Central York faces a new thorny issue: How much oversight parents have over lessons

Curriculum — or, rather, the influence parents have over it — remains a hot-button issue for Central York schools.

In August 2021, the school district garnered national attention over a book ban handed down nearly a year prior as part of a review of teaching materials primarily targeting creators of color and subjects related to racism. The ban was lifted shortly thereafter amid student and community protest.

About the same time, it came to light that the district repeatedly delayed updates to its curriculum across a wide swath of subject areas. This school year, the district's school board has worked to address that systemic problem.

Now, the district is grappling with a related conundrum: How much influence parents should have over curriculum.

Last week, the board was scheduled to consider a proposal designed to increase transparency over academic subjects and teaching practices. Instead, that item was pulled from the agenda shortly before the meeting, sparking debate among everyone involved.

At issue?

Some parents argue that it's their right to review what their children are learning and demand changes to the curriculum. Teachers, however, say that form of intense oversight isn't practical — given the time constraints — and could leave the district open to further missteps similar to the racist book ban.

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The existing policy states parents/guardians of students under age 18 can inspect the materials used in the curriculum. If the student is over 18 or has been emancipated from their legal guardians, the power to review curriculum transfers to the student.

Changes: The proposed revision removed the guideline for over-18 and emancipated students, thus giving the parents and guardians more access to the curriculum. 

The current policy also provides guidelines on how to file a complaint concerning learning materials. After submitting the complaint in writing, the person can then meet with the assistant superintendent to resolve this issue. 

If that doesn't work, it can be escalated to the superintendent and possibly the board. 

But the revised policy changed several parts of this, such as having the person with the complaint go to the teachers and building principals before submitting the complaint to administrators.

Teachers say this proposed change could wreak havoc on their already busy schedules.

'Value and time' at issue: One district teacher, Lauri Brady said the change would mean teachers are forced to do even more administrative work, such as uploading all of their classroom materials onto Schoology, a learning management system, or a resource folder. 

Brady said few people on the board understand what's required of a teacher. She said the board makes it sound easy to upload, but it’s not, because each teacher uses hundreds of resources. 

“The issue isn’t transparency,” she said, at the Jan. 23 school board meeting. “The issue is value and time.”

She pointed out that some lessons, such as life skills, do not always translate well on the system and it is a waste of time to upload the materials, especially after the lesson happened. 

“Where do you expect teachers to find the time to post these things?” Brady asked. “Please tell us what we can stop doing and replace so that we can complete this task.”

Brady also asked who is this being done for, who will be reading their resources and where are the parents who are concerned by these materials.

She suggested the board works with the teachers and stops pushing for policies that cut down on instructional time. 

'Autonomy' needed: Another teacher, Brandy Detwiler, said every class is different and teachers have to adjust to needs they can’t anticipate. Teachers simply don't have the time to field such scrutiny over their lesson plans, she said.

“We have to give teachers some autonomy,” she said. 

Jodi Grothe, the school board's vice president, told the teachers: “This is not over. We are still going to be reviewing the policies.”

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Grothe said there is more work to do and the board will continue until everyone’s happy. 

'Subversion': Board member Amy Milsten said she was troubled by revisions done to the policy they pulled.

“There was a subversion of the committee process,” she said, explaining that much of the discussion took place outside of the board committee concerning curriculum and policy.

What this meant, in real terms, is that the public wasn't part of the internal discussions, Milsten said.

Board member Rebecca Riek added: “I think these discussions and decisions should be in committee or during public meetings so that everyone knows what’s happening and it’s transparent to everyone.”

The board did pass a policy that ensures parents and guardians can excuse students from specific instruction that conflicts with religious beliefs and that other reasons will be reviewed case-by-case. 

Other modifications included allowing parents and guardians of students at any age and to students over 18 to request to be excused. Another change was changing it from the student's responsibility to work with the district to the parent's responsibility to work with the district to request permission for the student to be excused. 

Board members also discussed revisions to another policy that specifies what textbooks are allowed, who maintains a list of them and that textbook samples must be available for the board at least 28 days before use. 

The revision would require a board-approved list that the district must make publicly accessible online.

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During the discussion, board member Tim Strickler said the board members want policies that clearly set curriculum guidelines. However, he asked if it will be a cohesive or fragmented set of policies that define the curriculum. 

Assistant Superintendent Kevin Youcheff assured him that’s what the joint committee is working to do by reviewing these policies. 

The next meeting is at 6.30 p.m. Feb. 13 at 775 Marion Road. It can be attended in person or via YouTube through their channel https://www.youtube.com/@cysdboardminutes433/streams. 

Cap collection: In other board news, the high school's Earth Savers Environmental Club is collecting plastic bottle caps, which are used to create benches and picnic tables.

The students clean them up and ship the lids off to Green Tree Plastics in Indiana. The club pays the company to make benches or picnic tables out of those materials, said club member Zachary Smith during a Jan. 9 board meeting.  

Smith asked board members to tell people to save the bottle caps. He added the club also plans to expand to the other schools in the district. 

— Reach Meredith Willse at mwillse@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @MeredithWillse.