Response to Danny Westneat 1/27 column in Seattle Times

I am one of the three plaintiffs in the math textbook appeal. I am also the white grandmother of an SPS fifth grader, and a retired SPS math teacher.

Mr. Westneat grants that the textbooks we are opposing may be “lousy,” but he faults us for citing their disproportionate effect on ethnic, racial, and other minorities. He states that we can't prove this claim. I disagree, and West Seattle Dan has posted voluminous statistics in response to the column. They support our claim that inquiry-based texts, which have now accrued a sizable track record, are generally associated with declining achievement among most students and with a widening achievement gap between middle class whites and minorities.

We've brought race and ethnicity (as well as economic status) into this appeal because there is ample evidence that it is a factor. True, this is not the 80's, and true, in my 10 years of experience teaching in Seattle Schools, I found no evidence that people of color are less capable than whites of being outstanding learners. However, in my 30+ years as a parent and grandparent of SPS students and my years as a teacher, I've developed deep, broad, awareness of the ways that centuries of societally mandated racism play out in our classrooms, even in this era of Barack Obama's presidency.

Students of color, students from economically struggling families, students with learning difficulties, as well as everyone else, are guaranteed equal access to education by the laws of our country and state. There is a panoply of factors, put into place long ago and slow to fade, which converge to make it generally challenging for minorities to access the resources essential for safety, security, and basic needs. These factors also have made it inevitable that the confusing Discovering texts and the learning environment they create are going to hurt minorities more than whites. The texts are deleterious; more so to vulnerable groups of people than others. I believe their adoption violates many students' right to equal education.