TUSD Sets Date For Review Discussion Of Family Life Curriculum

pilar ruiz
Parent and education activist, Pilar Ruiz, calls on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board to hear the community’s concerns regarding the "Family Life" Sex Education curriculum review process.

On Tuesday, Tucson Unified District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo announced his decision to place an item on the July 23, 2019 Governing Board meeting agenda to discuss the “Family Life” Sex Education curriculum review process.

Trujillo’s action during Tuesday’s Tucson Unified School District Governing Board meeting followed the Call to the Audience in which numerous community members called for an opportunity to review the curriculum before it is adopted by the Board.

“As a concerned citizen, I attended the TUSD board meeting after the kerfuffle raised by the Arizona Daily Star only to be happily disappointed by the inaction of the Governing Board,” said community leader and teacher Chris King. “The apparent transparency and desire to rebuild generations of mistrust by Dr. Trujillo shows he may be on the right track, however slow it may be.”

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Parents likely would have had little luck for an opportunity to review if it had not been for Board member Rachael Sedgwick. Prior to the meeting she contacted Trujillio:

From: Rachael Sedgwick <ms.sedgwick@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 8:54 AM
Subject: Re: Family Life Curriculum (High School)
To: Roman, Nicholas <Nicholas.Roman@tusd1.org>
Cc: Trujillo, Gabriel <Gabriel.Trujillo@tusd1.org>, Lovegreen, Sylvia <Sylvia.Lovegreen@tusd1.org>, Gutierrez, Michele <Michele.Gutierrez@tusd1.org>, Tarin, Sarah <Sarah.Tarin@tusd1.org>

Good Morning,

Several people have reached out requesting to review TUSD’s “secret sex ed curriculum.”  Can we please have it posted for public review ASAP on Monday?  I am not sure why the info has been kept secret; it is a public issue, the curriculum is being created by a public committee, which was appointed by a public school board that is elected by the public to serve the public by running the public schools, the curriculum in which is quite public. What am I missing?

Nothing about the process or the results should be private–unless I have missed something?  Please share the doc attached ASAP unless there is a compelling legal reason not to.

Thank you!
Rachael

Of course, it was incomplete and unavailable for review, but without Sedgwick’s effort, as other boards do across the state, Trujillo would have been able to block review thanks to loopholes in Arizona law and Arizona School Board Association-crafted policies.

The District formed the “Comprehensive Family Life Curriculum Committee” to review and make “recommendations of suggested revisions to the current Family Life Curriculum.” That Committee came under fire earlier this month for the secrecy surrounding the curriculum development process. The District has touted it as “one of the most LGBTQ-inclusive, comprehensive and medically accurate” in southern Arizona.

Related article: There is No Such Thing as “Safe” Sex for Kids 3.0

The “Comprehensive Family Life Curriculum Committee” is on track to finish their work before it is presented to the TUSD Governing Board. The Committee’s next meeting July 16, at 3:00 p.m., in the Blue Room at 1010 West 10th Street. The meeting is open to the public.