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The Jersey Shore Area School Board recently addressed a controversy about the pending purchase of an ELA/Reading curriculum for K-5 students. This meeting included an online presentation by the vendor Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), which allowed for the board members to ask questions during the vendor's live-feed. After the CKLA video presentation (and board discussion) concluded, there was further deliberation, solely among board members who seemed to be dismayed by the actual content that could (would?) be presented to our K-5 students. Among the board's collective concerns were – descriptions of duels (I thought violence and GUNS were verboten) between historical figures as a way to settle disagreements and an illustration of burning a figure resembling a demon in a cave. Why would these representations ever be considered as age-appropriate at the elementary level?
A board member's secondary research Identified a few contributors to the curriculum who were affiliated with Marxists and/or proponents of DEI. Another board member described what appeared to be an "in-class read-aloud" from a "Fables" text, but without any uplifting moral value to those stories. A member also described the curriculum as "dark" with many illustrations portrayed with ominous or angry facial expressions.
I congratulate MICHELE STEMLER, MARY THOMAS, CHERI PETERS and JESSIE EDWARDS for their insightful questions and research-based observations, while questioning the content as being far from age-appropriate for several grade levels.
As further evidence that JSASD would be wise to decline the CKLA curriculum, I received an unsolicited phone call last week from a trusted and long-term elementary teacher from another local school district and offering congratulations to the Jersey Shore Area board for tabling the CKLA curriculum. This teacher has also closely reviewed the CKLA curriculum and had many similar concerns as those expressed by the board. In contrast to the response from this experienced ELEMENTARY teacher, I can't ignore what I would describe as an "ho-hum" perspective about the CKLA curriculum from a retired SCIENCE teacher, former President of the JS teachers' union and write-in candidate for JSASD School Board Region 3. To paraphrase, I would characterize her public comment regarding the CKLA curriculum as essentially non-committal, followed by a simple "thank you" to the elementary staff members in attendance. Considering that this frequent PUBLIC COMMENT speaker, who had just listened to the vendor's presentation, the board's subsequent observations, including Mrs. Thomas' concerns (another former President of the teachers' union), this speaker could only offer an uncharacteristic "non-opinion" as far as being FOR or AGAINST this questionably inappropriate curriculum.
Regardless of the school district where your child attends, new curriculum must ALWAYS be approved by your local school board and is usually made available for review by the public. As parents and voters, you owe it to your K-5 student(s) to know which curriculum is being considered for board approval – if not already being taught to your children!
I encourage all JSASD parents and other constituents to visit the "Board Docs" section of the JSASD website and watch the video for yourself. Again, my congratulations to the JSASD school board for tabling this discussion item and, if their observations are accurate, I hope ultimately declining to approve the CKLA curriculum. Although the current K-5 ELA curriculum is apparently outdated, we can certainly extend its utilization for another year rather than spend (waste?) your tax dollars on CKLA..
CRAIG ALLEN
Watson Township
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom