JERSEY SHORE — A presentation of a language arts curriculum elicited a strong response from members of the Jersey Shore Area School Board.

Representatives of CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts) presented the information about the curriculum virtually to the board at its meeting this week.

CKLA is an instructional program that integrates various subjects into language arts so that students might be learning reading, writing and spelling while also learning about social studies or science.

Questions ranged from the difficulty of the reading materials to how often spelling would be taught.

Michelle Stemler, board president, commented that she felt some of the illustrations for the reading materials were dark and a “little disturbing.”

“One of my biggest concerns,” said board member Mary Thomas, “is basically the material we’re giving to our kids at the age we’re giving it to our kids — I’m not saying it’s too hard, it’s not necessarily above them — but I don’t see that as material or things that should be given to elementary kids who are 5, 6 and 7 years old.”

“Their minds just absorb like a sponge and we’re giving them things from ancient civilizations and Greek mythology…we’re always talking about different gods…I’m not saying your procedures are wrong, I think there’s a lot more reading to the students, which I understand what you’re trying to do. I don’t have the research as to how that works or not — one of the things that I’ve read is that there seems to be a lack of fluency in reading with this series. That just might be an opinion but it was research that I read,” she said.

Kayla Calhoun, a board member and parent of a district student wanted to know how the children reacted to the curriculum, while board member Cheri Peters wanted to know who had done the research to support the program. Peters also expressed concern about what she believed was DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — included in the materials.

“Anything that I say has no reflection on how I see our teachers in our district, this is just what I found,” Peters said.

“For grade five, this is a printout called ‘Amplify CKLA DEI Social Justice Guide,’ and it says, ‘the following guide offers an overview of many ways that the Amplify CKLA program supports students’ understanding of issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice’ and it goes throughout the guide,” she said.

Peters said that she could only find materials for grade five because the rest had been removed from the internet and she couldn’t access it.

“This is a political platform,” Peters claimed.

“Prior to 2024, the DEI was a political platform and I’m very much for keeping politics out of school districts. This is a political platform … after 2024, these things have changed as far as DEI and mandates,” she said.

The curriculum for Jessie Edwards fell short of her expectations.

“I think that the school district and teachers deserve better tools and a better curriculum suited for them that they’re going to enjoy with the students,” Edwards said.

“I want to approve the very best language arts curriculum that we can possibly offer, but I am very concerned,” said Stemler.

“I don’t believe that this is something personally I can stand behind,” she added.

The full presentation and comments from board members are on the district’s livestream on YouTube.