Anoka-Hennepin school board approves history textbooks after dispute with teachers union

The board for the state’s largest school district voted to approve social studies textbooks with a series of caveats, including delaying new state standards that mandate ethnic studies for another year. And it chose to table a decision about the future of current social and emotional lessons.

The Anoka-Hennepin board members on Monday approved the purchase of books for U.S. history, world history and AP psychology courses. For the U.S. history course, board members supported a National Geographic textbook. But they directed staff to revise the curriculum for next school year to align with 2011 state standards.

New state standards, which require the teaching of ethnic studies, must be implemented by the 2026-2027 school year. Board members directed staff to develop a pilot U.S. history curriculum for that year with “minimum compliance/balance” to the new standards. World history and AP Psychology curriculum are to come before the board before the fall.

The board also unanimously passed a new English language arts curriculum.

The board did not have a detailed discussion about the history textbooks on Monday. For several hours during an April work session, they discussed the books and curriculum development across several subjects.

During that work session, Board Member Zach Arco questioned how the state measures or enforces standards, wondering if the system has ever been “stress-tested,” and suggested that curriculum plans should include more direct instruction, including lecturing. Those comments prompted pushback from the teachers union, which accused the conservative bloc of board members of micromanaging teachers’ lessons and methods as part of ongoing education culture wars.

Monday’s vote on textbooks and literacy curriculum represented a rare sign of unity among the school board.

The six-member board has been split politically since the start of 2024, when it failed to elect a chair. It’s stalled repeatedly over issues including district spending, diversity policies and even physics textbooks.

“I ask you to stop the dysfunction this board is getting known for,” said Valerie Holthus, president of the Anoka-Hennepin teachers union, after comments encouraging board members to focus on their role of governing rather than partisan politics.

Several teachers made public comments urging the board to respect district staff recommendations and to understand the lengthy, detailed curriculum development process. On Monday night, dozens of teachers rallied before the meeting to protest what the union said was the board’s micromanaging of what and how educators teach.

“I do trust the teachers,” Arco said on Monday, explaining that he doesn’t understand curriculum recommendations that include more direct instruction for literacy lessons but less lecture time in other subjects. “The question is ‘Which teachers should I trust?’ Because the reality is there’s not a broad consensus on a lot of things we discussed.”

On Monday, the board opted to table a vote on whether to keep, amend or scrap the district’s current social and emotional learning curriculum in favor of writing one in-house to align with district priorities.

“We waste so much time on this program, it blows my mind,” said Board Member Matt Audette of current social and emotional learning plans, saying he considers it “poison for our kids.”

Other board members pushed back, saying the lessons are valued by parents and school administrators. District staff also expressed concern about the district’s capacity to deliver a new plan.

Superintendent Cory McIntyre said it will be difficult to find enough staff willing to create curriculum over the summer, especially this late in the spring.

Board Member Kacy Deschene said the board is putting “a lot of stress on the system.”

“It seems unnecessary to ask for one more thing when we already have access to all these materials,” she said. “I’ve also looked at the materials and have no concerns.”

After more than an hour of discussion, McIntyre urged the board to vote on the options in front of them.

“We need a decision because we don’t know what we’re doing next year and we have a month of school left,” McIntyre said.

The options, with potential tweaks, will likely come back before the board on May 19.