CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR EDUCATION
"Conversations around triggers and Meta-Moments are an excellent way to discuss power and privilege"
6th Grade Curriculum
“Consider providing students with a journal prompt that asks them to reflect on their personal triggers... Conversations around triggers and Meta-Moments are an excellent way to discuss power and privilege in who, in our society, is required to regulate more strictly in public spaces. Consider examining stereotypes in the context of emotional regulations as they relate to race, gender, sexuality, religion, and other forms of difference.”
“Our family’s strongly held religious views do not discriminate based on differences of any type, and the discussion of power, privilege and triggers only escalates those differences in a way that encourages children to be neurotic and triggered. Each individual should be treated equally." -NMUSD parent of a 5th grader
"employ strategies to nudge your students towards feeling red when you are preparing to discuss topics such as injustice"
6th Grade Curriculum
“We most typically associate productive “red” feelings with feelings of perceived injustices (anger) or passion towards a cause; ask students which societal issues put them in the red to better understand how they can engage with their local communities to make change. Further, employ strategies to nudge your students towards feeling red when you are preparing to discuss topics such as injustice. To shift your students into the red, consider showing them controversial photographs or news headlines, or consider prompting them with a thought-provoking topic where they are required to choose a side”
"The school’s role in transforming any child’s mind should only be to teach critical thinking skills and the basic fundamentals of reading, writing and math. Manipulative practices of emotionally triggering children before discussing societal issues should not be legal and is a form of abuse that traces back to Marxism." - NMUSD educator
"Students should work independently to compare two different relationships in their lives, such as one with a parent and one with a friend"
3rd Grade Curriculum
“Next, teachers explain we cannot behave the same way in all of our relationships in order for everyone to feel a safe emotional climate. Students should work independently to describe and compare two different relationships in their lives, such as one with a parent and one with a friend. Students may respond to the following questions: What does a safe emotional climate look like for each relationship? What behaviors do the other people engage in to make sure you both feel a safe emotional climate together in each relationship?”
This lesson asks students to critically examine relationships with close family members without obtaining parental consent to do so, which is explicitly prohibited under PPRA and CA Education Code.
"ask students to draw a Mood Meter and write the percentage of time they experience each quadrant when they are with that person”
6th Grade Curriculum
“To begin, [students] are going to practice analyzing the important relationships in our lives. Ask students to identify 3-5 different relationships they have. This could be a relationship with a friend, sibling, cousin, teacher, parent, romantic partner, or other person that they are close with. Students should…analyze their own emotional experience during these situations. After students complete their charts, the teacher may opt to hold a class discussion around… things the students noticed while doing the activity...Below each column, ask students to draw a Mood Meter and write the percentage of time they experience each quadrant when they are with that person”
This lesson asks students to critically examine relationships with close family members without obtaining parental consent to do so, which is explicitly prohibited under PPRA and CA Education Code.
"Have you ever been so sad about something that you did not want to do anything?"
3rd Grade Curriculum
“How did being angry impact you? How did your body feel? What was going on in your mind….Have you ever been so sad about something that you did not want to do anything?.. After students discuss in pairs, call on some students to share aloud what they discussed.”
This lesson explicitly violates PPRA by collecting emotional data from students without first obtaining parental consent.
"This book offers a great opportunity to discuss depression with young children"
2nd Grade Curriculum
“Connect this unit to a read aloud of Blueloon by Julia Cook. This book, written by a social worker, offers a great opportunity to discuss depression with young children, and it offers many strategies for tackling feelings of hopelessness and despair…. Ask your students to work in groups to create posters for hallways in their school. These posters should list out signs of hopelessness.”
“Teaching 2nd graders (7 and 8 years olds) about depression and hopelessness without family support or involvement is inappropriate. Exposing a young mind to unnecessary trauma may give them ideas that are inappropriate and that they might not otherwise have had. When our children learn about these very difficult emotions, we lean on central tenets of our faith for support." -NMUSD parent
"The goal of this task is to collect and analyze data that tracks students’ emotions over time"
5th Grade Curriculum
“The goal of this task is to collect and analyze data that tracks students’ emotions over time...During this lesson, students will collect data by checking in on the Mood Meter and recording in which quadrant they fall at regular intervals for a set amount of time. Students will present to their peers a line plot that shows the data they have collected as well as the patterns they have identified.”
This lesson explicitly violates PPRA by collecting emotional data from students without first obtaining parental consent.
"Think of a time when you were feeling completely hopeless. What were you feeling hopeless about? "
5th Grade Curriculum
“Think of a time when you were feeling completely hopeless. What were you feeling hopeless about? How did it feel in your body and face? What kind of thoughts were going through your head?...Ask [students] to share their own stories of feeling this way.”
This lesson explicitly violates PPRA by collecting emotional data from students without first obtaining parental consent.
"Supporting Equity Through Transformational SEL"
Kristen Henry and Sarah Coley (Director of Student Services) were very aware of the ideological agenda behind their Transformational SEL programming. Kristen Henry emailed, "Have you seen this?... Now that I've seen it, it cant be unseen."
NMUSD's Ruler Approach is a CASEL Transformational SEL program.
"We do not have a process to opt students out of RULER or other in class SEL lessons"
The PPRA requires informed parental consent and the option to opt out before students are asked about private information including feelings, beliefs and critical appraisals of family relationships.
