The Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 Board of Education rejected a proposal Tuesday to adopt the Bluebonnet curriculum as its official K-5 English language arts curriculum in a 4-3 vote against the measure.
The vote occurred in a special meeting that focused on the curriculum’s alignment with Colorado state standards, factual errors throughout and alleged changes to a board-approved memorandum of understanding with Houston Independent School District.
The meeting followed a story by Chalkbeat that brought up concerns about the district using a curriculum that is not included in approved materials by the Colorado Department of Education and was critical of the curriculum’s inclusion of Bible stories. Board President Joshua Shumway said the meeting was scheduled prior to the article’s publication.
In a letter to parents and the public after the Chalkbeat article published, Superintendent Eddie Ramirez said the district will remove or modify biblical and religious content. He also said the curriculum was in line with Colorado state academic standards.
“The reading, mathematics and science curriculum resources being implemented by Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 have been carefully reviewed for alignment with the Colorado Academic Standards. Our review indicates approximately 95% alignment with the applicable Colorado standards,” he said.
The district partnered with Houston Independent School District for instructional materials and a structured New Education System model of teaching. According to information presented at the meeting, Ramirez signed an MOU with Houston around June 10. An MOU had been approved by the board in May, but Bluebonnet, which is a Texas Education Agency program based on Core Knowledge content, was allegedly substituted later, with no clear answer on how that substitution came about without board knowledge.
Shumway asked Ramirez about the change, noting the MOU that Ramirez signed was different from the one that had been approved, with two additional pages added. Ramirez said he signed the MOU believing it was good to go based on the recommendation of district legal representation.
“I am testifying to you and telling the board here tonight that I had no knowledge that it said Bluebonnet,” Ramirez said. “I signed the document thinking it was vetted by the lawyer and that it was agreed upon on what was there, and I thought that it was the previous one that came to the board in May.”
After a few minutes of questioning, the board decided that potential “integrity issues” in the superintendent’s office could be addressed in an executive session later.
Board Vice President Laura DeWitt had several comments about Bluebonnet, saying that it had not been reviewed or approved by the CDE. When asked by DeWitt, Justin Schmitt, executive director of academic services, said the district had not completed a formal alignment study on Bluebonnet.
DeWitt, whose daughter is in elementary school, said she reviewed the Bluebonnet slides for the first day of school. Along with material that was heavily reliant on Texas history and geography, there were several errors, including a map that showed Houston near the state of Florida and many images that appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence.
It was also revealed that Texas education officials had spent over $8 million correcting 4,200 errors in the curriculum, which was also reported by Chalkbeat. Those errors required MCSD teachers to identify and correct mistakes prior to the start of class.
“I have a hard time believing that the only curriculum that is going to help our students is one that is full of errors, that we are asking our teachers to go in and correct the day before and hope they catch them,” DeWitt said.
The curriculum was also reportedly not reviewed by stakeholders, like parents or community members, prior to approval.
Director Jason Hall said he spent time in some classrooms on Tuesday and spoke with eight to 10 teachers. He said the teachers shared that New Education System (NES) was beneficial to the elementary schools.
“It was a unanimous decision as far as the NES system. … They thought it was working out great,” Hall said. “I am pretty torn on the actual curriculum itself, but I am very sold on the NES system, and that's because of the information that I got from principals and teachers today. When it comes to the curriculum … they thought that it would be very detrimental to the kids and to the progress that they have started if we were to change things now.”
Despite the positive response to NES, there hadn’t been as positive of a response to Bluebonnet across the first two days of class.
“I’ve had a lot of communication with parents and teachers about what has occurred. I would agree that instructors do like the model of NES. It helps the kids stay engaged. It does help with the behavioral issues, but every time I hear about the curriculum … I did not hear one positive thing about the curriculum,” Shumway said.
The challenge came when the board had to decide how to proceed. While many members of the board said Bluebonnet wouldn’t be a good option for the district in the long-term, the school year has already started. Concerns about rejecting Bluebonnet were raised, as a failed vote would disrupt a school year newly underway with no Plan B in place.
“We have lost sight of the students and the teachers right now because they have worked really, really hard,” Director Justine Bayles said. “We need to figure this out at our level so that our teachers and our students can move on. I see where you guys are coming from with your concern, but l am also concerned about what's happening in the classroom tomorrow.”
The motion to pass the Bluebonnet curriculum failed 4-3.
Ramirez said he would meet with elementary school leaders following the meeting to discuss how to move forward with classes until a new reading curriculum could be adopted.
After the failed motion, the board then addressed amending the Houston MOU. The board questioned whether the existing signed MOU adequately covered the continued use of math and science materials, or if a revised MOU was needed. The board moved to table the discussion pending legal advice with a 6-1 vote.
bduran@the-journal.com
