History with bio on West endorsed

A Washington state history textbook with a page devoted to Spokane’s embattled mayor could be in Spokane middle school classrooms next year.

Spokane Public Schools will go ahead and purchase a state history book with a page devoted to Mayor Jim West if the school board accepts Tuesday’s recommendation by the Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

After being tabled for six months and surviving a motion Tuesday to again table the issue (it failed 8-14), the committee voted to approve the textbook in a 17-3 vote with abstentions.

In May, the Spokane Public Schools 35-person Council for Curriculum and Assessment was confronted with approving a book that contained West’s bio and photo on page 95. The meeting came days after the West scandal broke. The brief biography is headlined, “A big city mayor has a very big job,” and was put together before a series of investigative articles were published in The Spokesman-Review accusing the mayor of sexual molestation and abuse of office.

The textbook, “The State We’re In: Washington,” was intended to educate students about the importance of state, local and tribal governments, and inspire people to get more involved in government. It was produced by the League of Women Voters of Washington Education Fund.

The biography is short, factual and makes no mention of the scandal, and district curriculum officials were concerned in May about bringing up West in the classroom. Now it’s likely that many discussions about West already have taken place in classrooms, said some educators on the committee.

“The emotions were still revving pretty high (back then),” said Sharon Becker, district director of professional learning. “That’s why this was tabled.”

Becker also pointed out that the state guide to teaching social studies to seventh-graders says students should learn about recall elections, like the one West faces in December.

“You don’t skirt an issue in social studies,” Becker said.

By their comments, some committee members revealed conflicted feelings, including Maureen Ramos, president of the Spokane Education Association, the teacher’s union.

“We have a huge risk here,” Ramos said. “This is political suicide. … It could really come back to bite us. We are this close to a recall election.”

But, Ramos said, “this book has tons of stuff we must have.”

Jeff Halstead, a technology facilitator for the district, said he is concerned that the bio on West doesn’t give the whole story. He urged others to be cautious about giving seventh-graders a book that includes a mayor accused of misconduct.

“If the community were to vote down a recall this would be different,” Halstead said.

Becker told the group that no script or pre-determined response would be issued to teachers on the West topic, should it come up in the classroom.

“We don’t do it for any other topic. We don’t do it for slavery. We don’t do it with Rosa Parks,” Becker said.

Also out of the question was simply removing or covering up the page, which would be a form of censorship, something the district doesn’t practice, Becker said.

While supporting free speech, Shannon Hughes, a teacher at Holmes Elementary, said it’s a time to be cautious.

“We have a levy coming up,” she said.

The value of the book itself wasn’t in question.

Becker pointed out that the curriculum director’s job is to identify gaps in lessons and find material to fill it. Finding usable material for state American Indian history and the formation of the state of Washington has been challenging. This book supplies content for both areas. State law encourages districts to include information on local tribes.

The book was the only supplemental text considered by Spokane Public Schools for seventh-graders who take Washington state history. In all, 475 copies would be purchased at a cost of $4,750. The cost may be covered by a grant.

Word of the committee’s decision came as good news for Karen Verrill, project manager of the book and president of the nonprofit division of the League of Women Voters.

About half of the 10,000 run of books has been sold, covering publishing costs to date, Verrill said. The book had been intended as a fund-raiser, but profit has been elusive so far, Verrill said.

Some Indian tribes have ordered the book, as did the director of the Seattle School District Indian Education program, Verrill said.