Cheboygan school board approves curriculum options, mapping

CHEBOYGAN — The Cheboygan Area Schools Board of Education met Monday night to discuss the updated curriculum being offered in the district.

During the meeting, Julie Lohela, chair of the curriculum committee, discussed the progress being made by the committee and district to create strong curriculum maps. The maps are being used to have a specific, accessible, written out curriculum so data can be evaluated to more easily spot where there may be gaps in curriculum when testing results are given back to the district.

The board approved the purchase of a 2020 McGraw Hill Inspire Science curriculum for second-fifth grades for $71,031.

They also approved an Illustrative Mathematics curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade for $250,847. The final piece of curriculum they approved was McGraw Hill’s Wonders reading curriculum for third through fifth grades for $81,034.

During the discussion, board treasurer Matt Mlynarchek said he thinks the next superintendent Spencer Byrd should be included in the curriculum planning discussions because he will be the one having to help with the transition as students go from grade to grade.

“It just seems like there’s some differing opinions and he’s going to be the one that’s going to have to live with those decisions, so I just think he should be brought into the loop,” Mlynarchek said.

He also said he was worried about whether what the board was suggesting would align with specific integration goals.

Lohela said she thinks there needs to be good communication between teachers so any missing curriculum can be adjusted and changed.

She said the curriculum committee is also looking at another curriculum option that stresses the importance of the science of reading and phonics for younger grades, so when students get older, they can have a better understanding of language while reading.

During the meeting, Mlynarchek also suggested the board go through the curriculum to look at books that are in the curriculum in order to avoid having any books that may upset students or parents.

During the February regular board meeting, a parent asked that the book “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely be removed from the curriculum. The mother who addressed the board said the book made her and her son uncomfortable because her husband is a police officer, and the book has references to police brutality and underage drinking.

“He serves Cheboygan County and four other counties in his work, and I don't feel that it's great quality at all if we want to encourage our students to go into criminal justice, to go into police work,” she said. "It was just very upsetting.”

She said that she originally brought the topic up to her son’s ninth grade English teacher and had a meeting with him and the high school principal, Nancy Spray.

Superintendent Paul Clark said this was the first time since he has been in the role that someone has requested the book be pulled from the classroom.

The district did decide to pull the book from the classroom, Clark said.

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“I think that it is best if we find a different book to teach social and political issues,” he said in an email to the Daily Tribune. “Cheboygan has had a very good relationship with our city, county, and state police departments. While we recognize that there have been some police issues nationwide, I would not want our students to read the book and feel that they are unsafe in our community. The book will still be allowed in our high school, it just will not be required reading in our English classrooms.”

The district has not decided what book will be replacing the novel.

Mlynarchek said that before buying the curriculum, he wanted to make sure that the curriculum was carefully evaluated to make sure there weren't any inclusions parents would disagree with.

“I just want to make sure if we're buying curriculum that we're not buying stuff that maybe a lot of parents might disagree with,” he said.

The curriculum committee's next meeting is May 16. The curriculum maps can be viewed on the district website.

— Contact education reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan school board approves curriculum options, mapping