The District Board of Trustees voted 3-2 in favor of adopting proposed Ethnic Studies curriculum revisions on Wednesday night.
Initially marked as a discussion item on the board agenda, the revisions were abruptly changed to an action item, meaning the topic required trustee voting. This drew criticism from the audience, but no amendments were made to the meeting agenda.
Though the plan to revise the curriculum was affirmed, the revisions themselves are still ongoing, and the updated curriculum is not yet complete. Proposed changes include condensing the course into four units, updating unit Essential Questions, and a concentration on the four pillars of Ethnic Studies: Black, Latino, Asian-American and Pacific Islander, and Native American history. Since it is unclear if Ethnic Studies will become a state requirement, the Board agreed to revisit the class’s status as a graduation requirement this fall.
Trustees Maria Elena Cruz, Mary Beth Thompson, and Amy Koo voted in favor of adopting the motion, while Richard Ginn and Sathvik Nori dissented, citing concerns over the lack of stakeholder input in the curriculum revision process.
Ethnic Studies has been taught within the District since 2020 and previously functioned under a District-created curriculum that preceded state guidelines listed in AB-101. In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB-101, a law that made Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement at all California high schools by the 2025-26 school year. As part of the bill, a committee of educators created a model curriculum for all Ethnic Studies classes to follow.
However, due to a lack of funding and a loss of both popular and legislative support, the statewide California Ethnic Studies mandate was recently put on hold. Despite this, the District decided to continue revising its own curriculum, although the Board is still debating when to implement the updated version.
“The time to discuss the broader discussion of graduation requirements, including Ethnic Studies, is this fall,” Thompson said. “This doesn’t mean we are done listening—we are far from that.”
The Board first began discussing the District’s proposed revisions around 9 p.m., starting with public comments from attendees both in-person and on Zoom. Multiple parents, educators, and local representatives participated in public comment, including a representative of State Senator Josh Becker.
A coalition of concerned parents argued that the Board should make changes to the class, both in terms of editing curriculum content and removing its requirement status. “Our implementation of Ethnic Studies to date has not gone well,” M-A parent Karen Orzechowski said. “The curriculum outlined tonight seems to be worse than the original.”
A few parents expressed concerns that the proposed curriculum will not be in compliance with state legislature based on previous student experiences in the class. “Some of the lessons that have been implemented in our District have been in direct violation of AB-101,” Jen Wolosin said. Michelle DeHaaff also criticized the course’s “biased framing.”
None of the parents specified which aspects of the bill they believed the proposed curriculum violated.
Other community members and teachers came to the class’s defense. “Teachers are not putting students in boxes. Teachers are asking students to study the creation of those boxes in history over time,” Sequoia District Teachers Association President Edith Salvatore said. “Our goal is not to demonize but to create a balance.”
“The world and systems around us do see color,” M-A English teacher Abbie Korman said, stressing the importance of having conversations about race. “We need Ethnic Studies to talk about the world we live in.”
Community public comments were followed by an overview of the revised curriculum by the Director of Professional Development and Curriculum, Victoria Dye.
While almost all trustees expressed appreciation for the work put into the curriculum updates, some had concerns with the implementation of state guidelines and lesson content. The course outline contains “Essential Questions” that comply with state standards, but according to trustee Nori, are slightly more “radical” than those suggested by the state.
This meeting is an indication of how this group of trustees will vote on future agenda items related to Ethnic Studies.
