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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The Hollidaysburg Area School Board re-voted and approved Wednesday evening the AP Human Geography textbook denied last month after district parents advocated for reconsideration.
The approval was initially denied during the board's Aug. 11 meeting, with board member Ying Li calling the book's discussion of gender identity "indoctrination."
Li, along with Cara Eardley, voted against the book's approval a second time, while board members Michelle Luther, John Wells, Joseph Antonowicz, Carmen Bilek, Jesse Blank, Kenneth Snyder and Missy Sullivan voted in favor.
Wells and Luther voted against its approval at the August meeting, but changed their decision once it was agreed upon to send parents a permission slip to OK their child participating in the class that required it.
At the August meeting, Li said the proposed textbook contained "content that reflects one-sided political viewpoints" and "defines gender as one's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither."
While Li did not make any further comments regarding her vote at Wednesday's meeting, Eardley said the reason she did not approve the book was "not political" but "factual."
"There are items in this book that are not factually correct," Eardley said. "We would never be asked to approve a math book that says four plus two is seven."
Eardley also pointed out that the book was on display at the district's administrative office for parents to review for one month and "not one parent went to look at this book."
"Everybody has their own opinion on it and not one person has gone to look," Eardley said.
These comments were met with pushback by parents in the audience, who said they had never been told the book was available for review.
Prior to the vote Wednesday, Sullivan explained to those in attendance that the proposed course was approved in November, students who wished to take the class wrote essays in May and the textbook and curriculum were not sent to the board until July.
"So, it is my thought that I will not punish the students who worked hard all summer long," Sullivan said.
Blank echoed this, saying the book then needed to undergo a 30-day review period, which essentially left them with one option if there weren't multiple textbooks submitted for consideration.
During the meeting's public comment section, parents and a retired teacher voiced their support for the textbook's approval.
Rick Imler, who was the head of the district's science department and taught AP courses, said the book "has been widely adopted and used by many schools across the country."
"Also, it is important to remember that this is an elective course, therefore students and parents who have objected to the curriculum are free to choose to not take the course," Imler said. "It is my opinion that this is more of a politically driven decision rather than one based on academic merit."
Parent Aaron Wagner told the board he was glad they were having the meeting in the high school's library.
"My understanding is that the AP Human Geography text was rejected on the basis of a kind of passing reference to gender," Wagner said. "I believe that if we look through 95% of the books in this library, we can find something that is objectionable to somebody."
He asked the board to reconsider their vote, saying the course offered "very real value" to district students.
Parent Monica Jochen said that if the board denied the textbook's approval a second time, the course would likely be canceled. She added that the course was the only AP class offered to ninth grade students and taking that away would be "pulling the rug out" from underneath them.
"Their hard work could potentially go out the window because of a lack of planning and a political decision that seems like it's more grandstanding than anything else," Jochen said.
District parent Chris Garman also addressed the board, but in regards to the draft of policy 815.2: Educational Use of Student-Owned Technology Devices. The policy was on the board's agenda to approve its second reading.
Garman expressed concern over the policy stating students had no expectation of privacy while at school and that students' phones could be taken by force, with students being made to unlock the devices for teachers or staff.
Following Garman's comments, Bilek said the board intended on pulling the policy from the night's agenda "so that we can review it and rewrite it."
"When we pull the policy for review, the policy will still be in existence, but we will not be monitoring phones," Bilek said. "We will not be asking for passwords to get into a student's phone, and then we'll bring that policy back rewritten."
In other matters, the board approved a transfer of $125,000 from the district's budgetary reserve "to cover a portion of the mold remediation."
Physical Plant Director Jonathan Nihart explained during August's meeting that there was mold located in some district buildings that they were working on resolving.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.