Teachers union accuses Anoka-Hennepin school board of micromanaging how and what to teach

The teachers union in Minnesota’s largest school district is accusing its school board of micromanaging as elected officials question the content of history and psychology textbooks and whether teachers spend enough time lecturing in class.

The ongoing partisan 3-3 split of the Anoka-Hennepin school board threatens to further slow, halt — or even restart — the process of buying new textbooks and developing curriculum before next fall.

“It’s no secret that we’ve had a board that has differences of opinion,” Superintendent Cory McIntyre said. “I’m just trying to figure out how we can move forward and make sure we’re delivering the instruction we need for students to meet state standards.”

The tension before the board’s expected Monday vote on several aspects of curriculum development is the latest front in the local education culture wars. In Minnesota, some of the most recent conflicts have come over refreshed social studies standards that require new material, including ethnic studies, and lessons that touch on diversity, equity and inclusion.

It is up to each district to decide what materials to use and how to teach students the state-set standards.

None of the board members responded to the Minnesota Star Tribune’s requests for comment this week.

In recent meetings, Board Member Zach Arco questioned how the state measures or enforces such standards, wondering if the system has ever been “stress-tested.”

Beyond debate over what is taught, the board has also discussed teaching methods and how much time teachers spend lecturing a class — something Arco said is critical to student learning.

Valerie Holthus, president of the Anoka-Hennepin teachers union, said comments like those represent distrust and micromanaging.

“There’s this feeling that teachers are suspected of doing the wrong thing,” she said, adding that she worries the board’s reputation will hurt efforts to recruit more teachers to the district.

This isn’t the first time the debate over textbooks has vexed the north suburban school district that serves about 38,000 students.

It also cropped up last year, not long after some board members threatened to veto the district budget over concerns about “divisive, one-sided views” they felt were represented in schools’ diversity and inclusion programming.

The six-member board has been split politically since the start of 2024, when it failed to elect a chair, opting instead to name two co-chairs, Arco and Kacy Deschene. Matt Audette and Linda Hoekman round out the conservative bloc on the board; the other members are Michelle Langenfeld and Jeff Simon.

In July, district spokesman Jim Skelly said the initial disagreement over a physics textbook marked the first time in his nine years in the district that the board had failed to approve a curriculum recommendation. The physics books are again up for a vote on Monday.

Such recommendations typically come as part of a 37-step process that includes selecting and piloting lesson materials, gathering feedback from staff and community members before turning to the board for purchase approval.

“It isn’t like just showing up to a meeting, presenting some materials and asking for approval,” Skelly said. “It’s all intended to get as many voices into a decision before it gets to the school board for approval.”

Because some board members have questioned that process, McIntyre has proposed purchasing the books now and then spending time this summer discussing with the board how and what to teach.

If the board supports that option, it could require redesigning curriculum that has already been written and piloted in the district.

“Ultimately, we need materials to teach and we have to find some sort of agreement on what that looks like,” McIntyre said, adding that he’s hopeful the board will see that the process is balanced and not meant to be political.

The board discussed much of the proposed new curriculum in an April work session that lasted several hours.

A couple of board members expressed support for purchasing new textbooks for seventh-grade U.S. history with the caveat that the lesson plans be aligned to 2011 state standards.

Such a move would be the members’ latest attempt at delaying the implementation of new social studies standards, which require Minnesota schools to teach ethnic studies by fall 2026.

In addition to the history materials, the board on Monday is set to vote on instructional materials for biology, physics, language arts and psychology.

The proposed AP psychology textbook prompted questions from conservative board members about whether it teaches lessons about gender and sexuality.

One option listed on the board agenda: Decline to purchase the book and drop AP psychology classes in the fall. (To offer the classes, the College Board requires use of a textbook printed in the last decade. The textbook the district has been using was printed in 2014.)

The board may also decide to scrap the social and emotional learning curriculum it had purchased and been using in recent years in favor of writing one in-house to align with district priorities.

The potential scramble to rewrite curriculum before the fall worries Holthus of the teachers union.

Widespread district budget cuts mean the work will likely fall on a smaller staff, and some of the directives from board members have so far been frustratingly vague, she said.

“Curriculum is not just a textbook and a lot of work goes into developing this,” Holthus said. “The board just wants to discard potentially years of that work, and do so really late in the game. Teachers are not in the mood to redo all of their work over the summer.”