PJTN’s Cardoza-Moore Re-Appointed to Tennessee Textbook Commission, Left Out of DOE Meetings

Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Laurie Cardoza-Moore from Proclaiming Justice to the Nations to the newsmaker line to discuss her recent reappointment to the Tennessee Textbook Commission and allegedly being left out of meeting notifications by the state’s Department of Education.

Leahy: We are joined on our newsmaker line right now by our very good friend Laurie Cardoza-Moore, the founder and CEO of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. Good morning, Laurie.

Moore: Good morning, Michael.

Leahy: Congratulations. You have been reappointed to a three-year term on the Tennessee Textbook Commission by the Speaker of the House Cam Sexton. What do you see ahead for the next three years in your duties as a member of the textbook commission?

Moore: Some of the newest duties are going to include the review of library books and materials that are being used or considered to be used in the school libraries across the state. This has been a growing problem, Michael.

I know you’ve been following this very closely, but the content of what’s happening   or what’s being introduced to our children through the library is just absolutely appalling. And it’s not just the school libraries, even the public libraries that we’re seeing it.

So this seems to be the new territory that the Marxist leftists are pursuing or targeting in order to try to indoctrinate our children. You talked previously in the earlier segment about these drag queen shows that are going on, but even in these libraries, we’re introducing our children to sexually inappropriate material.

And one of the concerns that I have had for a long time is what are we introducing our children to and why does these curricula and content not represent the values of the community?

Now, state law requires that textbooks and instructional materials currently have to be accurate, they have to be unbiased, they have to reflect the values of the community.

And unfortunately, because more and more parents are becoming aware of the content in the curriculum, and are speaking out against it, it seems like now the opposition is diverting to using library books or the libraries in schools to introduce it.

Michael, I can’t tell you how many emails or phone calls I get from parents who find content in the library and are shocked and appalled that their children are able to access this.

Leahy: There are 10 commissioners on this textbook commission. You’re one of the 10. I read a piece at the left-wing blog called Tennessee Chalkbeat, and they said that “while most of the panel’s 10 commissioners are licensed educators, Cardoza-Moore is not.” Licensed educators … (chuckles)

Moore: Michael, I was appointed – I wasn’t appointed because I was an educator, although I’ve been at the forefront of this battle for a decade, exposing the content when I found that antisemitic content in a Pearson-published textbook back a decade ago.

So I’ve been at the forefront of looking for this, and it’s been across the country. I was appointed by the Speaker to represent the parents and the citizens of this state.

As a home-schooling mother, I home-schooled five of my children and … I know what to look for in curriculum if I want to teach my children and equip my children to be learned, to be successful, but also to be good citizens.

Leahy: There was a meeting of the commission, I guess, last week. What happened at that meeting?

Moore: Interestingly enough, I didn’t get the notification about the meeting to attend or participate. And so I reached out to the Speaker and of course the Speaker responded, and of course, appointed me and made a public statement. But the Department of Education somehow missed sending me the materials and the agenda for the meeting last week.

Leahy: Are you kidding me?

Moore: No, I had to follow it through a livestream link, and I couldn’t weigh in, I couldn’t vote. So I followed and took notes as to what was taking place. But again, Pearson Publishers submitted math recommendations that were Common Core-compliant for review, and basically, they were dismissed.

And I’m proud of the commission and the work that they did, and that they voted not to approve the math curriculum. But see, this is part and parcel of what Pearson does. Pearson has done this.

They hide the information that is not compliant with state standards, and that is the measurement. If the curriculum, the textbooks, and the instructional materials do not fit within the state standards, then they are null and void.

And unfortunately, Pearson must not have gotten the memo that Common Core is illegal now. It cannot be taught in Tennessee schools, but somehow they didn’t get the memo.

Leahy: Do you anticipate that you will actually receive the invitation to the next meeting of the textbook commission?

Moore: I made a phone call to the Department of Education, to our contact, to request a conversation as to what happened, why I didn’t get the agenda, why I didn’t get the information.

Leahy: The people at the Department of Education, it’s run by the UC Berkeley graduate Penny Schwinn. How do they interact with you? Are they friendly, are they positive? Or is this a typical kind of, I don’t know, bureaucratic ploy, shall we say?

Moore: This is the first time this ploy has been used on me, and so I was quite shocked by it. But no, generally my contact within the Department of Education is respectful and very helpful, if I ask for information.

I’ve had a bit of an issue trying to obtain the curriculum, like the math textbooks. Some of the math textbooks I can’t access digitally because I have to have a login and password, and I can’t seem to get that information.

We’ve been reviewing the math textbooks that have been submitted and recommended for usage in Tennessee. But some of it, you just can’t access it.

And when you repeatedly ask for links and I’m told that, oh, there’s no problem, well, somehow my IP address is having a problem.

Leahy: Well, I wish you well. And then how often does the commission meet?

Moore: Like this year, there’s going to be four to five times that we’ll meet. And it really is dependent on what business is accomplished and what needs to be done within the requirements by law.

Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Laurie Cardoza-Moore” by Laurie Cardoza-Moore. Background Photo “Classroom” by Wokandapix.