By Staff Reporter |

The Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) may soon adopt a new American history curriculum rooted in social justice.

The SUSD Social Sciences Curriculum Adoption Committee recommended for American and Arizona History the textbook “US History: Interactive” by Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, Peter B. Levy, Randy Roberts, and Alan Taylor from the Savvas Learning Company. This textbook, parents argue, reinvents modern American history through a social justice lens. 

Parents took issue with the portrayal of complex issues in recent history, such as race relations in America. The textbook conveys that racism against Black Americans remains an ongoing problem.

“Although Barack Obama’s election as president showed that real racial progress has been made, other events during his presidency suggested that racism remained a problem in the country,” states the textbook. 

The textbook also states that law enforcement killed George Floyd in 2020. Their coverage of this pivotal incident omits critical context to include the medical examiner’s office autopsy report, which cited Floyd’s heart problems exacerbated by regular drug use as well as the presence of “a fatal level” of fentanyl (along with the presence of other illicit drugs) in his system as contributors to his death. 

“If Mr. Floyd were found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors he would conclude that it was an overdose death,” stated notes from the prosecution’s interview with Baker. 

During the trial of the police officer charged with Floyd’s death, Derek Chauvin, the medical examiner behind Floyd’s autopsy, Andrew Baker, concurred that Floyd’s corpse bore no evidence of asphyxiation — consistent with his autopsy findings. Baker’s autopsy report didn’t attribute law enforcement actions to Floyd’s cause of death; Baker only added that connection after watching videos of law enforcement restraining Floyd. 

The textbook also characterized Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as an offshoot of the Civil Rights Movement and described BLM protests as “generally peaceful”; the book distanced the riots that occurred from BLM activism. 

“[D]estructive riots did break out in some cities at night, often after an announced curfew. During this nighttime rioting, people burned buildings, looted stores, and clashed with the police. Innocent people were harmed. It was unclear in some cases, however, whether or not the rioters were associated with the protests,” stated the textbook.

During a board meeting last month, the committee explained they recommended this and the other four social sciences textbooks based on alignment with course descriptions, comprehensive resources, support for diverse learners, online platforms, print and online access, and competitive pricing and staff development. 

Parents and community members opposed to the textbook issued written comments to the committee arguing it was filled with “biased narratives” on critical topics in modern American history. 

“This is exactly what parents do not want for their children and is why they are moving out of the public school,” stated one community member.

The controversial textbook would cost the district about $146,000 out of the $674,000 total requested purchase. 

The curriculum committee members are SUSD teachers Ashley Crose, Daniel Hyman, Arianna Fiandaca, Brittany Case, and Chris Haak; SUSD administrator Chad Johnson; and community member Brian Cieniawski. Committee support members included SUSD Director of Teaching and Learning Kimberly Dodds-Keran, Social Science Academic Coach Dylan Bullard, and Instructional Materials Specialist Dede Johnston. 

The SUSD Governing Board will vote on the curriculum during its May 13 board meeting.

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