Midland Independent School District (MISD) board member Brandon Hodges recently expressed concerns regarding the curriculum set in place by the district, stating it supports “critical theory-driven content and practices,” the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported.
While speaking to radio station KWEL, Hodges accused the district of “lying” or “not doing its due diligence” for its Amplify curriculum.
“Evidence shows that Amplify proudly supports critical theory-driven content and practice, embedding race and gender equity principles into human and fantasy characters and in storylines, contrary to Texas law,” Hodges said.
According to Hodges, a representative of District 5, the critical race theory or CRT was addressed as a campaign issue last year, with various candidates confirming their disagreement with the promotion of CRT in Midland ISD schools.
"It was brought to board's attention that controversial content was found in Amplify Texas material,” Midland ISD board President Tommy Bishop said. “MISD’s administration team has been notified and is working to address this. I don’t think the district turned a blind eye to this when recommending the use of this curriculum and I believe the MISD administration wants the best for all MISD students and teachers. We will work through this and continue educating our future."
Hodges also pointed out that the critical theory-driven content and practices will lead to problems with discipline “because it's teaching students to look at each other as identity groups instead of as individuals. He added, “There's no doubt that we are teaching very controversial issues to our elementary school kids, when their brain development is not at a level to where they're able to be introduced to these very complex ideologies and these very complex topics and subject matter to be able to think about it in the way that it needs to be.”
Hodges said only 48% of students can read at grade level at some campuses.
“So, I think that we should be focusing on reading and teaching reading targets,” he said.
The representative added that the district should instead prioritize general efficiency and efficiency with instructional time “if we are willing to ask taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars” for school system restructures.