Pomona Unified presents ethnic studies course plan; staff to return for board readings before March vote

Pomona Unified School District staff presented a yearlong ethnic studies course at the Jan. 15 board meeting and said they will return for a first read at the next board meeting and for a second read in March ahead of implementation in 2025–26.

The course, developed by secondary history and social science teachers and supported by a district task force of educators and community experts, follows the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum and is intended to satisfy the AB 101 mandate that California high school graduates of the 2029–30 class complete an ethnic studies course. Teachers used a thematic approach, with units on the discipline of ethnic studies; histories of four historically excluded groups; systems of power; social movements of the 1960s–70s; identity; and a service‑learning capstone.

District staff said the course will use two primary young‑reader texts — A Different Mirror for Young People (Ronald Takaki) and Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States — plus supplemental readings covering Indigenous history, African American history, Asian American and Latino narratives, local history (including material on Ignacio López), and LGBTQ perspectives. The district intends to offer the course to all students beginning in 2025–26 and to provide robust professional learning for teachers before rollout.

Frank Salcedo Fierro, identified in the presentation as a district teacher specialist who helped develop the course, described the six instructional units and said teachers preferred placing the identity unit near the end of the year so students first learn histories and perspectives before reflecting on their own multifaceted identities. He said the service‑learning capstone is intended to give students time during a yearlong course to partner with community organizations and pursue projects that could qualify for the state’s Seal of Civic Engagement.

Presenters noted the course is a “living document” and said the supplemental resource list will be continually updated based on public input. The district held three public hearings — in the boardroom, at Gary High School and on Zoom — and staff said they incorporated feedback, including requests to add materials addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Middle Eastern perspectives as well as additional local history.

Members of the ethnic studies task force and local academics spoke during public comment in support of the plan and asked the board to ensure the course includes shared‑experience lessons, critical‑thinking instruction and inter‑ethnic bridge‑building activities. Task force members and presenters said teachers examined other districts’ courses and the state model as part of course design.

District staff said the presentation is informational; the administrative plan calls for a formal first read at the board’s next meeting and a second read in March to allow additional public review and finalization of supplemental materials.