Harford schools risk losing some state funding after board votes against curriculum

Harford County Public Schools runs the risk of being out of compliance with the Maryland State Department of Education and losing state funding after the Board of Education voted against adoption of the Sixth Grade Social Sciences curriculum this week.

Board members Diane Alvarez, Lauren Strauss, Terri Kocher, Vice President Melissa Hahn and President Aaron Poynton cited inappropriate content in the curriculum when voting against approval Monday.

“The topics in the assignments are relevant to select areas of sociology and political activism rather than geography and I did not see a balanced perspective on these topics,” Kocher said. “We need to teach students, not lead them in how they think and make sure that all perspectives are represented, which I did not see when I looked at the curriculum.”

Kocher noted that she feels there is a “fairly severe progressive agenda at work” in the new curriculum, which she continued to speak against throughout the board meeting.

The Sixth Grade Social Science curriculum was one of three to be voted on by the board Monday night. The other two were Advanced Placement African American Studies and Women in Perspective and they received similar criticism.

An updated framework for “social studies” was approved by the Maryland State Board of Education in January, which prompted Harford teachers and a media specialist to adjust the local social science curriculum to meet the new standard set by the state.

Harford’s social science is the same as social studies, according to Erin Lange, the school system’s supervisor of social sciences, who said the name change in Harford occurred before the start of her tenure.

The course is a mandatory, two-year geography course for sixth- and seventh-grade students. The updated course focuses more on human geography, which is a shift from how the course was formerly delivered.

“For example, ancient Greece, ancient Rome and ancient Egypt are still being taught, but it is through the lens of how those civilizations develop uniquely because of the geography,” Lange said.

Lange noted that physical geography will still be taught in the new curriculum, just with a heavier emphasis on how humans built civilizations through interactions with the environment as well as the study of cultures.

Hahn stated that after she looked through the curriculum, she became concerned with the content as well as links associated with the curriculum that she said lead to inappropriate websites.

“As a school system it is our job to present neutral information and to help all students make their own decisions,” Hahn said. “We shouldn’t be providing biased information.”

Hahn joined Kocher in urging the school system to rework the curriculum to have more geography and to “remove political ideologies.”

Since the board did not approve the curriculum, Lange explained that Harford schools could lose 10% of their state funding and suffer numerous other monetary consequences, if they remain out of compliance with the state.

Harford uses a dynamic curriculum managing system called Canvass, which allows school officials to collaboratively manage and adjust school curriculums as needed. Curriculum writers have until June 30 to adjust the curriculum and resubmit the changes to the board for approval in July.

Should the board approve the changes, the school system will remain in compliance with the state.

The vote on Women in Perspective, a curriculum created by a C. Milton Wright English teacher in 2006, was tabled, as much of the curriculum had not been completed, according to Poynton.

Women in Perspective is currently labeled a Reading English Language Arts curriculum but after consideration by Harford school officials in January, educators decided the curriculum was a better fit for social sciences.

The homegrown elective course focuses on the lived experiences of women through different historical, sociological, economic and cultural lenses.

Board members voiced concerns about the curriculum’s content citing the same issues of political divisiveness, lack of perspective and inappropriate content. Since the curriculum was not complete, board members voted to table the vote on it until the board’s next meeting, July 15.