DC 20005

202-835-1739

akpalicz@youthrights.org

PEN American Center

Larry Siems, Director, Freedom to Write & International Programs

588 Broadway

New York, NY 10012

212-334-1660 ext. 105

lsiems@pen.org

PEN Center USA

Adam Somers, Executive Director

P.O. Box 6037

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

323-424-4939

adam@penusa.org

People For the American Way

Debbie Liu, General Counsel

1101 15th Street NW, Suite 600

Washington, D.C. 20005

202-467-4999

dliu@pfaw.org

Reach Out and Read

Anne-Marie Fitzgerald

Senior Director of National and State Programs

56 Roland Street, Suite 100D

Boston, MA 02129

618-455-0600

Reading is Fundamental, Inc.

Carol Hampton Rasco, President/CEO

1255 23^rd Street NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20037

202-536-3500

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Lin Oliver, Executive Director

8271 Beverly Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90048

323-782-1010

linoliver@scbwi.org

Spark Teacher Education Institute

Educational Praxis, Inc.

P.O. Box 409

Putney, Vermont 05346

802-258-9212

Student Press Law Center

Frank LoMonte, Executive Director

1101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1100

Arlington, VA 22209-2275 USA

703-807-1904

flomonte@splc.org

TESOL International Association

John Segota, CAE, Associate Executive Director for Public Policy & Professional Relations

1925 Ballenger Ave., Suite 550

Alexandria, VA 22314

703-518-2513

jsegota@tesol.org

(List in formation)

_____________________________________

For further information contact:

Joan Bertin, National Coalition Against Censorship, 212-807-6222, Bertin@ncac.org

or 

Chris Finan, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, 212-587-4025, chris@Abffe.org

Chris Crutcher on Matt de la Pena's book being banned: "This is racism, plain and simple."

Tucson Unified School District has a long history of failing its Mexican American students. This is true elsewhere, too, across the country. The PBS documentary "Taking Back the Schools" (below) is primarily about Mexican Americans in East Los Angeles in the 1960s.

In the 1960s, tired of being tracked into vocational classes and feeling shame for being Mexican American, students in East LA decided to go before the school board asking for changes. They did a survey of fellow students asking them what they wanted to present to the school board. They wanted  bilingual instruction, Mexican American history courses, Mexican American teachers, and an end to corporal punishment. They also wanted access to college prep classes so they could go on to college.

Carmen Lomas Garza, author of In My Family/En Mi Familia, was a young child in the schools then. In the video (at the 5:45 mark) she talks of being made fun of when she took out her lunch of tacos with frijoles, meat, and rice. It was so bad that she didn't want to take that lunch to school anymore.

Her book won the Americas Picture Book Award in 1996, and in 1997 it received the Pure Belpre Honor Award, and was listed as a Notable Book by the International Reading Association.

In 1997, her book also won the Tomas Rivera Children's Book Award, which brings us back to the present and the ban of the Mexican American Studies Department in Tucson Unified School District. Tomas Rivera's books are among those that were taught in the MAS program.

Until it was shut down in January, the Tucson MAS program was doing precisely what students wanted in 1968, and it was doing precisely what college students are been taught in teacher education courses. Use multicultural literature and teach critical thinking!

The outcome? Students did better in school, graduated at higher rates, and went on to college at higher rates than students who were not in the MAS classes. They read Matt de la Pena's Mexican WhiteBoy.


Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena's Mexican WhiteBoy is amongst the books that were taught in the MAS literature courses, but it is more than that...  His book is mentioned on page 29 of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Kowal's decision about the program, in the section titled "Latino Literature." As such, it is evidence that the MAS program violates the law. Here's the text from that section:

Latino Literature
160. Drafts of the Pacing Guides for the MAS junior and senior Latino Literature courses demonstrate that elements of critical race theory and critical pedagogy encompass a significant portion of the course.
161. Proposed required reading for these classes include "Justice: A Question of Race," by Roberto Rodriguez and "Mexican Whiteboy" by Matt de la Pena.
162. Juniors in Latino Literature appear to study "Our History-Indigenous Roots and the Mexican Revolution Novels."
163. Senior Latino Literature students appear to devote an entire quarter of the semester to "Critical Race Theatre," in which they are required to "critically dissect and identify components of critical race theory through literary works."
164. Student assessments from these courses show that the focus on Latino Literature is the oppression of Mexican Americans by the White European race.
165. As an example, one second semester final exam for a Latino Literature course used in the spring of 2011 tests students with the following essay prompt:

All year long we have read stories where the Mexican Americans were discriminated against, taken advantage of, oppressed, etc. We are destined to repeat history if we don't do something to change it. Reflect on what we have read about this year and in an essay, write about what we can do as a group to change things. What will you do as an individual to change things? Select one of the pieces we have read this year that reflects the point that you are trying to make in your essay.

Throughout the document, some things were underscored (as shown above) by the Department of Education. Apparently, those portions are "the smoking gun", so to speak. From my perspective, however, all of that sounds fine, especially for college prep classes. 

Matt de la Pena has been following and writing about all of this at his blog. He will be in Tucson, at Tucson High School, on March 13. He writes:

Ironically, I'm scheduled to speak at Tucson High School on March 13. A young female student there spearheaded the whole thing. She went to the administration on her own accord and helped raise funds. She's a self-admitted reluctant reader, but she was introduced to my books in a class much like the one above, and something clicked. Because of her effort and passion, this has been the visit I'm most looking forward to this year. I can't wait to meet her. 

He links to the video (below) of Yolanda Sotelo who taught at Pueblo High School and used his book.

Among the comments to his blog post is one from Chris Crutcher. He writes:

Hey Matt, the responders here have said it as well as it can be said. I’ll what I can to bring as much light to this as possible. Let me know if you have ideas. I’ve been able to laugh off book bannings based on irrational right wing Christian fears (and politically correct left-wing fears as well) for years. There were even times I (foolishly) believed those folks wanted the same things for young people that I wanted; just had a different belief about how to get there. But this is racism pure and simple. I’m sick of living in a country in which it’s become more heinous to CALL someone a racist than it is to BE a racist. There will come a time, I hope in my lifetime, when the ethnic scales will tilt and these assholes will be voted out of office. Until then, let’s do what we can to make their lives interesting.

Crutcher is right. This is racism pure and simple. Crutcher's "I'm sick of living in a country in which it's become more heinous to CALL someone racist than it is to BE a racist" is especially powerful.

I'm glad some of the well-established authors like Crutcher are paying attention. Students in TUSD's MAS program read works by Mexican American, and American Indian, and Asian American, and African American authors. They were taught to think critically. They went from being uninterested---and perhaps reluctant readers like Matt was---to being students like Matt who go on to college.

I'm closing this post with part one of a four-part video of Matt de la Pena talking with high school students. His personal story is important, and the opportunity to read his books from a Mexican American perspective in a Mexican American class should never have been taken away from the students in TUSD.

__________
For a chronological list of AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies program, click here.

To participate in the Feb 1, 2011 National Teach-In, go here.

Jan 28 Updates regarding shut-down of Mexican American Studies program at Tucson Unified School District

 [Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]

_____________________________

Below is Curtis Acosta's January 26, 2012 update from Tucson. Acosta is a teacher in the now-shuttered Mexican American Studies Department in Tucson Unified School District.

Norma Gonzales

In his letter, Acosta writes about his colleague, Norma Gonzales, and her experiences over the last few days. In addition to teaching literature at the high school level, Gonzales worked with elementary school teachers in TUSD, helping them bring Mexican American content into their teaching. She also did art projects with students at Wakefield Middle School.

On January 24th, students at Wakefield participated in a walkout. They were subsequently suspended. Rather than stay home on Thursday, January 26th, they spent the day attending Mexican American Studies classes at the University of Arizona, including Roberto Rodriguez's class. Among the speakers Rodriguez had lined up for that day was Simon J. Ortiz of Acoma Pueblo. Rodriguez has been writing about the attacks on the MAS at TUSD for some time at his blog. In his post on Thursday, he writes that just as his class ended that day, they learned that the suspension of the students had been lifted.

The Three Sonorans YouTube Channel uploaded a twelve-minute video of interviews with the middle school students. I'm sharing it below and urge you to watch the entire video.

Here is Acosta's letter, titled "Behind the Curtain in Tucson". He concludes with a reference to students in the video.

Thank you all for your patience this morning with the earlier message, and I hope this latest update on what my colleagues and I are experiencing in Tucson find you well.

Unfortunately, there has been little guidance and movement toward how my colleagues and I are to move forward in the development of brand new curriculum and the pedagogical changes that must be made. As I wrote to you all last week, anything from the Mexican American Studies perspective is now illegal for the former MAS teachers. We are being asked to use the district adopted textbooks as the model for how to move forward. We have been told that we can still teach about race and sensitive topics, which is contradiction to earlier direction from our school/site administrators, but we must be balanced and cannot reflect MAS perspectives, although this has yet to be defined.

In fact, Norma Gonzalez (one of my MAS colleagues) was specifically told that she “CANNOT teach or discuss in class anything that is specific towards the culture and background of Mexican American Students.” This is an exact quote from her administrator. She was also asked to leave the middle school site that she is currently teaching and forced to abandon all her current students. Norma's mere presence at her school is seen as unbearable to her administration regardless of her quality work, dedication to her classes and amazing relationships she creates with her students. This is the damage being displayed in our classrooms in order to fall in line with the political motivations behind destroying our program. 

What is troubling for all of us is the fact that we have always been balanced, encouraged students to engage in critical thought, and embraced diverse voices and viewpoints throughout our curriculum and pedagogy. The direction from the district implies the opposite regardless of the many audits and observations that have proven otherwise.

To put this in a more concrete way, my classes were designed in a way that showed multiple perspectives and voices. Here is a short list of authors who are not Mexican that I use: Sherman Alexie, Jane Yolen, Junot Díaz, David Berliner, Angela Davis, Pat Buchanan, Ofelia Zepeda, Malcolm X, Maxine Hong Kingston, Jonathan Kozol, and Martin Luther King Jr. 

This is critical since we see a common theme that administration across the district have told my colleagues and myself - we are all to avoid Mexican work and perspectives at all costs. However, these authors are a part of the same censored, banned, or illegal curriculum and this surely means we must abandon these authors and this curriculum, too. We are also forbidden to use the critical lenses to view the work which challenge students to develop academically credible arguments in order to support their own views.

Thus, when they tell us we may move forward and develop multicultural curriculum it feels like we are being set-up to fail. The district has been caught in so much double speak and contradictory language they have no idea how to move forward, and we have no confidence in trusting them as they give advice. As I have mentioned in other interviews I do not feel safe teaching The Tempest or "Beyond Vietnam" by Dr. King as I normally have for years since it is clear that the district wants us to not only abandon the history and culture of Mexican Americans, but also the curriculum and pedagogy developed by Mexican American teachers. The only safe route appears for us to flee from any history or voices of color, authors that echo the themes that we had used in the past, and embrace curriculum that does not venture down those pathways. In other words, for my colleagues and I we must step back in the time machine to Pleasantville.

We are working without a net and there have been credible claims that two TUSD Governing Board members have told our district superintendent that any violations by teachers should be disciplined harshly and immediately. Thus, my colleagues and I feel that our jobs are very much on the line, and we have not been given any reassurance through specific criteria in curriculum and pedagogy of what is to be avoided and how we can confidently move forward with our students.

Yet our students remain dedicated to the restoration of the program and to have their voices heard. This week many of them participated in walkouts and an Ethnic Studies School was created for a day by the youth of UNIDOS, where many community members and professors from the University of Arizona donated their time to teach the youth. Above all else it is their education that matters, and this massive disruption in their lives and schooling is clear proof of how their futures have been dismissed and marginalized by local and state officials. The good news is that they are resilient and we all will continue to ensure that their future dreams are not compromised by the pettiness and spite of the tragic few that made this deplorable and shameful decision.

In Lak Ech,
Curtis Acosta

   

Nation-wide responses to the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District

 [Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]

____________________________

On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, the American Library Association issued a resolution condemning what is happening in Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) and calling for the law that banned Mexican American Studies to be repealed.

However, the harsh reality in Arizona is that the Republicans hold a super majority. They passed the law banning ethnic studies, and the newly introduced bill calling for its repeal is not likely to be passed.

Meanwhile, Tom Horne, the Attorney General for the State of Arizona continued misrepresenting the program in the US and abroad. He gave an interview on BBC in which he said that students in TUSD are divided by race. He said "if you're this race you take this class. If you're that race, you take that class." That is not true. Students from several racial groups have taken classes offered in the program. Last year, John Huppenthal, Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction, hired an independent firm to conduct an audit of the program. The audit includes information about the ethnicity of students who have taken MAS courses as follows:

• Hispanic, 90%
• White/Anglo, 5%
• Native American, 2%
• African American, 1.5%
• Asian American and Multi-racial, just under 0.50%

The audit also found improvements in school attendance, grades, and graduation rates of students of all races who were taking classes in MAS.

State level politics in Arizona are driving the shut-down of the program. For background and analysis, I recommend you go to Huffington Post (start with the article dated January 25) and read all the stories Jeff Biggers has written over the last few years. Use the "Mexican American Studies" tag to find them.

Attacks on, and misinformation about, the MAS program in Arizona are not an isolated case. Too many of us express outrage when we learn about this, but, we've got to do more than express outrage! Outrage doesn't stop what is happening. Actions are what is needed. 

A few days ago, CNN ran a story that the United States Congressional Hispanic Caucus is asking for an investigation of the law that banned the MAS program.

The CNN story also includes information about how the program's shut-down is playing out on the lives of students and teachers who were in, or teaching, MAS classes when they were shut down. Imagine being given 48 hours to rewrite your lesson plans and curriculum so that it is stripped of anything that you did from a Mexican American perspective.  Here's two examples:

• Norma Gonzales, a teacher who taught Mexican American History was reassigned to teach American History and given a textbook that says that the Tohono O'odham people mysteriously vanished. She has two Tohono O'odham students in her class. Ironically, students who took the Mexican American Literature courses read Ofelia Zepeda's Ocean Power. She is Tohono O'odham and received the MacArthur Genius Grant for her work. In MAS, curriculum reflected who they are. In the core curriculum, they have "mysteriously disappeared."
• Curtis Acosta, a teacher who taught Mexican American Literature, had a meeting with district administrators. Listen to the audio of Acosta being told how he can and cannot teach The Tempest.

As news spread about the banning of books in TUSD spread across the country, people asked what they could do to help. There are several initiatives in progress.

EDUCATIONAL RESPONSES:

In Tucson, students walked out of classes on Tuesday and held an Ethnic Studies Teach-In off school grounds. Some were suspended for walking out, and rather than stay home yesterday, they attended Mexican American courses at the University of Arizona. Those are localized educational responses to the shut-down of their classes.

A nation-wide educational response in the form of a National Teach-In will take place on February 1st. Some things people can do include the following:

• View excerpts--specially selected for the Teach In--from Precious Knowledge, the documentary about the MAS program that will be aired on PBS in May.
• In elementary classrooms or library read-alouds to elementary-aged children, tead aloud from one of the picture books used in the MAS program. Two suggestions are Pam Mora's The Desert is My Mother, Gary Soto's Snapshots from the Wedding.  
• With older students, introduce them to Matt de la Pena's Mexican WhiteBoy or Sandra Cisnero's House on Mango Street. 
• Share what you know with your family, friends, and colleagues. 
• Purchase a copy of Rethinking Columbus or one of the other books that was boxed up and removed from classrooms, or, one of the books that was used in the program.
• Purchase a copy of Precious Knowledge. To order, write to preciousknowledgedvd@gmail.com. (Individual copy is $28. Public library copy is $40. Rights for university or public performance are $200.)
• Sign the petition set up by Norma Gonzales. She taught in the MAS program.
• Donate to the fund to support the work to fight the ban.

Another option is to watch "A Teach-in on Tucson" that will take place at Georgia State University's College of Education. Portions of it will be streamed online. Initial information is here. The flier for the event is shown below. I'll share more information on the Teach In as I learn more details. 

In addition to the educational teach ins, there are other ways people are pushing back on the shut-down of the program. I will add others as I find them, and I invite you to send me information about other initiatives that you know about.

• Librotraficante is a planned caravan in which carloads of banned books will be driven from Texas to Arizona.
• At Banning History in Arizona, you can submit a video of yourself reading from one of the banned books.

AICL Coverage of Arizona Law that resulted in shut down of Mexican American Studies Program and Banning of Books

This is a comprehensive set of links to AICL's coverage of the Arizona law that led to the shut down of the Mexican American Studies Program in Arizona and the subsequent banning of books used in the program. It will be updated as my coverage continues.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

• Teaching critical thinking in Arizona: NOT ALLOWED
• Mexican American Studies Department Reading List

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

• Authors banned in Tucson Unified School District respond

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

• Copies of books in TUSD Libraries?
• "Reports of TUSD book ban completely false and misleading"
• TUSD vs The Tempest: To teach or not to teach

Thursday, January 19, 2012

• What Mark Stegeman said...
• What Huppenthal said...

Friday, January 20, 2012

• Three of the banned books were approved in 2007, but not properly?!
• Video: What Huppenthal saw
• National Association of Multicultural Education responds to closing of Mexican American Studies Program

Saturday, January 21, 2012

• A Sampling of Children's Books used in the Mexican American Studies Program
• Dear Editors at the New York Times

Sunday, January 22, 2012

• ALA Midwinter Discussions of Tucson Ban of Mexican American Studies Covered by CNN
• Progressive Librarian's Guild: Statement of Censorship and the Tucson Unified School District

Monday, January 23, 2012

• Stegeman's January 22, 2012 letter
• Tweeting Tucson Events

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

• Curtis Acosta's Letter

Friday, January 27, 2012

• Nationwide Responses to the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department

Saturday, January 28, 2012

• Updates regarding shut-down (includes Curtis Acosta's letter "Behind the Curtain" and video interviews of middle school students who walked out of school on Tuesday)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

• Chris Crutcher on Matt de la Pena's Book Being Banned: "This is racism, plain and simple."

Monday, January 30, 2012 

• Arizona School Censorship Hit by Salvo of Protest from Free Speech Orgs and Educators
• Statement in Opposition to Book Censorship in the Tucson Unified School District
• TUSD Superintendent Pedicone Scolds University Professors

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

• American Indian Library Association's Statement on Ethnic Studies Programs in Arizona

Thursday, February 2, 2012

• Go to the NO HISTORY IS ILLEGAL website (art/photo of teen using bullhorn to read aloud from Sherman Alexie's Ten Little Indians

Friday, February 3, 2012

• Live Stream: Teach-In on Tucson with MAS Teachers
• TUSD Board Member, Michael Hicks: "if you do not trust your employee, you need to remove the employee."  

Monday, February 6, 2012

• What did Curtis Acosta teach in his Mexican American Studies course? (Answer: Barack Obama's 2004 DNC speech)

Friday, February 10, 2012

• Debbie Reese reads from Delgado and Stefancic's CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Sunday, February 12,  2012

• Critical Thinking about Thanksgiving: Not allowed in Tucson

Saturday, February 18, 2012

• Arizona Legislation to "prohibit public school teachers from using partisan books or any partisan doctrine"

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

• Short Stories, Essays, Speeches, Poems, and Music Banned in TUSD

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

• Sherman Alexie, New Bills Proposed in Arizona, Citizens United

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

• Yale University holds Teach-In; Former MAS Students Skype In

Friday, February 24th, 2012

• February 23rd update from Curtis Acosta

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

• Matt De La Pena featured at a Save Ethnic Studies fundraiser

Thursday, March 8, 2012

• March 7th update from former MAS teacher, Curtis Acosta
• Modern Language Association: Statement on Tucson Mexican American Studies
• REFORMA Resolution in Support of the Students of the Outlawed Mexican American Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School District

Monday, May 7, 2012

• Jim Blasingame: "Ethnic Studies Ban Hits Tucson Hard: YA and Canon Alike Take a Hit"

Thursday, July 5, 2012

• Recent radio program on the shut-down of TUSD's Mexican American Studies Classes

Thursday,  June 6, 2013

• Update from Curtis Acosta

_________________________________
Additional information outside of AICL:

For insider updates from Tucson, read these blogs (on a daily basis):

• David Abie Morales at The Three Sonorans at Tucson Citizen
• David Safier at Blog for Arizona

Tuesday, January 24, 2012:

• American Library Association Resolution Opposing Restriction of Access to Materials and Open Inquiry in Ethnic and Cultural Studies Programs in Arizona, and a link to HB 2654 referenced in the ALA resolution, Arizona House Bill 2654
• Arizona Congressman Grijalva urges investigation of Arizona law

Wednesday, January 25, 2012:

• CNN is reporting that Norma Gonzales, a teacher who taught in the MAS program, has been reassigned to teach American history and was asked to teach out of a textbook that says the Tohono O'odham tribe mysteriously disappeared. She has two Tohono O'odham students in her class. Among the books no longer being taught in the shut down MAS program is Ofelia Zepeda's Ocean Power. Zepeda is Tohono O'odham, teaches in the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona, and won a MacArthur Genius Grant.

Monday, January 30, 2012:

• The "Joint Statement in Opposition to Book Censorship in the Tucson Unified School District" coordinated by the National Coalition Against Censorship

Efforts to support Mexican American Studies teachers and students:

• Donate to Save Ethnic Studies
• Librotraficante Caravan from Houston to Tucson
• Sign the petition at Save Ethnic Studies and receive updates from them

______________________________
To order a copy of Precious Knowledge, a documentary of the Mexican American Studies program (view trailer here):

1. Send an email to preciousknowledgedvd@gmail.com
2. Send a check made out to DOS VATOS PRODUCTIONS to:

Dos Vatos Productions
4029 E. Camino de la Colina
Tucson, AZ 85711

The DVD is priced as follows---Individual: $28, Community Group, High School, Public Library, Non-profit: $40, University and public performance rights: $200

Curtis Acosta's letter

Curtis Acosta

 [Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]

___________________ 

Curtis Acosta, one of the teachers who taught in the Mexican American Studies program at Tucson Unified School District, gave me permission to reproduce the following letter. It was published on January 23, 2012 at the Rethinking Schools blog.

As you read his letter, note the duress the teachers are working under, and look at the way his teaching must be stripped of anything that might be construed as "promoting resentment" and therefore a violation of the law.  At the bottom of his letter, I'm reposting an audio recording (presented in video format) of his meeting with administrators regarding how he can and cannot teach The Tempest. 

Acosta's photo is the one used at the Save Ethnic Studies website. At the site are bios of the teachers in the program. This is the group photo used on the site:

I encourage you to visit the site. Read their bios, and if you have time, download and read all the documentation they have compiled there. There are no documents uploaded after November 22, 2011. Prior to that they were uploading a lot of material. I suspect that they are overwhelmed and unable to post anything since then.
 
_________________
Curtis Acosta's letter:


To my friends and all our supporters,

Let me try a few cleansing breaths before all of this.

First, I am deeply moved by the love, commitment and creativity to help honor our plight and support our fight. Thank you all so much and I apologize to all of my friends who I have not responded to as of yet. We all are overwhelmed here in Tucson and I need a new email system for organizing all the love. Muchismas gracias y Tlazocamatli.

This week has provided more challenges. The teachers have still not received specific guidelines for curriculum and pedagogical changes that need to be made in order to be in compliance of the law. TUSD leadership has asked the site administrators on each campus where our classes are taught to lead the process which means that my colleagues and I are all separated from each other, and have not yet come together as a group since the destruction of our program. It also is a way to divide and conquer since we are all struggling at our individual sites for clarity and consistency.

To be more specific, I meet alone with my site administration, with only my union representative as support, but separated from my MAS colleagues who also work at my school. The district leadership has done this move to wash their hands of us and any accountability to us. However, they continue to send out press releases that claim that books that are now boxed in a warehouse are not banned, and that anyone can teach critical issues like race, ethnicity, oppression, and cultura, but do not mention the exception being the censored teachers in the MAS program. The double speak is unseemly and lacks honor. I am so happy that our friends around the nation are holding them accountable since the power structure in Tucson has made sure the local media tows the line. This has been the case for years.

What I can tell you is that TUSD has decreed that anything taught from a Mexican American Studies perspective is illegal and must be eliminated immediately. Of course, they have yet to define what that means, but here’s an example of what happened to an essay prompt that I had distributed prior to January 10th.

{Chicano playwright Luis Valdez once stated that his art was meant to, “…inspire the audience to social action. Illuminate specific points about social problems. Satirize the opposition. Show or hint at a solution. Express what people are feeling.” The novel So Far From God presents many moments of social and political commentary.} Select an issue that you believe Ana Castillo was attempting to illuminate for her audience and write a literary analysis of how that theme is explored in the novel. Remember to use direct citations from the novel to support your ideas and theories.


{Culture can play a significant role within a work of fiction. For generations in this country, the literature studied in English or literature classes rarely represented the lives and history of Mexican-Americans.} In a formal literary analysis, discuss what makes So Far From God a Chican@ novel and how this might influence the experience of the reader. Remember to use direct citations from the novel to support your ideas and theories.

The brackets indicate what I had to edit since the statements were found to be too leading toward a Mexican American Studies perspective. In plainer terms, they are illegal and out of compliance. A quote from a great literary figure, Luis Valdez, is now illegal, and a fact about education in our nation’s history is also illegal.

You can imagine how we are feeling, especially without any clear guidance to what is now legal and what is not, and what makes matters worse is that TUSD expects us to move forward and redesign our entire curriculum and pedagogy to be in compliance.

I cannot speak for all my colleagues but it has become clear to me that I must abandon nearly everything I used to do in the classroom and become “born again” as a teacher. At least for the foreseeable future, since the list of individuals that are waiting to pounce upon us at our first wrong step is long and filled with powerful figures.

However, we have not lost faith that we will overcome all of these atrocious, absurd, and abusive actions to our students and to learning environment centered upon love and academic excellence. Our students have already learned so much this year and this process is teaching them so much more. They are restless, ready to act and eager for their voices to be heard, and our community is equally supportive to their desires. Our lawsuit moves forward and the unconstitutionality of the law will be debated before Judge A. Wallace Tashima. Three of the four men who voted to disband our program will be accountable on November 6th since their seats on the school board are up this election. We are strong in spirit that a better day is ahead.

Lastly, there has been an idea put forward by my good friends, Tara Mack and Keith Catone, that there should be a national day of solidarity where teachers would teach our curriculum all over the nation. I will be discussing this with my colleagues in MAS this weekend and then to Tara and Keith. They have been amazing and fired-up to help, but I have had to navigate the Tempest in our classrooms and schools before more specifics come your way. The first day we are to be officially in compliance is February 1st, so that may be a wonderful, symbolic day to keep our spirit alive through the nation.

Respectfully,
Curtis Acosta
Chican@/Latin@ Literature Teacher (forever in mind and in spirit)
Tucson
_______

Listen to Curtis Acosta's meeting with school administrators as they discuss how he can and cannot teach The Tempest. 

Tweeting Tucson events

As I write (11:31 AM, CST, January 23, 2012), students are walking out of Tucson Unified School District's high schools. They are walking to a rally during which Arizona legislators will announce a bill to repeal the one passed last year that has resulted in an end of the Mexican American Studies program.

At noon CST, Simon Ortiz, author of The People Shall Continue and Winona LaDuke will be on Native America Calling.

I am tweeting these two developments. My twitter ID is debreese.

You can also follow the walkout by going to the Facebook page of DA Morales, or following his blog posts at Three Sonorans, or, by following his Twitter feed: ThreeSonorans.

________________________________________________________
FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF AICL'S COVERAGE, CLICK ON:
AICL Coverage of Arizona Law that resulted in shut down of Mexican American Studies Program and Banning of Books

Stegeman's January 22, 2012 letter

[Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]

______________________________________

David Safier, a blogger at Blog for Arizona, posted a letter Mark Stegeman (President of the Governing Board, Tucson Unified School District), sent out yesterday. It raises more questions than it answers about the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program.

To get around the fact that three of the books that were removed actually had approval for use, Stegeman now says that the curriculum itself was never approved. That may, in fact, be the case, but I hope that Stegeman is applying that curriculum approval process in an even-handed manner. Has the curriculum for all their programs been through the curriculum approval process? All along, students have been noting that it is only the MAS program that is being scrutinized. If I walked into the TUSD offices, would I be able to see a document that approved the Native American Studies program? What about the curriculum at the college prep school?

That said, there is research data that demonstrates that students who took MAS classes are succeeding in school (see data on page 44). Their attendance is better. Their grades are better. And they graduate at higher rates than students who have not taken the classes. The independent audit of the program recommended it continue. 

With research that demonstrates the success of the program, it seems to me that an educational leader would say "hey, lets fast track the approval of the curriculum and make it more widely available at all the schools so more students can start doing better in school."

Instead, TUSD voted to end the program rather than fight the political machine in Arizona. As he says in his letter, they're going to revise the social studies core curriculum, making sure that Mexican American history and culture will be covered. This time, he says, they "want to get it right."

Based on everything I've learned about him, I'm doubtful that they will ever "get it right." At the end of his letter, he says developing this core curriculum will be a long process and that he does not expect it to happen any time soon. Again, with research based evidence that demonstrates the success of the program, it seems to me that it would be smart to use the MAS curriculum as the core.

____________________________
MARK STEGEMAN'S LETTER:

January 22, 2012

 

Dear friends and correspondents,

Because of the recent media attention on TUSD’s “book ban,” it seems useful to clarify that situation.  TUSD also issued a press release on this subject several days ago, which is posted on the district website.

Every district in the state approves curriculum according to a process guided by statute and local policy, and approving the books to be used is part of that process.  Through such processes a typical district might approve several hundred books for use in instruction.  This leaves millions of books not approved for instruction; it would be silly to say that all of those books are “banned.”

When the TUSD board voted (4-1) to end the Mexican-American Studies (MAS) curriculum, ending use of the books had to be part of that package.  Staff says that the seven titles removed from classrooms and placed into storage are still available in school libraries, and I expect many of the books in storage to be distributed to libraries where they are not already available. 

Because MAS did not actually have a board-approved curriculum, it was not immediately obvious which books to remove, but the staff took guidance from the evidence presented during the hearing on TUSD’s appeal of Huppenthal’s finding against the district.  Because one motivation for the board’s vote to end the MAS classes was to forestall the substantial financial penalty which the ADE threatened to impose, it made sense to remove the books which helped to provide the basis for that finding.

The seven removed books are: 

    Occupied America: A History of Chicanos - Rodolfo Acuña

    Rethinking Columbus: The next 500 Years - Bill Bigelow

    Critical Race Theory - Richard Delgado

    Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire
   
    Message to AZTLAN - Rodolfo Gonzales

    500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures - Elizabeth Martinez (ed.)

    Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement - Arturo Rosales

I am not aware of any other school district in Arizona which has approved these books for use in instruction.  If anyone knows of such approvals, then I would be interested to hear about them. 

Shakespeare’s The Tempest is not on this list and never was, despite some media accounts to the contrary.  Instructors are free to use it. 

In the resolution which ended the MAS program, the TUSD board also said:

“The district shall revise its social studies core curriculum to increase its coverage of Mexican-American history and culture, including a balanced presentation of diverse viewpoints on controversial issues.  The end result shall be a single common social studies core sequence through which all high school students are exposed to diverse viewpoints.”

When staff brings this new curriculum to the board, it may or may not recommend that some of the seven books be approved for use in that new curriculum.  I do not expect this to happen any time soon, however.  Developing the new curriculum will be a long process, which will include community input.  Obviously, this time, we want to get it right.

Thank you for your continued interest in TUSD.  The MAS issue has been a long-running distraction for the district, far out of proportion to the small number of students in the MAS courses (currently fewer than 300).  Bringing that issue to closure will increase our capacity to focus on the many large reforms necessary to improve education in TUSD, for all students.

Mark

________________________________________________________
FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF AICL'S COVERAGE, CLICK ON:
AICL Coverage of Arizona Law that resulted in shut down of Mexican American Studies Program and Banning of Books

ALA Midwinter Discussions of Tucson Ban of Mexican American Studies Covered by CNN

[Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]

______________________________________

Today (Sunday, January 22, 2012), one of CNN's bloggers covered the banning of the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson.  Stephanie Siek (the reporter) talked to Barbara Jones:

Barbara Jones, director of the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom, said the removal of the books was a big topic of discussion at the association’s 2012 midwinter meeting, which began last Thursday in Dallas. Groups including REFORMA, the Latino librarians' group, the American Indian Librarians' Association and the Intellectual Freedom Committee planned to respond and a coalition of civil liberties groups were researching possible legal action and expecting to release a statement this week, Jones said.

Regardless of the words the district used, Jones said, it's actions restricted access to books, which leads to censorship.

"We're gathering facts. Right now it looks like it's just the curriculum that’s affected and not school libraries," Jones said. "But we know from experience this will eventually affect books in the library."

Siek writes:

District leaders said they aren't banning the books, but have removed them from classrooms while their content is evaluated.

While their content is evaluated?! I thought the contents had already been evaluated and found to be guilty of "promoting resentment of a class of people"!

And yet, Siek writes, Stegeman (President of the TUSD governing board) said that the books might be brought back into the classroom after a review, and that the review might be completed by the end of the summer!

Isn't that contradictory? Did the books get reviewed or not? Is someone going to change his or her mind and decide that the content of the books does not "promote resentment of a class of people"???

For a video and more details, see How Tucson Schools Changed after Mexican American Studies Ban.

________________________________________________________
FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF AICL'S COVERAGE, CLICK ON:
AICL Coverage of Arizona Law that resulted in shut down of Mexican American Studies Program and Banning of Books