4 January 2022 | prestonhollowpeople.com
News
TEACHERS TARGETED
Save Texas Kids singles out Dallas ISD instructor for AP lesson By Bethany Erickson
bethany.erickson@peoplenewspapers.com
E
ducators and education advocates warned this summer: House Bill 3979, which many believe outlaws teaching Critical Race Theory, would create confusion. And not long after, incidents bubbled up in several school districts, including Dallas ISD, where an email from Save Texas Kids urged teachers to report instances where they felt encouraged to teach CRT. “Unfortunately, I know that many school districts will disregard this law which is why we need your help,” the letter’s author, Natalie Cato, wrote. The bill was aimed at social studies classes and says that a “teacher may not be compelled to discuss a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.” It doesn’t ban teaching controversial topics, per se— it says that teachers must “explore that topic objectively and in a manner free from political bias.” With that backdrop, one AP language teacher at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts opted to use Cato’s email to help her students learn how to parse passages for their lessons on logical fallacies, cognitive biases, and rhetorical analysis. HB 3979 pertains to social studies courses only, not English/language arts. When Cato caught word of the teacher’s lesson, she fired off another missive to teachers, identifying the teacher as Melody Townsel
After Save Texas Kids sent an email to Dallas ISD teachers encouraging them to report instances where they’re forced to teach Critical Race Theory, one Booker T. Washington teacher used the letter in her English/language arts class. (PHOTO: COURTESY SCREENSHOTS) and urging Dallas ISD to terminate her for “illegally teaching CRT.” One of her students said Cato’s characterization couldn’t be further from the truth. “We’ve been working on argumentative essays, so when this letter came out, it happened
to go perfectly with what we were learning,” the student, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “We reviewed the STK letter and first highlighted all of the rhetorical precis used throughout the essay. This helped us better understand rhetorical precis and how they can have a large
impact on persuading people. “After highlighting, we viewed the rubric we used to grade our own argumentative essay and graded the STK kids based on writing skills only. In fact, I learned a lot from this lesson.” One teacher’s union says Cato and Save Texas Kids were wrong to single Townsel out and wrong to send the initial email, too. “They’re putting a target on our teachers,” said Alliance AFT president Rena Honea. State Rep. Rafael Anchia agrees. “Gov. Abbott and Texas Republicans have put a target on teachers’ backs,” he said. “They were warned by experts, educators, historians, and parents of the ramifications that would stem as a result of passing classroom censorship policies.” “I am worried about individuals and organizations attempting to use the bill to target teachers and educators and attempt to bully them through fear and intimidation, even if what they’re being targeted for isn’t addressed in HB 3979,” said Dallas ISD school board president Ben Mackey. “That said, I am proud of the work that Dallas ISD has done over the past years and will fully support Dallas ISD’s continued efforts to becoming a more equitable and effective school district for all of our students.”
HOMEWORK See more about HB3979 and its implementation - as well as more about this lesson — at peoplenewspapers.com.
SMU Moves a Little Earth, Begins Graduate School Construction SMU’s eighth degree-granting school, which began operations in 2020, doesn’t have its fancy new home yet, but December dirt piles signal one is coming. The school’s dean, James Quick, along with SMU Provost Elizabeth Loboa, President R. Gerald Turner, trustee Frances Anne “Francie” Moody-Dahlberg, board chair Robert Dedman Jr., and Vice President for Academic Affairs Brad Cheves did the dirty work with the ceremonial shovels at the groundbreaking. The new Frances Anne Moody Hall, expected to open in the summer of 2023, is named for Frances Anne Moody-Dalberg.
The class of 1992 graduate serves as executive director of the Moody Foundation, which contributed the $100 million gift – the largest in SMU history – to create the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. “We’re announcing the next stage in SMU’s development — a significant and unprecedented investment in the university’s graduate and doctoral programs and faculty research programs, which will propel SMU to even greater heights of national prominence,” Turner said at the time of the Moody Foundation gift. The Moody School brings doctoral and master’s degrees in four schools under one institu-
SOLD!
5816 WALNUT HILL LANE | PRESTON HOLLOW
tional umbrella and already supports more than 75 Ph.D. students across these schools with competitive fellowships. The investment in the Moody School and Frances Anne Moody Hall supports the SMU’s research mission by attracting outstanding graduate students who are the workforce behind the University’s doctoral and research ecosystem university officials announced. The expansion of research is a strategic priority that fuels the steady ascent toward achieving the Carnegie R1 status awarded to only the nation’s highest-level research institutions. – Staff report
FROM LEFT: James Quick, Elizabeth Loboa, R. Gerald Turner, “Francie” Moody-Dahlberg, and Robert Dedman Jr. (PHOTO: COURTESY SMU)
LISTING & SELLING
Preston Hollow
SOLD!
9918 AVALON CREEK COURT | PRESTON HOLLOW
