Casa Grande board places two phonics supplements on 60-day public review after public comment on curriculum

The Casa Grande Elementary School District Governing Board voted unanimously to place two supplemental phonics programs on a 60-day public review, the board decided at its meeting.

The board approved a proposal to make the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) phonics intervention and Wilson’s Just Words program available as supplemental materials for schools, with links and a feedback survey to be posted online for the full review period.

The actions come after several members of the public used the meeting’s public-comment period to raise objections to material in the district’s Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum, particularly passages about world religions and a story described by one commenter as portraying lying as acceptable. Board members said the public comments underlined the need to make review materials and feedback channels highly visible.

“Both of these programs will allow us to address that tier 2 or a discrepant skill level in their early phonics skill abilities,” said Ms. Draper, who summarized the two programs for the board and noted they are intended as supplemental interventions used “less than 20% of the time.” The UFLI program targets kindergarten through second grade students and focuses on phonemic awareness, while Just Words is an intervention aimed at upper elementary and middle-school students to improve decoding and spelling, Draper said.

During public comment, Robert Castro said portions of the CKLA curriculum — separate from the two phonics supplements under review — are “a lot of confusing things for little kids” and said some teachers are uncomfortable teaching those sections. Another speaker, identified in the record as Mr. Hawkes, asked the board to consider religious concerns in curriculum choices.

Board members responded by directing district staff to publicize the review widely. “I would encourage our district marketing team… include at least 4 social media posts,” Board Member Cruz said, asking for posts at launch, 30 days out, two weeks out and the day before the review period closes. Cruz also reminded residents that board members’ email addresses are posted online and invited community members to contact individual trustees with questions.

A motion to place the materials on a 60-day public review passed on a roll-call vote: President Pro Tem Stably — aye; Mrs. Sisson — aye; Mrs. Martinez — aye; Mr. Cruz — aye.

The district said the review will be entirely digital (no paper copies), that the product links and a feedback survey would be available on the district website “tomorrow,” and that staff would provide phone assistance for people who had questions while reviewing the materials.

The board’s formal action: approve adoption of item 7.19, placing the two supplemental phonics materials on a 60-day public review and publishing access links and a feedback survey online.

The board’s move to publicize review materials follows wider discussion about curriculum in recent district meetings and came after the board had removed item 7.19 from the consent agenda earlier in the meeting for separate consideration.

The review period begins when the district posts the materials and feedback link on its site; the board did not set separate in-person review sessions but promised multiple online notices and phone support for questions.

The board limited its response to public comment to directing staff to make the materials available for review and to encourage community feedback, consistent with Arizona law on public comment responses.