[KootenayFlamesFan]

In a January 12 letter to the College Board, the nonprofit organization that oversees AP coursework, the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation said the course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

“In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion,” the letter stated.

While the letter did not elaborate on what the agency found objectionable in the course content, DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin said in a statement to CNN that the course “leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow.”

“As the Department of Education has previously stated, if the College Board amends the course to comply, provides a full course curriculum, and incorporates historically accurate content, then the Department will reconsider the course for approval,” Griffin added.

In a statement to CNN, the College Board declined to directly address the decision in Florida but said, “We look forward to bringing this rich and inspiring exploration of African-American history and culture to students across the country.”

Lisa Hill, the history department chair at Hamden Hall Country Day School in Connecticut and one of the teachers piloting the new course, said she was “baffled” by the DeSantis administration’s criticism.

“I must tell you, for sure, we don’t have a political agenda,” Hill told CNN when reached by phone Thursday. “It is not a course of indoctrination. My philosophy of education is you learn and discuss and debate so you get a better understanding of what’s presented to you.”

“We teach facts,” she added. “We’re not delving into theory.”

Hill, who was a co-chair on the committee that helped develop the course, said they spent a decade creating the framework and ensuring the historical accuracy of the material, but she noted that it’s also not a history course. It’s a multidisciplinary study of the African American diaspora that includes literature, the arts, science, politics and geography.

“I just know that we have taken the time to make sure we have been careful to be inclusive, to make sure the students are getting information that many did not know about,” she said. “My students have embraced it, they have been inquisitive. It will be fair, because sometimes history is ugly, and I don’t believe you need to shy away from that.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/polit...ies/index.html