Board Opposes Proposed Social Studies Standards

At their monthly meeting last Tuesday, the Britton-Hecla Board of Education signed a resolution put forth by the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD). The resolution opposes the new South Dakota proposed Social Studies standard.

The South Dakota Department of Education released its revised standards in August but quickly drew criticism from many educators, school boards and the South Dakota Education Association. B-H Superintendent Steve Benson noted that the school board had gathered information from the teaching staff who support the signing of the ASBSD resolution leading the board to sign the resolution. Board member Audrey Schuller voted ‘no’ to the signing.

The points of the resolution are as follows: 1. The process of revising the Social Studies standards was done in a manner that did not consult the expertise of South Dakota educators in their development, as has been the practice for decades of standards revision; 2. The proposed Social Studies standards are not based on educational best practices, but rather are written as tasks, not standards; 3. Many of the proposed Social Studies standards are not age appropriate for students, lack depth of knowledge, higher order thinking and do not address skill development; 4. The proposed standards would require excessive contact hours to teach to students, which would take time away from other curricular subjects; 5. Current Social Studies materials used in schools do not align with the proposed Social Studies standards, which will result in new materials, teacher training and resources needing to be purchased at a high cost to schools.

In other business during the meeting, the school board accepted letters of resignation contingent on finding suitable replacements for Courtney Paulson as junior high volleyball coach, Ryan Nack as assistant wrestling coach, and Megan Ochsner as Head VB Coach.

In his Superintendent’s report, Benson updated the board on the beginning stages of the HVAC project. The district plans to redo all the heating and cooling in the school. Benson noted contactors are in place. They are now waiting on equipment. He anticipates a spring start date and the project taking a couple years. The superintendent added that the project will be funded by federal ESSER money as well as capital outlay funds.

The board discussed setting the specific number of volunteers needed per sport/activity, and those approved volunteers will be reimbursed for their background check and the fees needed for classes to be an approved volunteer. Changes will be listed in the Athletic/ Activities Handbook and approved at the next meeting.

The next board meeting will be Monday, December 12 at 6 p.m.