Kent School District updates curriculum policy to emphasize inclusive materials and bias screening

Kent School District staff presented an update to policy 2020 (Course design, selection and adoption of instructional materials) that incorporates requirements to value materials reflecting a wide range of cultures and life experiences and directs staff to use bias-screening models provided by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

The policy draft emphasizes inclusive learning standards and asks the instructional materials committee to seek options reflecting historically underrepresented perspectives. "The superintendent or designate will ensure the selection process includes bias screening using OSPI's models for the evaluation of bias and screening for bias content," the staff presentation said.

Board members cautioned that naming a specific tool verbatim risks making the policy quickly outdated. "If you change one word, then it gets out of date," one director said; staff agreed to adjust the language to reference OSPI's tool generically and to date the reference where appropriate. Directors also asked that the policy cross-reference the district’s instructional materials procedures to make clear how parental opt-out rights or alternative materials are handled; teaching-and-learning staff said they will add a one-line cross-reference and return the item.

What happens next: Staff will revise the policy language to avoid naming a single tool and will add cross-references to procedures related to opt-outs and instructional materials; the policy will return at a future reading.