An excerpt from a Mayou Angelou book involving a sexual encounter between the author and a man named Curly somehow planned as part of an eighth grade reading lesson prompted a statement from Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles Wednesday readily conceding that a mistake had been made.
The passage was part of a memoir Gather Together in My Name the famed author and poet had written. Caught before distribution — well at least not to the students — it showed up online at houstonisdwatch, a website that tends not to be a fan of the changes the district is undergoing under the new leadership.
In his statement, the superintendent referenced the recent addition of “teacher experts” who’ll be devoting half their time to reviewing the curriculum before its sent out to the schools from central office. Their addition was originally announced after not a few teachers complained there were errors on the worksheets and slides coming their way from the centrally located new curriculum authors — who at last report were running about two weeks ahead on each download to the classroom teachers.
Now those teacher-experts will have even more to look for. And while the type of activity described has probably been seen by many kids of that age on TV or film or streamed on their laptops, the situation described in black and white as well as the immortal phrase “dick teaser” it contained, well might make some parents uneasy or upset. That and the multiple choice choices:
How would you summarize the narrator’s initial reluctance to go to Curly’s hotel?
A. She was excited and eager.
B. She had doubts and hesitations.
C. She was confident and enthusiastic.
The complete statement from Miles:
Let me begin by assuring parents and families that the curriculum and lessons given to our students will be age-appropriate and meet the high standards that I set when I was appointed in June. The issue with the 8th grade curriculum was discovered, corrected, and all campuses have been directed to ensure the right lessons are shared with children tomorrow.
While this issue was identified and corrected before it impacted students or instruction, this does not meet the standards I set for the HISD team, and it does not meet the commitment we made to our educators and students.
I have directed the Chief Academic Officer to review all the systems and processes related to curriculum creation to ensure that inappropriate content never gets to classrooms.
In addition, I have already begun taking steps to strengthen our curriculum development and review processes. We are paying a team of HISD teacher-experts from each grade level and content area to review curriculum half time. They will make our lessons better and I’m grateful they will be joining the team. Next, we will be reaching out to engage our teachers district-wide and in our divisions to get feedback on the curricular resources we provide.
This will help us strengthen lessons, catch errors more quickly so teachers don’t have to, and give teachers the support we promised them.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
