The Courier of Montgomery County reports that on Tuesday Conroe ISD leaders said they will implement a new Bible-infused curriculum all at once instead of spreading it out over several years.
In February, the Board of Trustees approved the curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade.
Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Hedith Sauceda-Upshaw, said CISD put together a coalition to assess the curriculum’s implementation process and procedures. The coalition has met two times and is made up of around 87 district employees. They will meet again on May 12th.
The issue with a multi-year rollout starting with kindergarten, according to Sauceda-Upshaw, is that the curriculum will have an updated version released in 2030. That would cause the fifth-grade students, the last grade to move to Bluebonnet, to have to switch to the updated version within a year of transitioning to the curriculum.
The coalition members, according to Superintendent Curtis Null, agreed that it was important for all grade levels to work together on the rollout.
Following a January presentation by District 8 State Board of Education member Audrey Young, the decision to adopt the curriculum was made.
An urgent change is needed for the district, according to Trustee Lindsay Dawson. She said, “Time is of the essence.” She also said, “Our kids are struggling to read on grade level, that is reflected in our (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) scores.” She added, “We are in a literacy crisis.”
Kindergarten through fifth-grade mathematics, reading and language arts, middle school math and algebra is covered by the Bluebonnet curriculum.
The materials are based, according to proponents, on a scientific understanding of the best way to teach reading. They think it will lead to higher test scores.
According to previous Houston Chronicle reporting, the curriculum has raised criticism from Democrats and some Republicans. Academics have cautioned that the curriculum includes teaching from the Bible without presenting them as religious beliefs and downplays the role of racism and slavery in America’s history.
There is no charge for the curriculum online. However, the districts would have printed material costs. The total coast would be around $2.1 million in year one.
