TUCSON ACTION : April 21-26
Mexican American/Chicano Studies is under a frontal attack by
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and other Mexican haters.
Ostensibly, HB 2281 outlaws the teaching of "ethnic studies" in
Arizona, but in reality it targets SPECIFICALLY and ONLY the
Mexican American Studies Department in the Tucson Unified School
District (TUSD)--HB 2281 does not apply to any other ethnic studies program or any other school district in Arizona. Horne's et al.'s attack on Mexican American Studies revolves around the notions that MAS courses are "un-American," "un-patriotic," and "chauvinistic."
An audit of the Mexican American Studies Department in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) engineered by the newly-elected Arizona Superintendent of Education John Huppenthal, who campaigned on the platform of "...stopping La Raza," is, we believe, a thinly- disguised attempt to provide a justification to severely limit the MAS department in TUSD (to the point of making it ineffective) or to eliminate it is currently underway.
The attack on TUSD's MAS curriculum is bipartisan: Horne and
Huppenthal are Republicans. Joining them in going after MAS is
Democrat TUSD School Board member Mark Stegeman.
This coming Tuesday, April 26, Stegeman will introduce a proposal to marginalize MAS course by removing them from the core curriculum.
That is, they would no longer fulfill graduation-credit
requirements for History and English as they do now. It is
important to know that MAS courses are already elective--i.e, no
one is required to take them--but they are an integral part of the
core curriculum (i.e., satisfy state educational/graduation
requirements).
We need help on three fronts:
1. We are asking people to e-mail Stegeman and ask him to withdraw his proposal...
2. TUSD board members Adelita Grijalva and Judy Burns have
indicated that they will vote against Stegeman's proposal. Democrat Stegeman is joined by the newly-elected Tea Party member Michael Hicks, who campaigned on the platform of eliminating Mexican American Studies, in going after the MAS curriculum--which begs the question: in what warped universe is it possible and/or acceptable for a Democrat to join forces with a Tea Party Mexican hater against our community, one of the most loyal and steadfast Democratic constituencies?
The fifth board member, Miguel Cuevas, is the key, swing vote, but he has not indicated how he will vote. We are asking people to e- mail Cuevas and ask him to vote "No" on Stegeman's proposal should the campaign to get Stegeman to withdraw his proposal not be successful.
Stegeman's and Cuevas' e-mail addresses are:
Miguel Cuevas: miguel.cuevas@tusd1.org<mailto:miguel.cuevas@tusd1.org
Mark Stegeman: markwstegeman@gmail.com<mailto:markwstegeman@gmail.com
3. We are asking people to go to the TUSD Board meeting next
Tuesday to show support for the TUSD MAS program...unfortunately, since this is a special meeting, there will be no "Call to the Audience," so people will not be able to address the board. But, it is important that the board see MANY PEOPLE there in support of MAS.
The meeting is at 5:30, Tuesday, April 26 at TUSD headquarters,
1010 E. 10th (corner of Park Ave. and 10th Street).
Horne, Huppenthal, Stegeman, Hicks and other enemies of MAS and of our community have the mistaken notion that support for MAS is concentrated in and limited to people who have a vested interest, e.g., MAS teachers and their families, the activist community
(whom Horne et al. consider the "Reconquista crowd"), etc. IT IS
OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE that they see that MAS--and what it stands for and does (e.g., statistics show that students who take MAS courses in TUSD have a higher graduation rate than comparable counterparts who do not take MAS courses)--has widespread support.
We are fighting HB 2281 on other fronts also:
There is a lawsuit that has been filed, challenging HB 2281, by 11
MAS TUSD teachers.
And we are also trying to get Democratic elected officials and
Democratic Party officials to lobby Stegeman, who is actively
involved in Democratic Party dynamics, to withdraw his anti-MAS
proposal. It is of concern that in light of the fact that HB 2281
directly affects their constituents and that they depend on our
votes, some Democratic elected officials have not been vocal in
opposing HB 2281. Adding thier voices to ours could very well swayStegeman.
At the end of this e-mail message are the e-mail addresses of the
local Democratic elected officials so we can e-mail them also and
ask them to lobby Stegeman to withdraw his proposal.
At the risk of stating the obvious: whatever progress our community has achieved over the years has come about because (1) people of principle within our community stood up in defense of our community, and (2) we have reached out and engaged other (non- Mexican/Latino) communities, and people of principle within those communities have stood with us. We have prevailed against great odds before, and we can prevail again today...BUT ONLY if we come together and take action!
>> Send those e-mails and be at the TUSD Board meeting next Tuesday
>> (April 26) at 5:30--1010 E. 10th.
>>
>> Salomon
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Democrat Party Officers--email them to ask that they lobby Stegeman
>> to withdraw his proposal, re: MAS in TUSD:
>>
>> Jeff Rogers, Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party
>> jrogers@jrogerslaw.com<mailto:jrogers@jrogerslaw.com>
>>
>> Adam Kinsey, Executive Director of the Pima County Democratic Party
>> director@pimadems.org<mailto:director@pimadems.org>
>>
>>
>> PIMA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPS:
>>
>> Ramon Valadez
>> Ramon.Valadez@pima.gov<mailto:Ramon.Valadez@pima.gov>
>>
>> Richard Elias
>> Richard.Elias@pima.gov<mailto:Richard.Elias@pima.gov>
>>
>> Sharon Bronson
>> Sharon.Bronson@pima.gov<mailto:Sharon.Bronson@pima.gov>
>> http://www.pima.gov/bos/dist3/
>>
>> CITY COUNCIL:
>>
>> Regina Romero
>> regina.romero@tucsonaz.gov<mailto:regina.romero@tucsonaz.gov>
>>
>> Paul Cunningham:
>> paul.cunningham@tusonaz.gov<mailto:paul.cunningham@tusonaz.gov>
>>
>> Karin Uhlich:
>> Karin.uhlich@tucsonaz.gov<mailto:Karin.uhlich@tucsonaz.gov>
>>
>> Richard Fimbres:
>> Richard.Fimbres@tucsonaz.gov<mailto:Richard.Fimbres@tucsonaz.gov>
>>
>> Shirley Scott
>> Shirley.Scott@tucsonaz.gov<mailto:Shirley.Scott@tucsonaz.gov>
>>
>>
>> State Legislative Districts:
>>
>> LD 27
>> Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford -
ocajerobedford@azleg.gov<mailto:ocajerobedford@azleg.gov
>> >
>> Representatives:
>> Macario Saldate- msaldate@azleg.gov<mailto:msaldate@azleg.gov>
>> Sally Gonzales- sgonzales@azleg.gov<mailto:sgonzales@azleg.gov>
>>
>> LD 28
>> Senator Paula Aboud - paboud@azleg.gov<mailto:paboud@azleg.gov>
>> Representatives:
>> Steve Farley - sfarley@azleg.gov<mailto:sfarley@azleg.gov>
>> Bruce Wheeler - bwheeler@azleg.gov<mailto:bwheeler@azleg.gov>
>>
>> LD 29
>> Senator Linda Lopez - llopez@azleg.gov<mailto:llopez@azleg.gov>
>> Representatives:
>> Daniel Patterson - dpatterson@azleg.gov<mailto:dpatterson@azleg.gov>
>> Matt Heinz - mheinz@azleg.gov<mailto:mheinz@azleg.gov>