The Texas Education Agency on Monday directed all public schools in the state to revise lesson plans to remove mentions of Cesar Chavez after sexual abuse allegations surfaced against the labor leader.
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In written guidance, the agency also ordered school districts to cancel “or otherwise redirect”events and activities planned for Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, an extension of Gov. Greg Abbott’s state directive to not observe the optional state holiday.
Teachers and labor groups have been reckoning with the late civil rights leader’s legacy after a New York Times investigation revealed allegations that Chavez had sexually assaulted and abused women and girls. The activist had strong ties to Texas, where he supported striking farm workers and led a rally at the state Capitol following a march from Rio Grande City to Austin in 1966.
The current state social studies curriculum requires students to learn about Chavez in multiple grades, including fifth grade and U.S. history. But the TEA said any teaching of Chavez would also conflict with a portion of the Texas Education Code that says a teacher cannot be compelled to discuss “a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.”
“This letter serves as formal notice that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will not consider failure to teach any student expectation focused on Chavez as out of compliance with statutory requirements,” the guidance said.
The Texas State Board of Education is in the process of rewriting its K-12 social studies curriculum standards to emphasize a focus on Texas and U.S. history. The board is set to vote in June on the new standards, which TEA expects will remove explicit requirements to teach about Chavez.
The Austin school district last week announced it would celebrate labor leader Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez, on the March 31 holiday. Huerta told the Times she had been sexually assaulted by Chavez but kept it a secret for 60 years out of fear of hurting the farmworker movement.
And in Houston, the school district renamed the holiday from Cesar Chavez to Farmworkers Day. It is also facing questions about whether to rename its César E. Chávez High School.