After the April 18, 2024 Miamisburg school board I had a lot of questions regarding the transparency of the district to allow parents and school board members to review the districts educational curriculum.
I enquired and learned that members of the community can contact the Miamisburg Board of Education and request access to review school educational materials.
Dr. Laura Blessings response to my question was
"Yes, please specify what you wish to review and the curriculum department will set up a time for you to come and review the requested information"
At the same time I learned that the text books that were approved were available to review in the basement of the Memorial building. I learned that members of the community can contact the Miamisburg Board of Education an request access to review school educational material.
Books on display at the Memorial Building
Spent an afternoon reviewing the above books with much of my time reviewing the book Freedom on My mind. I felt that the book provided a fair and honest history of the lives of Black Americans through the 20th century. Found its recording of history in the 21st century controversial and a reflection of our time. For example, George Floyd was portrayed as a victim of police brutality when many believe that it was due to a fentanyl overdose. The media appears to have no interest in the truth but more interested in spinning the accepted narrative as they dogmatically denounce any other perspective. Why are current events even recorded in a history book?
While I was there I spoke with Steve Homan the districts Assistant Superintendent and he told me that "the district has nothing to hide".
Is this level of transparency good enough?
At the April 18, 2024 school board meeting Jason Mowery expressed concern regarding the lack of Digital access to review curriculum and the need for hiring a firm that "specializes in doing independent review for school boards". According to Jason his concern and lack of trust in the districts past reviews stems from his review of the book Ladders, the Bill of Rights. You can download of the pamphlet below.
"In the preface, It says, Pay attention to the words, but also look at the pictures and features. This book is packed with eye-catching visual that give you a ton of additional information if you only pay attention to them. Then when I start to look at it and I see a huge picture of a police officer leading a German shepherd through a school district sniffing lockers with all the curriculum content in small print. Now, this was being put in front of a nine-year-old fourth grader.
Is Jason justified in his concerns?
What is not available for review is the digital teachers guides that are provided as part of the curriculum which some believe are closely guarded away from the review of parents.
Do parents and school board members have time or the energy to conduct a thorough review of proposed curriculum including all supporting teachers guides and supporting material? Do we trust our teachers and curriculum directors to thoroughly and adequacy review curriculum given past issues and concerns?
Perhaps Independent review would be a wise investment for peace of mind for all involved.
Thank you for this email. I am a retired Intervention Specialist from a school district in the north eastern part of Montgomery county. Two years before I retired, I emailed our curriculum director and asked what questions were included in a questionnaire that the high school students were to complete. Teachers were not supposed to ask students to discuss anything about the questionnaire or about their responses.
I emailed the curriculum director stating that if I was a parent (or teacher) I would want to know what questions the district was asking my child. The curriculum director emailed me back with a very evasive response. He stated that he understood how “passionate” I felt about the issue. He also state…