The arguments over Arizona's anti-Mexican American Studies law in the 9th Circuit Court pretty much boil down to this: Are increased student achievement and self esteem important tasks of our public schools? The jaw-dropping answer from the state attorney was a simple "No."

One of the judges hearing the case cited a recent study concluding that students who took Mexican American Studies courses had greater increases in achievement and higher graduation rates than similar TUSD students who didn't take the courses. The lawyer for the state questioned whether the study was accurate, referring to the "purported effect" of the courses, but went on to say student achievement is irrelevant. Even if student achievement increased, that doesn't matter in this case.

One of the judges asked whether there's a problem with a class teaching students about their ethnic heritage and developing their sense of ethnic pride. The answer from the lawyer representing the state:

“I’m not sure it’s the purpose of the public school system to inculcate ethnic pride. I don’t know that there’s a constitutional right to classes that inculcate ethnic pride.”

To sum up: If the Mexican American Studies courses succeeded in increasing student achievement, but they violated a law that was created to make the courses illegal, the courses have to go. And if those same courses increased students' motivation to work hard in school by educating them about their history and culture (recent research has emphasized the huge role motivation plays in student achievement), but they violate the same law that was created to make the courses illegal, the courses have to go.

Is it any wonder the judges suspect the law "is intended with discriminatory intent," and the lawyers arguing against the law feel optimistic about their chances?

We've got an interesting scenario developing here. On the one hand, TUSD has until March 4 to make a deal with Ed Supe Douglas to keep her from deciding that the current Culturally Relevant Curriculum violates state law. On the other hand, the 9th Circuit Court could overturn that law, taking away Douglas' main weapon in her fight with TUSD. The district has every reason to say to Douglas, "We need to wait for the court's decision before making any changes to our current ethnic studies curriculum."

Well, the day is officially here: Pima Community College chancellor Lee Lambert, a few Pima administrators, and a member of the governing board are representing the college at an Institutional Actions Council Hearing Committee of the Higher Learning Commission.

The hearing will decide the college's accreditation status, which has been on probation for the last two years following accusations of corruption at the top level. The college is expected to be pulled from probation, based on a recommendation filled after a recent visit to the college. 

The college has seen many changes in the years since the issues arose, including a new leader in Lambert, two new faces elected the the governing board, and many new systems to protect employees and benefit students.

While these changes seem to have impressed the HLC visitors enough to recommend Pima be taken off probation, they did note that many of Pima's programs are still very new, and it will take time to see of they truly are working as well as they need to be. Pima will likely be taken off probation, but put On Notice—basically meaning the college's accreditation won't be in jeopardy, but the HLC will be following the college's progress closely.

This year will also mark the departure of CJ Karamargin, the PR guy lead Pima though several tough years in the public eye.

Here's hoping for good things in Pima's future. Affordable, quality education can only lead to good things.

As reported earlier, Tucson Unified School District students Maya Arce, Korina Lopez and Nicolas Dominguez, as well as their attorneys, were down at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco today making a case against A.R.S § 15-112, the law that pretty much made the Mexican American studies program illegal.

One of the minds in the students' defense team, Anjana Malhotra, who is formerly a clinical teaching fellow at the Korematsu Center and is now an associate professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School, said, in summary, that they did well.

"They were concerned that the law was enforced regardless of the positive effects on students," she said during a phone call a few hours after leaving the courtroom. The law got rid of MAS classes, "which accelerated students' achievement, and officials who enforced the law knew that it had positive results. Also, there is a disproportionate impact on a minority Mexican American community, the law creates this disproportionate impact, how can that not be evidence of discriminatory intent?"

From an email Malhotra wrote to me in the evening:

In defending the Arizona ethnic studies ban passed for the purpose and effect of exclusively targeting and eliminating the highly successful TUSD’s Mexican American Studies classes, Arziona made three major points in the Ninth Circuit argument today that undercut its argument that the law and its actions were unconstitutional.

First, Arizona repeatedly argued that the substantial academic achievement Mexican American students gained from taking MAS classes was “irrelevant” to the facial and as-applied equal protection claims. To the contrary, and as the Judges correctly raised in questioning Arizona, the fact that the Arizona Legislature and Huppenthal exclusively eliminated classes that benefited Mexican Americans, and thus burdening Mexican Americans exclusively, is evidence of intentional discrimination supporting the argument that the statute and its enforcement violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Second, Arizona argued that a Chinese American History class would violate the statute, regardless of content – demonstrating the impermissible and sweeping overbreadth, vagueness and equal protection problems with the law. This proposition gave the Court and the audience pause—and demonstrates how the statute gives the state unlimited power to enforce the law (and did) in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner violating the Supreme Court’s test for facial and as-applied vagueness. Further, given Tom Horne's and legislators’ express insistence that ARS 15-112’s use of the term “ethnic group” did not include to white or European ethnic groups such as Greeks and Romans, Arizona’s contention that it would ban Chinese American History, just as Mexican American classes regardless of content, establishes that the statute and enforcement is in direct violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating on the basis of race.

A huge question at the hearing was, if one portion of the law is invalidated, does that mean the entire thing is thrown out?

Malhotra said that if, for instance, the portion of the law banning classes for particular ethnic groups is found to be overbroad, then the entire law would be invalidated—the law doesn't have a clause stipulating that if one portion is invalidated, the rest of the law still survives. So, the team doesn't have to prove that ALL guidelines of the law are unconstitutional, but at least one of them is.

"Equal protection claims are hard because you have to show intentional discrimination, but it works well here because you have to show a law or government action was taken to single out a particular group, and that is exactly what this statute did," Malhotra said.

So, good news? We won't know for a while. In the mean time, TUSD still has to deal with the state saying its teachers are not implementing the culturally relevant curriculum in a Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas kind of way. If that's not fixed, the district faces more budget cuts.

As Pima Community College is starting to have some success turning its image around, its lead PR guy is stepping down.

C.J. Karamargin came to the college in 2011, working at Pima for three and half challenging years. When he joined the college, Pima was still facing some criticism from how it handled warning signs from former student and clearly mentally ill human Jared Loughner, and heat was just building towards the college's short lived remedial education standards. Since then, the college has had to keep its head up through probation, petitions to recall the governing board and harsh allegations against former top administrators. 

Karamargin is leaving to take a job as District Director for newly elected U.S. Rep. Martha McSally. Prior to working at Pima, Karamargin was communications director for then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

"It is humbling that she has entrusted me with the responsibility to serve as her District Director," Karamargin said in a release after his new job was announced. "I consider it a privilege to be able to help the congresswoman make a positive difference in the lives of the people who sent her to Washington." 

And while Karamargin has not shied away from calling his time at Pima challenging, he seems to think the college was worth the effort, saying, "I know from my own experience that community colleges can play a transformative role in a person’s life. Pima is no different. It has been extraordinarily satisfying to be part of an institution that can have such a profound impact. Hopefully, through my work in the Public Information Office and with my colleagues, I’ve helped remind the community we serve that this college is a precious resource worthy of their support."

Here's hoping whoever fills the position has less controversy to deal with. Or, as Karamargin put it, "all the best for a productive, probation-free 2015. "

Thursday, the Senate Education Committee is scheduled to look at SB1029, a bill that would require a civics test for high school graduation. And not just any civics test. The same test that's given to people who want to become U.S. citizens.

The good news is, it's not a completely terrible idea. The bad news is, it's not a very good idea. The educational value of having high school students memorize 100 facts about the U.S. government, then successfully regurgitate 60 of those answers on a test, is questionable. And the idea that students who have completed all their required high school coursework successfully would be denied a diploma because they come up short on a civics memorization test is pretty ridiculous.

The civics test given to prospective citizens isn't a test of their broad knowledge of American history and government. It's 10 questions pulled from a list of 100 questions they're given to study and memorize. Six right answers out of ten and they pass. It's probably a worthwhile exercise for new citizens, but for high school students? As a graduation requirement?

If the bill passes, Arizona students will have to answer 60 of the 100 questions correctly to graduate high school or get a G.E.D. If they don't pass the first time, they can take the test again, and again, and again, until they do. Each school board will decide how the test will be administered.

What's going to happen is lots of students will get less than the required 60 right answers the first time around. Teachers, or someone, will have to keep giving the test to students, again and again and again. I suppose it can be given to students in clusters of 10 questions so they don't need to have all 60 answers in their heads at one time — if the local school board decides that's OK, that is. I suppose a missed question can be asked again and again and again until the student gets the right answer. Since it's a graduation requirement, some kind of  time consuming work-around will have to be created to get everyone to pass. In our underfunded, understaffed schools with too many students in each class, here's an added mandatory, unfunded mandate of questionable educational value.

Six other states are looking at requiring the test: Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. It's the brainchild of the Joe Foss Institute in Scottsdale, AZ.

Tucson Unified School District students Maya Arce, Korina Lopez and Nicolas Dominguez are in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today to tell the judge why A.R.S § 15-112 is a violation of the First Amendment, the right to equal protection and simply too damn vague to stipulate what is right and what is wrong with TUSD's classes from a Mexican American perspective.

The lawsuit challenging ex-Gov. Jan Brewer's 2010 statute, which prohibits courses or classes that "promote the overthrow of the United States government, promotes resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed for pupils of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treatment of pupils as individuals," was originally filed by a group of teachers and students after the law caused TUSD to eliminate its Mexican American studies program and ban books highlighting Mexican American history and ideologies.

At the time, the state threatened to cut TUSD's funding if the district didn't comply with getting rid of the program, so the board had no choice but to scratch it and resurrect it in the form of its culturally relevant curriculum. (The content of that curriculum is protected by the Desegregation and Unitary Status Plan).

TUSD is once again under "we will cut your budget even more than we already have" threats over allegations that some of its English and U.S. history from a Mexican American and African American perspective classes violate the law. If they don't fix this by March, the district could lose 10 percent of monthly state aid.

If the 9th Circuit rules A.R.S § 15-112 is unconstitutional—which now that the students are the primary voice in the suit, it gives challengers of the law a glimpse of hope—then the accusations would be useless. But, TUSD has now less than 60 days to comply with whatever Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas orders. She's going after the way the culturally relevant content is "implemented in the classroom," meaning she wants full control of how teachers deliver their material.

As TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez put it at a press conference last week, "until that case is done, the law is the law." And it's looking like the 9th Circuit case won't see a resolution for a few months.

You can hear the arguments of today's hearing here starting tomorrow afternoon.

I know some people who support the ethnic studies programs at TUSD are cautiously optimistic about Education Superindent Diane Douglas' statements concerning the current Culturally Relevant Curriculum. I know Superintendent H.T. Sanchez has expressed hope he can work things out with Douglas. Me, I'm far from optimistic.

The one promising thing Douglas said is that she accepts the curriculum TUSD wrote for its ethnic studies courses, something Huppenthal wasn't willing to say. But that only means she interprets the words in the curriculum documents in a way that she can accept. When she sees how it's being implemented in the classroom, however, that doesn't fit her reading of the curriculum, and she says it needs to change.

“If we continue to work together and (TUSD) Superintendent (H.T) Sanchez remains committed to correcting and supervising the implementation of the approved curricula, then we can avoid having to impose penalties on TUSD,” Douglas said.

The question is, what will she decide is appropriate implementation of the curriculum?

Douglas says she's OK with the use of music in the classrooms. That means absolutely nothing. Is she OK with the song by Rage Against The Machine that Huppenthal criticized? She doesn't say. It's possible her idea of using music in the classroom is playing mariachi music and "negro spirituals" as examples of Hispanic and African American culture, but all those angry songs that stir up resentment are inappropriate.

Tucson Unified School District and City of Tucson representatives, among them Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, went door-to-door this morning to visit more than 300 kids, who have dropped out of school, hoping to persuade them to go back to school.

The two, alongside 46 pairs of volunteers, were out on the streets from 8 a.m. until noon for the second Steps to Success walk.

From a TUSD press release:

The first Steps to Success walk, held in July, visited more than 450 homes and brought 171 children back to school. Sixteen of those have already earned their high school diplomas and received them at Winter Commencement.

“We owe it to our students who have lost hope, who have slipped through our fingers, to reach out and help them find their way back to earning a high school education,” Dr. Sanchez said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to visit more families and meet more young people who need encouragement and who need someone to show them the possibilities.”

“Students need to know the community cares about their success,” said Mayor Rothschild. “Having volunteers come to your door, with staff, ready to get you back on track and enrolled in school, is huge. I’m very happy to participate in this second Steps to Success walk, and I look forward to participating in many more.”

Eugene Butler, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, says the initiative is about reclaiming Tucson’s children and being the inspiration that might help them return to a successful path.

TUSD has set up a Success Center on the Catalina High School campus, 3645 E. Pima Street, for students who wish to get information and assistance in completing their high school education. The hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

It has been proven that Mexican-American Studies and similar programs to it, in addition to the method to teach these classes, have helped the dropout rate among many demographics, as looked into by this 2012 report from the UA. Something to keep in mind as the district tries to fix its relationship with state education officials over the allegedly-in-violation-of-state-law culturally relevant curriculum.

Diane Douglas, Arizona's new Superintendent of Public Instruction, met with Tucson Unified School District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez on Wednesday to talk about the future of the district in light of the
notice of noncompliance the district received late last week.

Douglas says she supports the Department of Education's finding that the TUSD is currently in violation of A.R.S. §15-112, a state statute that gives schools parameters for teaching ethnic studies. 

“It is important to correct the misunderstanding that Arizona Department of Education is opposed to ethnic studies," Douglas said in a press release. “If any child educated in Arizona is not exposed to the suffering, trials and triumphs of all ethnic groups who have contributed to our state’s rich cultural mix, then we are failing to teach accurate history.”

The release went on to say that while Arizona Department of Education is satisfied with the curricula for ethnic studies developed by TUSD, they have documentation showing the curricula have not been properly implemented in the classroom. These deviations from the curricula are what the department says violate the state law—although it did not say what the deviations are.

Coming out of their meeting, Douglas and Sanchez agreed to a plan of action to ensure that the curricula are taught correctly and in accordance with statute in the individual classrooms.

“I am pleased with the new opportunity to work together with Superintendent Douglas to resolve this issue. I was excited to be invited to work on a Latino Advisory Committee to suggest standards and curricula to include Latino history for all children in Arizona,” Sanchez was quoted as saying in Douglas' press release. “The offer to work hand-in-hand to make specific changes in classroom instruction to encourage critical thinking is certainly something I can support.”

The TUSD board voted 3-2 Tuesday to give Adelita Grijalva a third term as the board's president and to make Kristel Foster the board's clerk for the 2015 calendar year.

"The consistency in leadership has been key to the success we've had so far," Foster told me via phone today. "Our team is working well together, why would we change something that's working well so far?"

The votes opposing to keep things as they've been came from board members Michael Hicks and Mark Stegeman—Hicks suggested Stegeman should be the new board president but none of the other board members backed him up.

Tuesday was the first meeting of the year, so the focus was on district appointments. 

The next meeting is Jan. 20 and the board will probably be discussing the culturally relevant curriculum scrutiny then.