TUSD Heliodoro T. Sanchez, Ed. D. ‘Superintendent December 3, 2014 Mr. John Huppenthal, Superintendent ‘Arizona Department of Education 1835 W. Jefferson Street Phoenix AZ 85007 Re: Culturally Relevant Courses Dear Superintendent Huppenthal: | write to you today for two interelated reasons. First, | would tke to address the ‘assumptions that underlie a letter we received on Monday from Dr. Johnson. ' In that letter she references comments made by Pueblo principal Augustine Romero at a conference last month and charges that "based on" those remarks the District may be in violation of the ‘Agreement it reached with ADE in early 2012 regarding is former Mexican-American ‘Studies curriculum, Dr. Romero hae net been involved in the development and deployment of our Culturally Relevant Curriculum for months. That curiculum was developed pursuant to a federal desegregation order. It has been finalized over the course of the last year under the leadership of Steve Holmes, my Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. ‘Mr. Holmes has met repeatedly with your staff, provided hundreds of pages of documentation, and has faciltated classroom visits for Dr. Johnson and others. Itis Mr. Holmes, as my designee, who speaks for the District regarding this curriculum. Dr. Romero's opinions are his own. They most certainly are not a basis for anyone to “conclude” anything. It is particularly troubling to see the Department of Education purporting o shift the legal burden from the Department to the District. We believe that our Curriculum complies with ARS § 15-112, and any allegation to the contrary must be proven by actual evidence in an appropriate forum, We will cooperate fully with Dr. Johnson's latest information request, as we have with all those that came before it, In the meantime, however, we ask that you judge our statutory Compliance on the merits of our curiculum rather than internet video of someone who is not directly involved in the courses. * Although Dr. Johnson's letter, with its aggressive deadline of December 4, 2014, is dated November 20, 2014 it did not arrive before the Thanksgiving break. No one at TUSD was aware of the request until Monday, December 1* Morrow Center— 1010 E. Tenth St - Tucson, AZ 85719 — (620) 225-6060 — Fax (620) 225.6174 Governing Board ‘Adelita S. Grifalva; President, Kristel Ann Foster, Clerk, Mark Stegeman, Michael Hicks, Cam JuérezNext, | have learned that two representatives of your Department (Jennifer Johnson and Carol Lippert) came unannounced to at least two of our schools for ciassroom observation. ‘An agreement that we made during my first couple of months as Superintendent was that You could visit our schools at any time, but that you would give my office a courteously cal regarding your visit. | am extremely disappointed that we did not receive a courtesy call regarding the planned visit at Pueblo High School and Tucson High School. As you know, \we have cooperated fuly with your Department's multple requests for information on our ‘curriculum and see no reason for such observations to be conducted as if they were a Clandestine operation, | am extremely disappointed with the lack of communication and the betrayal ofthe trust we have developed overtime. For this reason, | would request a meeting with you and your key staff to disuses the parameters for continuing to work collaboratively in staying in compliance with ARS § 15-112. Do not hesitate to contact me regarding this correspondence, Sincerely, Helek 2 KonsftlP. Heliodoro T. Sénchez, Ed. D. Superintendent 39 District Office of he Supenntencent