The Casa Grande Union High School Governing Board (CGUHSGB) voted 4-1 on July 11 to adopt the history curriculum for a year from Savvas Learning Company LLC, a company known for producing “woke” educational materials. The board justified the decision since the existing curriculum was outdated, having not been updated within the past 15 years. Also, the board pointed out that some teachers had already begun incorporating the Savvas textbooks.
Steve Hunt, the lone school board member who voted against the curriculum, told The Arizona Sun Times that he extensively looked into Savvas and its materials and found “very disturbing information” including “woke” teaching.
“I read the last three chapters of the history textbook, which covers recent U.S. history, and it takes a very left-leaning view of the last few presidents,” he said. “There was a positive discussion of Black Lives Matter, which didn’t address all the damage caused by the riots. Earlier parts of the book had equally disturbing coverage of the Founding Fathers, World War I, and World War II.”
During the board meeting, Renee Morales, director of curriculum for the school district, discussed how several teachers had already begun using the Savvas curriculum in other subjects. She said they sent bids to five providers, and only three responded. Savvas provided the lowest price. Hunt said during the meeting that it was very concerning that the teachers went ahead with the curriculum even though the board had not approved it as required by law. Hunt said he was disturbed that “all stakeholders” were absent at the meetings, such as teachers, students, voters, and taxpayers.
Additionally, Hunt said the teachers who held the meetings did not keep any minutes, so there wasn’t any way to determine how much they had looked into the curriculum. He was also disturbed that the school board did not find out until two days before the meeting that they had been using the curriculum over the past eight years.
Hunt said that he was concerned when he read in an article that the curriculum contained Social Emotional Learning (SEL). He discovered that Savvas awards several $50,000 scholarships yearly to black or brown minorities — money likely coming from taxpayers since school districts purchase their materials. In 2022, he noticed that Savvas changed the criteria for recipients to “underrepresented communities.”
Hunt said when he ran for the board, he vowed to be transparent and accountable to the community since that’s who voted him into office. Eleven members of the community testified against adopting the Savvas curriculum. Only three people testified in favor of it, who were all teachers. Hunt noted that it was telling that only three teachers stood up for it. He told The Sun Times that, unlike him, the other board members voted to adopt the curriculum to please the teachers. Hunt urged the board to hold off on approving the curriculum until they thoroughly looked into it.
Boots Hawks, a member of the public who said he came in to look at the textbook, said, “We need to include parents when we’re choosing these books. When a child learns something young, it’s ingrained in them. And it takes forever to shake that out. If they are taught the wrong things with these history books, they’re going to go into life, believing those things are true. We can’t do that to them. We’re dumbing down a generation in our schools today. When I say dumbing down I mean, they’re learning the wrong stuff or they’re not learning anything, I’d rather not see him get a history class, if it’s going to be wrong information. Let’s give them the right information.”
The school board members each spoke briefly. Richard Wilkie, who has children in the district, defended the textbook. “You’re not going to find a history book that’s 100 percent fact,” he argued. “Is it a perfect textbook? No. … I’ll know more at the end of this year.” He asked, “Is there going to be slip-ups? I hope not.”
Wilkie refuted a speaker who had expressed concerns that the book provided a negative description of former President Donald Trump while giving a glowing account of former President Barack Obama. “It’s not the complete picture,” he pushed back, and said it would be left to the teachers to provide a fuller picture.
He said, “The winners write history.”
The Savvas website contains a section titled “Equity and Inclusion in Learning.” It provides a statement from CEO Bethlam Forsa, “Expanding equity and inclusion in learning is essential … to help all learners succeed.”
Savvas will “strive for equity in education,” “build inclusive spaces,” and “elevate diverse perspectives.” The company asserts, “Expanding equity and inclusion is woven into everything we do at Savvas,” and “It touches every aspect of our company.”
An earlier version of that webpage is located on the internet archive and features “Savvas Culturally Responsive Learning Advisory Board Members.” They include Theresa Santos-Volpe, an LGBTQ+ family advocate and consultant, and Gloria Ladson-Billings, Ph.D., who “currently writes about culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory.”
It is not known whether the board still exists.
After a year of using the curriculum, the board will assess whether to continue using it. CGUHSGB President Chuck Wright will assemble a task force to look further into it. Hunt said concerned residents of Casa Grande can contact him about getting the review effort going. Hunt told The Sun Times that the board can always rescind their decision to use the curriculum for a year.
Hunt said three of the board members told him they agreed with him after the vote, but he doesn’t understand how they could say that yet vote for it. He said he has looked into alternative curriculums and recommends that the district adopt Land of Hope.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
