REDMOND, OR -- Redmond Schools officials will soon approve new curriculum for a handful of courses. For high school A.P. US Government: “American Government: Stories of a Nation;" for high school Sociology: “Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach;” for middle school dual language Language Arts: “Galeria” and various plays for high school Drama class. The district is offering the public an opportunity to weigh in on the selections, through May 31st.
Selecting public school curriculum is traditionally done behind the scenes with teachers, administrators and the school board. But Superintendent Dr. Charan Cline acknowledges new political rhetoric puts the process center stage, "Teachers work on it for quite a bit of time, we have recommendations from the state about what meets state standards. We also have board members involved with that selection. So we review and after the teachers have done their hard work - and it is a lot of hard work - then we open it up for the community to look at. There’s a lot of misconceptions about what we teach kids, and so this is an opportunity for people to see the curriculum we’re adopting."
He tells KBND News, "We select curriculum about once every seven years per subject. As you can imagine, they’re very expensive to buy. It’s kind of this ongoing cycle. We got a little behind during the pandemic and so we’re playing catch-up right now."
A final decision on each course will be made by the school board. "If people are really, really opposed to what we’ve selected, then the board will ask us to start over again. And, of course that delays things and it’s expensive and all that. But as part of a good community partnership, that’s what we do."
Dr. Cline says the best way to look at the curriculum in-depth is at the district office at 145 SE Salmon Ave., weekdays between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. "We’ve also got links on our webpage, if you want to take a look at these virtually." Links can be found in the secondary curriculum preview announcement on the school district site, located on the homepage under the district news section.
