Horne calls out Scottsdale school board majority for adopting DEI history book in the face of parental objections

PHOENIX - State superintendent of schools Tom Horne today stated that he would report to the federal government that although Scottsdale signed a statement that they would not have DEI in their classes, they adopted a DEI oriented textbook, despite parental objections. If the current injunction against President Trump‘s executive order regarding DEI is lifted, and the federal government indicates that funds to the Scottsdale school District should be removed, Horne said he would enforce that order.

Horne was joined at the news conference this morning by Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan, who also expressed serious concerns about the curriculum at Scottsdale Unified School District complaining that is anti-law enforcement.

“At a time when law enforcement agencies are expanding their focus on community outreach and de-escalation of conflicts, it is counterproductive for schools to push a misguided and inaccurate narrative that will make students fearful or suspicious of their local law enforcement officers,” said Sheriff Sheridan. “The men and women who wear the uniform in Arizona, are among the bravest and most noble public servants in this great state. Many are first responders, who put their lives on the line each day to keep our youth and our communities safe.”

Also present to voice their concerns about the curriculum, were Jim Hill, the president of the Maricopa County Colleges Police Association and a concerned parent whose children attend school in the Scottsdale district. 

Horne gave a substantial list of examples from textbooks (see below) adopted by the woke majority of the Scottsdale school board. He also identified propaganda techniques found throughout the books, such as presenting a one-sided biased point of view about an incident that “many people are saying,” without articulating other, and often more popular points of view. In other cases, the information presented is misleading or simply inaccurate.

Horne concluded, “I commend the parents who bought these issues to our attention. We must all work together to ensure that school textbooks and curriculums are based on sound academics and historical facts, and not on unbalanced political propaganda.”

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Some examples provided by Supt. Horne:

US History Interactive – Savvas Learning Company

At page 1033: “ many people, including Black Lives Matter activists argued that these separate events as Well, as well as the death of many Black people in earlier years was the result of deeply embedded racism.” Nothing was said about what other people may be saying. Other people do not believe that racism is deeply embedded in the United States.

On the same page referring to the 2020 riots: protest marches were generally peaceful“ Horne pointed out that “we’ve all seen the video on television of a reporter saying that surrounded by burning buildings and attacks on police cars.”

At page 1025, referring to the incident at Ferguson: “one witness claimed that before being shot, Brown had raised his hands and said “don’t shoot!“ Horne pointed out:

“To his everlasting credit, Eric Holder, the first African American United States Attorney General in history, conducted an objective investigation, and concluded that officer Wilson shot Ferguson in self-defense. Limiting the discussion to what one witness said was extremely misleading.“

At page 1026: “a basic tenet of democracy is that power should belong to the people. But what can people try if they feel they’re not being heard or if they live under an authoritarian system? Civil resistance, encompasses a broad range of lawful and nonviolent action aimed at returning power to the people. Use this video as a brief introduction.“

Horne pointed out: “the United States is a Democratic Republic. We do not have a monarch. Officials are elected by a vote of the people. This gives everyone the opportunity, if they disagree with what the government is doing, to campaign for the election of someone else. That is the solution to disagree with government policy. Students are being encouraged by the video to engage in civil resistance to a democratically elected government. The suggestion in this quotation that the United States is an authority system is a woke lie.“

From Page 167: “renovations and improvements conforming to middle-class preferences has driven up the demand for housing and the cost of living in these neighborhoods, making it difficult for less affluent more vulnerable LGBTQUI plus populations to live there”. 

Horne replied: I will not comment on what QUIA plus means, but the suggestion that LGBT people are financially oppressed is extremely misleading. Many LGBT People are quite prosperous. The median income for men in same-sex marriages is $149,900. The median income for men in opposite sex married couples is $124,900.

• From a human geography book also used by the Scottsdale USD: APHUG 5: Human Geography: A Spatial Perspective, Bednarz et al., Cengage, 2022

Republican lawmakers in some states have packed African-American voters into a single district or small number of districts there by creating majority Republican districts in the rest of the state.”

Horne responded: this was a civil rights project of the Democratic Party. The goal was to assure minority representation in Congress. The Republican Party had nothing to do with it.”