A San Antonio Charter School apologized after one of their 8th grade teachers in an American history class, asked students to list the positive and negative aspects of slavery. The teacher from Great Monte Vista Charter School was placed on leave after distributing the worksheet titled, “The Life of Slaves: A Balance View”, as a homework assignment to students.
The school further stated they would audit the American history textbook, "Prentice Hall Classics: A History of the United States”, connected with the lesson as well. Great Hearts of Texas operates 28 Charter Schools in Texas and Arizona. In a statement on the school’s Facebook page, superintendent of Great Hearts of Texas Schools, Aron Kindel, said “To be clear, there is no debate about slavery. It is immoral and a crime against humanity.” He assured parents that this was an isolated incident connected to one teacher on just one of their 28 campuses.
Scott Overland, a spokesman for Pearson, the company who publishes the textbook, stated the company did not create nor did they endorse the worksheet distributed by the teacher.
“We do not support the point of view represented in the worksheet and strongly condemn the implication that there was any positive aspect to slavery,” Overland said. U.S. Rep Joaquin Castro drew further attention to the worksheet, tweeting it was “absolutely unacceptable”, and asked the charter school network to review its current curriculum. "Asking students to complete such an assignment challenges the reality that slavery was utterly dehumanizing," Castro said.
The school plans to have a follow up communication with parents on May 9.