Curriculum, prayer at issue in school election
STEFANIE L. PEARSON
Assistant Editor
When Scottsdale voters elect three new members to its school board Tuesday, they will select individuals responsible for setting policy for their children's schools and acting as arbiter between competing forces over thorny issues including sex education, charter schools and voucher programs, and how the district's curriculum will look in the coming years.
Traditional and liberal forces are expected to clash during periodic curriculum reviews. The Scottsdale Unified School District long has been a nurturing ground for progressive teaching methodologies. Now, some conservatives are asking for a return to a traditional textbook-and-lecture approach.
Tangles between liberals and conservatives are not new to the district. Three years ago, a proposed sex education curriculum caused strife when some residents objected strenuously to the program's discussion of birth control and prevention of transmission of the virus that causes AIDS. After a bitter fight, program proponents won out and the course is now taught in the district. Parents may choose for their children not to participate.
Jewish News spoke with eight of the nine candidates for the new board term but was unable to reach J.P. Jones, a retired Chaparral High School principal. A 10th candidate, Karl Keierleber, has withdrawn from the race.
All but one of the candidates with whom Jewish News spoke are supportive of the current sex education program.
Only candidate Mark Steele said the program needs some changes: Parents should be able to "opt-in," rather than "opt-out," and the curriculum should be changed to "abstinence only." Discussing birth control, he said, "tends to create promiscuity."
He said that an AIDS prevention discussion is not necessary, preferring AIDS be included in a general discussion of venereal diseases.
According to a district spokesperson, while abstinence is the main focus of the current program, birth control methods are discussed, as is the use of condoms to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus.
Let us pray?
All candidates interviewed said they oppose student or faculty-led prayer in public school classrooms. Shari Avianantos, Jerry Gettinger, Richard Lane, Steele and Sandra Zapien-Ferrero said they support the current law that allows a moment of silence. Michael Girand and June Reynolds said they also oppose a moment of silence.
Avianantos and Steele said they also support allowing prayer at extracurricular events such as football games.
Other lightning rod issues for proponents of church-state separation are charter schools and voucher programs, which ostensibly create greater choice for parents and competition for schools by allowing private entities to receive public monies to run schools that function outside public school systems.
Watchdogs fear that sectarian groups may establish charter schools, diverting tax money to quasi-parochial education.
Voucher and tax credit programs allow parents to use tax funds to pay tuition at private schools, which could include sectarian schools.
Gettinger, Zapien-Ferrero, Lane and Reynolds oppose charter schools, vouchers and tax credits. Reynolds is a member of Mainstream Arizona, a group affiliated with the American Jewish Committee that has fought charter/voucher programs locally.
Ryan and Avianantos support charter schools but oppose granting charters to schools affiliated with sectarian organizations. Both oppose vouchers and tax credits. Girand opposes charter schools and said discussion of voucher programs or tax credits are "irrelevant" to school board races.
Steele, however, supports charter schools and tax credits, saying he prefers credits to vouchers because voucher programs put parochial schools at a "disadvantage," since religious schools cannot be funded with public monies. The tax credit plan, he said, is "more palatable" because tax money "doesn't go directly" to parochial schools.
Steele said he would not favor sponsoring a charter for a sectarian school.
Return to tradition
Lane, Ryan and Steele all said they support the reintroduction of traditional teaching methods, a textbook-and-lecture approach. While none advocated eliminating non-traditional approaches, such as Whole Language or Montessori methodologies, Ryan and Steele advocate a "strand" approach, with parents choosing the classroom approach they prefer for each child.
Lane called for school uniforms and a greater emphasis on discipline.
Gettinger and Girand both said they wanted to see higher expectations in the district.
"Kids do as much or as little as is asked of them," said Gettinger, a member of Temple Chai. "Expectations need to be kept high for kids to excel."
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