SFUSD - Ethnic Studies Recourse

The SFUSD Board plans to permanently adopt a mandate at its meeting tomorrow that all freshman students take two semesters of the immensely unpopular Ethnic Studies curriculum known as “Voices.” Despite continued pushback from parents and SFUSD teachers alike who want the board to consider the issue more deeply, the Voices curriculum is set to be approved without

being vetted by the community,
any real world comparison with other similar curricula, normally a standard practice when choosing new academic coursework or
consideration that the State of California supports Ethnic Studies be limited to only one semester.

The lack of transparency in the process, or consideration of community and educator perspectives, leaves many feeling like their opposition to the new curriculum has fallen on deaf ears. In addition, say educators, at risk are students’ proficiency levels in both math and reading, which have fallen in recent years. A two-semester requirement would bite into time focused on more traditional coursework.

Send an email TODAY if you believe the SFUSD Board should delay tomorrow’s vote to renew the Voices curriculum, give more consideration to parent and educator voices and employ the best-practice of piloting multiple curricula before making a final choice.

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“Voices,” the Ethnic Studies curriculum rushed through by Superintendent Maria Su last summer without any vetting by the community or SFUSD teachers, was the only curriculum piloted this year. Best practice, however, is to test multiple curricula before coming to a final decision.

Furthermore, the State of California is expected to require only one semester of Ethnic Studies, per AB 101 passed in 2021. So why is San Francisco requiring two full semesters of Ethnic Studies? At the same time, nearly half of SFUSD students are not proficient in math, and more than 40% are not proficient in English Language Arts.

In addition, California has been clear that K through 12 Ethnic Studies should be balanced, inquiry-based, and share multi-perspectives, yet Voices continues a precedent for ideological instruction instead of academic inquiry.

We are also concerned and frustrated that Voices emphasizes a single interpretive framework, encourages predetermined viewpoints, and relies heavily on deficit-based narratives.

Please send an email to the SFUSD Board urging members to pilot other Ethnic Studies curricula and reduce the Ethnic Studies mandate from two semesters to one.

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Email to the SFUSD board members. You may use or adapt the message below:

Dear SFUSD Board Members, &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;We are urging you to delay the vote to permanently adopt the Voices curriculum for SFUSD’s Ethnic Studies program and reduce the Ethnic Studies mandate from two semesters to one. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Access to participation in a community review process was limited and unclear. Invitations were sent to a small, undefined subset of the community without use of standard parent communication channels. The timeline was highly compressed — with responses due within three days — and selected participants were expected to attend multi-hour sessions with minimal notice.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Parent participants who attended the review sessions raise significant concerns about the process itself, including reports of bias, predetermined outcomes, and an environment that frowned on input by the third-party consultant and SFUSD staff. They said they felt “managed” and “handled.”&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Please delay the vote of the Voices curriculum and reduce the two semester Ethnic Studies mandate to one semester. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;In addition, please do the following:&#13;&#10;1. revise the current Voices pilot curriculum to align with SFUSD's own values, state standards, and criteria for culturally responsive teaching, &#13;&#10;2. follow standard best practice by piloting multiple Ethnic Studies curricula before adopting any single model districtwide and providing adequate time for implementation, evaluation, and community review.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Sincerely,&#13;&#10;

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TODAY ONLY! Urge SFUSD to Delay Tomorrow’s Vote to Renew Controversial Ethnic Studies Curriculum