Florida’s middle and high school students will learn about the fall of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as part of their history of communism lessons to be implemented next year.
The State Board of Education on Friday unanimously approved adding the information into social studies standards that it originally adopted in November.
Education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, who pushed for the addition, said time was of the essence.
“It’s important we do this because we’re about ready to do bids for textbooks,” Kamoutsas said. Students should know from those books “oppressive regimes that have torn so many families apart can be toppled.”
Board member Daniel Foganholi Sr. noted the Trump administration had removed Maduro in early January, and events are still unfolding. He asked if the standards can be revisited as necessary, and whether teachers would be trained on how to include them in classes.
Senior Chancellor Paul Burns assured the board that the items could be revised, adding that professional development for teachers would occur over the summer.
Board member Grazie Christie said she hoped the materials would need updates soon, perhaps reflecting the future fall of Cuba’s leadership.
“The dominoes maybe are falling,” Christie said.
She praised Florida for taking the lead on promoting anti-communism standards. Civics education is one antidote to a political environment that “uses people as pawns,” she said, taking a swipe against teacher unions that several people accused during the meeting of trying to push an agenda that included backing student protests against law enforcement.
“Another one is educating students properly on ideologies which are sold to them as compassionate and inclusive, and they are nothing less than torturous and oppressive and the thing of nightmares,” Christie said.
That’s the goal, Burns told the board.
“Our students must be able to understand the ideology of communism has consistently undermined and stripped individuals of their basic human freedom, prosperity and dignity,” he said. “Those ideals stand in direct opposition to our enduring American principles of liberty, the rule of law and democracy that really lie at the heart of our government and our way of life.”
Jeffrey S. Solochek is a reporter covering education as a member of the Tampa Bay Times Education Hub. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here.
