A new course is being piloted within the district– ethnic studies. The widespread movement for equality and representation highlighted the need for a course dedicated to teaching students about the diverse history and perspectives of people of color.

During the winter break, ethnic studies was introduced to San Juan Hills through a district-wide pilot course offered to only a small number of students. The class will require students to understand the systematic oppression of people of color and to encourage them to become more active in their community.

“While it originally emphasized race, ethnic studies now also looks at how gender, sexuality, language and economic class – among other aspects of identity – intersect with race and ethnicity,” said Virginia Reischl, key organizer and teacher involved with the Ethnic Studies course.

The passing of the FAIR Education Act in California ensured that economic, social, and political history of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are included in textbooks. This law was a turning point and inspired the movement to change curriculum in schools to also include more BIPOC history and racism.

While the class isn’t permanently implemented district-wide, the trial run of the course is taking place and is trying to plant its roots and become a permanent part of the curriculum. The district is looking for a student’s perspective on the class and it’s content before officially being implemented.

 “An ethnic studies class might analyze textbooks for omissions about which U.S. presidents were slave owners and then write to the textbook companies,” said Reischl.

Inclusive education is in demand. There is a need for diversity in curriculum and ethnic studies and other courses falling in line with the FAIR Act are the solution. 

This demand for change should not come as a surprise. The Black Lives Matter movement has sparked so much action from community members, and especially students. 

“They want a curriculum that includes the voices and perspectives of communities of color, and that desire has increased the demand for ethnic studies in a wide range of communities (case in point, CUSD Against Racism)”, said Reischl.

In the summer, student led organization, CUSD Against Racism, held a rally at the district offices aimed to change district policies to be more inclusive of BIPOC students. The group sent an open letter consisting of testimonials from community members and consistently spoke at board meetings trying to create change.

“CUSD offers a semester Ethnic Studies course in the Credit Recovery Apex curriculum. The course is an approved module within the Apex content and has been offered to students with credit deficiencies for the past five years,” said Reischl. “This spring semester 2021, a pilot program was introduced to general education students. The purpose of this program is to generate feedback/input from students, both from credit recovery and general education, on the content and pace of the course to support District curriculum development of an A-G Ethnics Studies course.”

“Student volunteers from each comprehensive high school began the self paced Apex Ethnic Studies semester course on Friday, January 15th, in order to provide input/feedback regarding content and improvement. Their evaluations will support the Ethnic Studies curriculum development set to begin next year,” said Reischl.

The future implementation of Ethnic Studies is in line with CUSD Against Racism’s demands and the new Cultural Proficiency Strategic Plan, but Reischl hasn’t stopped there. She also has plans to introduce new literature for English classes district-wide that are currently being reviewed.

In the 2021-2022 school year, Reischl hopes to establish a curriculum development team to design the course which will be piloted as a semester course in the 2022-2023 school year. Work is continuing to be done and hopefully results in a more inclusive education and diverse curriculum.