Fulton Public Schools Superintendent Jacque Cowherd has identified the 11 Missouri Learning Standards physical education teachers were attempting to align to through a classroom activity called "Claim It," which has outraged parents and upset students.
"Claim It" was used during a character education day at Fulton Middle School on Friday, March 20, the last day before the district's spring break. In the activity, teachers read aloud various statements regarding identity and if a statement applied to a student, he or she stepped forward, "claiming" the subject matter in the statement as a part of his or her identity.
Statements that have raised concerns include: "You or someone in your family has been raped or sexually assaulted," "You have ever been physically abused by someone who said they love you," "You worry or have worried about how your family will pay the bills" and "Someone in your family has been addicted to alcohol or drugs."
Cowherd apologized to parents in an email on Monday, stating the activity was inappropriate. Administrators launched an investigation later in the week, questioning teachers about what state standards they were trying to address. Suzanne Hull, FPS assistant superintendent, said the 11 standards listed below are the ones which teachers saw "Claim It" aligned with in Missouri Learning Standards.
All of the standards identified by FPS are included in Missouri Learning Standards, which is available on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) website. DESE categorizes the standards for grade levels. Although sixth, seventh and eighth grade students participated in "Claim It," all of the standards do not apply to each grade level.
• Discuss sexual harassment issues and create a plan to address these issues. (Seventh grade, per DESE standards.)
• Demonstrate strategies to prevent, manage, or report social problems related to abuse, exploitation, harassment, or bullying. (Eighth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Analyze ways individuals can respond to various needs and characteristics of diverse people including those with different abilities, chronic diseases, different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. (Eighth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Formulate scenarios that will illustrate potential problems or difficult situations. (Seventh grade, per DESE standards.)
• Assess personal health needs during adolescence and apply strategies to address those needs or problems. (Eighth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Recognize problems in daily living that may contribute to self-destructive behavior and apply strategies to reduce the risk of harm to self and others. Identify social problems (assault, homicide, rape, robbery, gangs, and personal safety risks). (Eighth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Evaluate ideas and perspectives regarding the influence that family, friends, and culture have on health choices and behaviors during adolescence. (Sixth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Model healthy communication skills through exchange of information, questions, and ideas while recognizing the perspective of others. Describe how to constructively manage feelings caused by disappointment, stress, separation, or loss. (Sixth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Investigate resources available to cope with social problems related to abuse, exploitation, harassment or bullying (e.g.: school, police, peers, hotlines, counselors). (Eighth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Identify societal problems (assault, homicide, rape, robbery, gangs, personal safety risks). (Eighth grade, per DESE standards.)
• Recognize that life management skills (stress management, goal setting, decision making, assertive behavior, resisting peer pressure, and conflict resolution) can be applied to personal situations that adolescents encounter. (Sixth grade, per DESE standards.)
Ron Lankford, commissioner of DESE, said the state provides learning standards, but does not dictate curriculum. Curriculum, which is an outline of how schools will meet DESE learning standards, is decided on by the school district, therefore maintaining its local control.
"By law, we cannot mandate curriculum," Lankford said. "We don't sponsor or endorse curriculum or materials."
Only looking at the "Claim It" activity, Lankford said he could not tell which standards Fulton Middle School teachers were trying to address. However, he added that he did not ask FPS which ones it was trying to align with. Lankford said he's never heard of the activity nor has anyone on his staff.
Hull said teachers are "given the flexibility" to lead activities they believe will meet standards, and activities are "fluid," meaning they can be modified from one class period to the next.
"All activities are not listed in our district curriculum," Hull said. "It's not plausible."
While FPS said "Claim It" met state standards, Cowherd added that the activity was not proper in an open setting, and it is never the district's intent to put students in an uncomfortable position.
"I don't think that activity was in line with appropriateness," Cowherd said. "We strive to have (activities) in line with standards and appropriateness, but we're taking the position that the questions in that activity were inappropriate."
Cowherd said the activity has been used for the past 7-8 years, but he was unaware. He said it is unusual for upper-level administrators to be cognizant of all of the day-to-day activities within each school.
"If there were any complaints (in the past), they did not get to my level," Cowherd said.
"Claim It," he said, will never be used by FPS again.
Amanda Murdie, whose daughter is a sixth grader at FMS, said she was "dumbfounded" when FPS stated "Claim It" was in line with state standards.
"Now, I'm more angered and disappointed that the district pawned this off as a legitimate part of the curriculum," she said.
In an letter to the FPS Board of Education, Murdie references a sixth-grade Missouri Learning Standard that FPS claims the activity tried to address: Evaluate ideas and perspectives regarding the influence that family, friends and culture have on health choices and behaviors during adolescence.
"There are many ways to achieve this goal without calling students out in the way that I am supposed to believe is part of our FMS Health Curriculum," she stated in the letter.
FPS School Board President Kristi Donohue said the board has not yet met regarding "Claim It," but plans to in order to look at the situation and address it appropriately.
Murdie also raises concerns of student privacy in the letter, referencing federal law that outlines protection of pupil rights. A subsection of the law states that students are not required to submit a "survey, analysis or evaluation that reveals information" on topics that include political affiliations, psychological problems, sex behavior or attitudes, religious practices and income without "prior consent of the student."
Cowherd previously told the Fulton Sun students were told the activity was voluntary, but probably felt obligated to take part in it.
"My daughter did not feel the activity was voluntary," Murdie stated in her letter. "No student in her class sat out from this very public activity. To have sat out would have opened her up to bullying."
Murdie also stated the activity was "not appropriate to the developmental levels of middle schoolers, something that the district must take into account when translating Missouri State Standards into actual curriculum."
An online search for the "Claim It" activity, goes to a website for RaceBridges for Schools, a Catholic organization with a non-secular mission of promoting diversity. A "Claim It" lesson is available for free at racebridgesstudio.com, but it is not an exact duplicate of the one administered to FMS students.
In the online version, it states the exercise is meant for 9-12 grades, but can be modified for younger or older students. The version used by FMS does not list grade levels for which the activity is designed.
It also lists 33 statements, rather than the 100 statements read to FMS students. Both include sensitive statements on sexual orientation, family income, drugs and alcohol and arrest history of a family member.
While Cowherd emphasized "Claim It" was inappropriate for the middle schools students, he said the overall intent was to "help kids in character education and help them develop as moral, civil, good-mannered, behaving, non-bullying human beings."