News

Tx SBOE to Vote on CRT IMs

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is to vote on Health Instructional Materials filled with CRT and Comprehensive Sex Education on Nov. 16th.

By Alice Linahan 11/05/2021

Take Action! Call the SBOE! Below, important information is provided to show you exactly why you must start making those calls. Find who represents you here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

For a little background. In Texas, the Permanent Education Fund (PEF) is used to purchase online digital Instruction Materials (IMs) and for the professional development of teachers to use those IMs. The SBOE votes to approve the IMs that can be purchased using the PFE. Therefore, if the SBOE approves the proposed IMs, districts (while not required) will use them in Health classes in their district.

The goal of the SBOE is to provide all Texas students an education of equal opportunity for success in life. Two key roles are…

  • Setting curriculum standards
  • Reviewing and adopting instructional materials (IMs)

On Nov. 16 the SBOE is set to approve, or NOT, 4 publisher’s Health IM’s for use in Classrooms across Texas. Those 4 publishers are

Human Kinetics, Grades 6–8
LessonBee, Grades 7–8
QuaverEd, Grades K–5
Goodheart-Wilcox Grades 6, 7-8
Goodheart-Wilcox Health I &II

The graphic below provides a breakdown of each of the 4 publishers. Please feel free to download and use it to let the SBOE know they need to vote NO on ALL four publishers.

ALL 4 publishers have focused their IM’s on Social (Health) and Emotional (Health) instructional materials (SEL). NOT academic science.

If you recall, the horrible school mental health bills (SB11 and HB18) included mandating mental health as a part of health education.
The (SBOE) sets policies and standards for Texas public schools and last year the SBOE did a great job of removing some potentially harmful, or disturbing content from Texas’s required standards known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for health education. Some of the original proposals included teaching about suicide as early as 3rd grade, for example.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to remove all of the bad content.

Analysis

  • Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the primary focus of ALL instructional materials presented to the SBOE for approval.   
  • When the focus of the IMs shift away from knowledge-based facts and information to SEL- attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors the question becomes whose attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors?
  • Parents are asking… Can I See WHAT you are teaching my child? Can I See HOW you are teaching my child? CAN I See WHO is financially benefiting from the curriculum on which my child’s teacher is evaluated?    
  • Parents are asking are these instructional materials the gateway for my child’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors to be assessed, tracked, and modified using software and algorithms?
  • Technology is not always right. An Algorithm is an opinion written into code and algorithms can be wrong and can keep kids in a loop— keep them from moving onto the next level, and can wrongly profile children.
  • These instructional materials provide the “The Medicalization of Our Schools.”

Take Action! Call Your SBOE Member. Below are some important talking points. Find who represents you here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

Texas Proposed Health Textbooks- Intrusive Questions, Kids Playing “Doctor,” Pathologizing Emotions

Texas’s proposed new health textbooks will be voted on by the State Board of Education, November 16th. There are many things to be concerned about:

  • Intrusive questions, assessments, or screenings.
  • Students identify mental problems in themselves or others.
  • Pathologizing such things as “strong emotions” in the name of “emotional health” or “social health.”

One high school textbook goes so far as to have students do a mental health “checkup” on themselves and then encourages them to share their findings with a “trusted adult” or a doctor and “brainstorm” ways to improve their mental health. Parents are removed from the equation.

We do not need children self-diagnosing, and trusted adults are not limited to parents. It includes teachers, counselors, doctors.

Parents must be the gatekeepers as to when and if their children discuss emotional problems or seek care. Parents are the ones who protect their children from questionable treatment and fraudulent schemes.

One set of materials includes an emoji-based emotional assessment for elementary school-aged children in certain grades. The teacher can track the student’s emotional state using a “health tracker” app.

Virtually all of the texts pathologize emotions and feelings by having students identify social or emotionally “healthy” characteristics, learn how to deal with stress or emotions. Characterizing these things as health implies that such things can be unhealthy.

We do not need to medicalize every aspect of life. For centuries, conduct, managing one’s emotions and behavior were addressed through religion, manners, discipline, and parenting.

Our schools are not church, and we certainly don’t need to “co-parent” with the state.

Read the attached grid here of issues with health texts. This is not a complete set of concerns. Then call your SBOE member. Find who represents you here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

Again, parents, not schools, need to be the ones to discuss sensitive issues with children.

These materials are not up for editing. They are up for an up or down vote on whether to accept or reject.

Please act now!

To see for yourself what is in these IMs go to

Instructional Materials Grid

To see the materials referenced, follow these instructions:

Go to:  http://tea4avcastro.tea.state.tx.us/imet/agreement.html

Answer the Agreement and confirm.

Most of the materials are password protected. You’ve also agreed not to reproduce these materials.

Once you’ve logged in to a specific set of materials, any links to those materials in the grid should work.

User Names and passwords for the materials are below:

Sign In