The most recent meeting of the Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS) Board of Directors took place on September 20. The school seems to be running fairly smoothly at the moment, and there was only one truly controversial item on the agenda:
Discuss the Archuleta School District Policy on Controversial Materials.
One of the instructors at PPOS had shared a potentially controversial story in class, and our School Director had sought guidance from the ASD policy, IMB, “Teaching About Controversial Issues and the Use of Controversial Materials.’ That policy requires an instructor, who is planning to share controversial information or materials, to take certain basic steps.
1. Get permission from the school principal.
2. Share both sides of the issue.
3. Provide ‘alternative’ learning activities for a student, when the family objects to the controversial lesson or materials.
Disclosure: I’m a member of the PPOS Board, but this editorial series reflects only my own personal opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of any other PPOS Board members or the Board as a whole.
You can download the ASD policy here.
The ASD policy does not specify the topics that it classifies as “controversial”. The assumption seems to be, that we all know what is controversial and what is not.
Because Pagosa Peak Open School operates as a charter school with its own governing board, it has the independence to adopt its own school policies, and is not required to follow ASD policies.
From my perspective — which may be a somewhat unusual perspective — Policy IMB is itself controversial. (Luckily, we didn’t have any students in attendance at our Board meeting when the ASD policy was discussed, so we didn’t need to worry about exposing them to a discussion about a controversial policy.)
Because I felt adoption of the ASD policy could easily have the effect of causing our teachers to avoid discussions about very important civil issues, I had submitted, for the Board’s consideration, an alternative draft policy, which you can download here.
I’m hoping that the PPOS Board will eventually adopt a policy that will encourage — rather than discourage — our students, staff, parents and community to engage, actively and bravely, in discussions about important social topics, such as:
- legal abortion
- the existence of institutional racism
- gun control
- immigration
- the existence and importance of human-cause climate change
- the rights of citizens to adopt alternative sexual patterns, including same-sex marriage
- the current crises in health care and public health
- environmental policies
- income inequality
- civil rights for disadvantaged populations
- the influence of wealth and corporations in politics
- equal rights and equal pay for women
- alleged political corruption
Of course, some of these controversial topics are inappropriate for kindergarten students, mainly because they involve concepts that most five-year-olds can’t grasp or haven’t been exposed to.
But I feel most of these topics — if not all — are quite suitable for 8th graders, age 13-14. (PPOS includes grades K-8.)
Some are potentially appropriate for 4th graders.
These topics are some of the most important topics in current civil discourse, and as such — from my perspective — are eminently worthy of debate and the open exchange of ideas, in a school setting and in society in general.
Unfortunately, our education system has not been fully successful at teaching everyone how to debate and exchange ideas in a respectful, open-minded fashion, and as a result, we often feel caught in a polarized situation where communication feels difficult, or even impossible. In a polarized environment, we have a natural human tendency to avoid conversations with people who have an opposing point of view.
Following a lengthy discussion, the PPOS Board agreed that our school community — staff, board, students, parents, community members — ought to engage in a healthy debate about how and when to teach controversial topics, and put our conclusions into a draft policy. The Board also agreed that we could adopt the ASD policy as a ‘band-aid’ to provide guidance until such time as the school community develops a PPOS policy that its governing board can adopt.
We didn’t specify a timeline for accomplishing this task, but I expect the “Controversial Issues” policy will appear regularly on our monthly agenda until the policy is drafted.
The draft policy I presented to the Board on September 20 basically allowed the instructional staff to include topics that might be perceived as ‘controversial’… with the understanding that other members of the PPOS community should have the opportunity to present opposing views on the topic.
So:
…it is the policy of PPOS to authorize PPOS staff to discuss controversial issues and present controversial materials, when staff believes the discussions and materials will enhance the education of PPOS students, and aid in the development of brave lifelong learners who can contribute to an evolving world; and
Whenever any sharing of controversial issues and/or materials, discussed or shared in a classroom, causes discomfort or distress among the members of the PPOS community — students, parents, staff or members of the larger community — such affected and distressed persons will be actively and earnestly invited to make a presentation; to present, respectfully, alternative points of view about the matter in question, to the same classroom where the original issues or materials were shared…
My draft policy was, apparently, too controversial for the Board to adopt on September 20.
But maybe elements of it will be incorporated into the school’s final policy?
Time will tell.