By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- The state's top school official said Thursday a "hotline'' he set up two months ago has resulted in credible tips about what he calls "critical race theory'' and unacceptable handling by schools of other controversial issues in Arizona classrooms.
But Tom Horne refused to say how many such reports there were, acknowledging only that there were 30,000 "crank'' calls. And when pushed for specifics of complaints with possible merit, he could cite only four
None of those, however, have resulted in the Department of Education taking any action. Instead, Horne said, his office has reached out to the districts for more information.
As it turns out, one of the four incidents he cited -- a list from a principal at Orange Grove Middle School in the Catalina Foothills school district of the pronouns students wanted used for themselves -- actually occurred in 2021. District spokeswoman Julie Farbarik said that district policy is not to hide information from parents and staff will answer any questions they have.
And officials from the Mesa Unified School District denied Horne's claim that a second incident, this ``The image nor the material cited in it belongs to Mesa public schools,'' said Joseph Valdez, the district's director communications and engagement. ``It's not something that is part of our website and is not reflective of the district,'' he said, saying it appears to be a file saved in someone's personal Google folder.
And there's something else.
Horne conceded at a press conference he called that even if he could prove validity to complaints that a school district has what he believes is unacceptable racially tinged curricula or policies he finds unacceptable about how students are addressed, he lacks the power actually to do anything about it. That ability exists within individual school boards who are locally elected.
That answer, however, did not sit well with two self-defined "dissident'' members of the Scottsdale Unified School District governing board, invited to the press conference by Horne, from complaining about materials being used at both the elementary and high school level. One module for lower grade students, said Karen Warner, is "how to be a good citizen.''
"It's showing children protesting with politically charged posters as well as racially charged posters,'' she said. Pushed to define what she called "racially charged,'' Warner said "Black lives matter.''
There also was what she described as a test for upper grades so students could see "how racist you are.''
"Our kids deserve better than this,'' she said.
Only thing is, the materials had been approved by the other three board members who all determined that the materials were appropriate.
Horne said state law gives parents the right to review all books, teaching materials and supplemental lessons available to students. And all parents are free to lobby school board members about what they should and should not approve for the classroom.
The Thursday press conference was the latest bid by Horne to wipe out what he calls "critical race theory.''
That actually is an academic concept of understanding racism and how what continues to occur in society is affected by historical and current factors like discrimination, red-lining to keep minorities out of neighborhoods and even subtle racism.
But in what has become a culture war, Horne and many other Republicans contend that any lesson that teaches anything other than equality is CRT. He said that theory tells children that race is the primary factor of how people treat each other.
The concept has ballooned in Arizona.
"This all started during COVID when parents could see what the students were being taught because it was online,'' Horne said. "And many parents were shocked at what they saw, especially critical race theory kinds of things that were being taught to the students.''
One result was the hotline, billed as a place where parents and teacher can report what the Department of Education called "inappropriate public school lessons that detract from teaching academic standards.'' That, the agency said, includes not just focusing on race or ethnicity rather than individuals and merit but also "promoting gender ideology, social emotional learning, or inappropriate sexual content.''
Horne has refused to make the complaints public. Nor would he say on Thursday how many of the calls or emails were legitimate.
And, other than contacting schools or districts to follow up, there's the fact that Horne acknowledged is little he can do to change their conduct, even if he finds it unacceptable.
So what's the point of calling?
"We can try to use our influence,'' Horne responded.
"If a teacher is abusing the position of using a captive audience to promote an ideology, that might be unprofessional conduct,'' he said. But all that would allow him to do is to recommend that the state Board of Education suspend or revoke that person's teaching license.
Horne said nothing in his objections to critical race theory prevent the teaching of historical facts, like slavery and Jim Crow laws discriminating against people of color. But he was less clear about how to handle current issues of racism.
Earlier Thursday. for example, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Alabama lawmakers had drawn congressional districts in a way that discriminated against Blacks. The justices said the maps put together had just one district out of seven where Blacks were likely to be able to elect a candidate of their choice in a state where more than one in four residents is Black.
Horne said that discussing the court ruling itself would be acceptable in classroom lessons under the category of "accurate history.''
And what should a teacher be able to tell a student who complains of having been the victim of discrimination?
"I think the solution is teach the other kids that they are to treat everybody as an individual and that race is not relevant and that sexual orientation is not relevant, not to tell kids that they live in a white supremacy country,'' he said. "That's outrageous to me and I think it's unprofessional as hell.''
Horne said his concerns go beyond critical race theory. He also lashed out at anything that teaches about a dominant culture, unconscious bias, privilege and "restorative justice,'' the last he defined as talking to people when they misbehave versus punishing them.
Amy Carney, another member of the Scottsdale school board invited by Horne to his press conference, acknowledged that parents are entitled to opt their children out of lessons they find inappropriate, such as the ones the board adopted earlier this week over the objections of Warner and herself. That also requires students to be provided with alternative assignments.
But that, she said, doesn't address her objection.
"I'm sorry, but we should not be buying any curriculum or assigning things to our elementary school students that parents have to worry about opting out of,'' Carney said.
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