The link below provides the latest development in the battle for ethnic studies in Arizona. Many of you may be familiar with this as a result of last fall’s visit to OSU by the producer of the film Precious Knowledge and one of the teachers in Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies program.
The legal document attached is the product of a long-standing desegregation case and impacts the recent law that led to the dissolution of Mexican American Studies in k-12 schools in Tucson. It is the Unitary Status Plan as written by the Special Master to the court (a court appointed advisor to the parties in the law suit and the court). While the document is long and addresses other concerns including schooling of ELLs, it also includes two (what I believe to be) important issues (among many!).
First, noted on p. 5 under “Legal Standard,” is that schools must “eliminate the vestiges of the prior de jure segregation … ” This seems to expand the conversation of desegregation of schools well beyond the presence of “diverse” racial/ethnic bodies in schools, to include all that went on inside once segregated schools to include curriculum and instruction.
The second important issue builds on the first and, as discussed on p. 36 of the document, calls for the implementation of “culturally relevant courses of instruction designed to reflect the history, experiences, and culture of African American and Mexican American communities.” This would appear to call for the district to reinstate Mex Am courses that were cancelled earlier as a result of state law.
A judge will now review the plan and announce a decision. At that point the decision will become a precedent for similarly situated school issues.
Posted by Rick Orozco
