Curriculum Is a Go

The great news -- the Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Education voted 6-1 to implement the new sex-ed classes for 8th and 10th grades in the fall. There was passionate debate, beautiful oratory, glamorous heroes and angry villains: it had everything.

I want to get this news on the Internet, so I'm not going to go on and on about it. Steve Abrams, who recently claims to have switched from Republican to Democrat, voted against it. He seemed to be making the point that he was voting against it because the Superintendent had recommended a change after the board members had had their briefings. He didn't accuse the Superintendent of lying. He did say things about "political games" and "pressure" applied to the Superintendent and board, both in the meeting and in the halls afterwards. So there's politics? So he votes against it for that reason? He claimed to agree with the content of the classes, even the last-minute statement, but he voted against it because he was angry about the process. Tell your kids to thank him next time they see him.

Dr. Weast gave an eloquent speech, explaining why he had decided at the last minute to include the statement about homosexuality not being an illness. Waving his finger across the board table at Abrams, he pretty much struck everybody in the room dumb, I don't know how else to put it. It was one of those moments. (Of course, the cynic in me notes that there were cameras present from all the networks, and the lighting was perfect.) You'll want to watch that one again on streaming video, once they've gotten it up.

Aw, OK, I'm thinking about it, and I shouldn't be so cynical: Jerry Weast kicked ass.

One of my favorite parts of the meeting was Pat O'Neill's heartfelt and obviously unrehearsed remarks. Her homespun presentation always surprises me, she has a way of speaking that is conversational and colloquial, but there's no beating around the bush; she says what she means to say, clearly and with a ring of honesty that you can't fake, and her vision is clear. She was very effective today, sometimes referring to the obvious where other might have been afraid to; she was the only one to use the word "bigotry" and she referred to the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum by name.

I didn't see any CRC people around the boardroom when the board voted, which is interesting. They put out their press release and showed up in the morning hoping for press coverage, but when the real story broke they couldn't be bothered to be there.

A lot of people seem to think it's all over. Keep reminding yourself we have a State board ruling to wait for, and then the CRC has threatened to sue again in federal court, so we'll probably have to slug through that, if they have the heart for another beating.

This was definitely a big milestone, though -- let's give ourselves that, people. MCPS developed a new curriculum, evaluated it, tested it, and voted to implement it, all with the constant howling of the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum in the background. I think it was possible because the good people of the county stuck together and kept their sense of humor and kept on fighting the good fight.

In a rational universe, this would be over.

PS I'm sure I'll write more about this after I've had a chance to go through the video a little bit. It was a very rich lot of interactions, often emotional, some of it done on a high-wire without a net, some of it in the mud.