By John Dobberstein
Journal Times | Posted: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - The Racine Unified School District said Tuesday that no policies were violated when a textbook with parts of a memoir and speech written by Sen. Barack Obama was used in classes.
There's no evidence that the selections were used by teachers to advocate for Obama, and no parents filed formal complaints with the district about the controversy, the district's investigation found.
"The Obama excerpts are consistent thematically with the required curriculum, and teachers did not advocate for any political candidate through the teaching of these selections," Racine Unified said in a statement.
"Our educators work diligently every day to provide the best possible education for our students, including relevant, interesting content that reflects the diversity of our student population."
Concerns were raised this fall after the excerpts appeared in a book being used by 8th-grade English language arts classes. A local blogger initially called attention to the issue.
Some people complained that the material was not appropriate during an election year, but the district said the book was selected in May 2007, before Obama was the Democratic nominee.
In a Nov. 3 memo to the school board, Racine Unified Superintendent James Shaw and Jeff Weiss, director of curriculum and instruction, said there is a process within RUSD to handle complaints about educational materials, but the district received no formal, written complaints from parents or residents.
"Two parents asked for a review of the timing, questioning whether it was appropriate to teach the Obama selections one month prior to the presidential election," the memo said. "Both declined to file a formal complaint about the material when offered that option.
"Because no formal written complaint was received from a Racine parent or citizen, no action under this policy was considered or initiated."
The school district acknowledged receiving hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from citizens inside and outside of the school district about the controversy. A police report was also filed after threatening e-mails related to the textbook flap were sent to district spokeswoman Stephanie Hayden.
District officials said Tuesday that the Obama selections were not specified as mandatory reading in the curriculum guide, but are included as options among selected readings within the unit.
The textbook adoption process for English language arts materials, for grades 6, 7 and 8, began in February 2006 and a committee narrowed the choice to two publishers.
In January 2007, McDougal Little offered its 2008 series - including selections by Obama - and additional materials to the district at no added cost, the district said.
After holding meetings in March and April 2007, supervisors and teachers decided the McDougal Little material was the best choice for several reasons, including that it contained "diverse, contemporary and multicultural readings."
The textbook series was approved by the RUSD School Board on May 21, 2007.
A review of district policies concluded that both selections are appropriate thematically with the 8th-grade curriculum unit "Acceptance of Differences Makes Life Better" and aligned to Wisconsin State Standards.
It's not likely the flap over the Obama material will change the district's textbook adoption policy, said Hayden, the spokeswoman.
"I think the investigation shows we did do everything right and took the necessary steps and had the appropriate people involved," Hayden said. "We've used the (textbook adoption) process several other times and people seemed to be happy with it."