School board forced to delay vote on Ethnic Studies

On May 3, the Tucson Unified School District board met once again to take up the issue of Ethnic Studies. This meeting had been rescheduled from the previous week, when nine courageous youth occupied the TUSD board members’ seats and forced cancellation of the meeting.

Board President Mark Stegeman is pushing a plan that would change many Ethnic Studies classes from core curriculum classes to electives, relegating them to second-class status. Stegeman’s plan is viewed as being compliant with the racist, unjust, HB2281 law, which falsely accuses Ethnic Studies of teaching hatred and promoting the overthrow of the U.S. government. The Stegeman plan would be a first step towards dismantling the program in its entirety.

HB2281 has been condemned by U.N. human rights experts, who assert that the state has the “responsibility to respect the right of everyone to have access to his or her own cultural and linguistic heritage and to participate in cultural life.” They state, “Everyone has the right to seek and develop cultural knowledge and to know and understand his or her own culture and that of others through education and information.” (U.N. Human Rights/Arizona, May 10, 2010) The 11 teachers in the TUSD Ethnic Studies Department have also filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the law’s constitutionality.

Board Superintendent John Pedicone followed through on his threats of a police clampdown on the meeting. More than 100 police in full military-style gear were on the scene. Streets were blocked off and a helicopter flew overhead. Everyone who entered the TUSD building was searched and scanned with a metal detector. Inside the meeting room a barrier of police protected the podium.

This massive police presence did not stop the hundreds of people who had gathered to protest the board meeting and defend the Ethnic Studies program. The crowd outside continuously chanted, while those who had gotten inside the building refused to be silent. They condemned the Stegeman proposal and the board’s complicity with the attack on students’ rights to learn their culture and history. The meeting was forced to recess twice. Seven supporters were arrested and forcibly removed from the building.

After four hours, Stegeman recommended that the board delay voting on his proposal until after a community forum was held to allow for more discussion. It is clear that he delayed the vote because of the militant and determined struggle to save the Ethnic Studies program. This concession from the Stegeman/Pedicone faction of the board was won because the youth group UNIDOS decided on April 26 that there would be no more business as usual, and they then occupied the board’s meeting room.

The week-long media vilification campaign, the threats of criminal charges and the massive military-like police presence didn’t scare people away from the May 3 board meeting. Their outrage and willingness to go face to face with the police under threat of arrest intimidated the TUSD board and caused them to back down.

The community forum has yet to be scheduled. Further, 27 cases of police abuse have been documented and filed against the Tucson Police Department for their

actions on May 3. The struggle continues.