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Board declines amendment to remove Flocabulary; approves district's 2025'026 digital resources list
Summary
After debate over a promotional lyric in a vendor's video and whether supplementary materials should be district-approved, the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board rejected an amendment to remove Flocabulary and then approved the full 2025'6 digital-resources list by a 3'0 vote.
The Chandler Unified Governing Board voted 3'0 Wednesday to approve the district's 2025'6 digital-resources list as presented, after rejecting a motion that would have removed Flocabulary (a nearpod/Renaissance company) from the approved supplementary materials list.
Board member Heap moved to remove Flocabulary from the district's approved digital resources after citing a promotional clip that included a lyric he described as politically charged; Dr. Jessica Edgar, the district's assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, responded that the district approves many supplementary tools for teacher use and that teachers exercise professional judgment when aligning such materials to Arizona standards.
Why it matters: The vote centers on how the district reviews and approves supplementary digital materials for classroom use, parental notification and the boundaries between instructional content and promotional material. Some trustees said they worried about promotional content that might insert values beyond academics; others said the district's approval process (ed-tech review for privacy and curricular review for standards alignment) and teacher discretion are the appropriate safeguards.
Key arguments: Mr. Heap said he was concerned a promotional video included a lyric that suggested ideological messaging and asked the board to remove the resource to avoid politicized content in classrooms: “...in the promo video there was a student using a rap and she said the words to the effect of, at least I'm not woke... and while this is a promotion video ... I would contend that if it's in a promo video, it's likely there.”
Dr. Jessica Edgar explained the district's process: supplementary digital tools are reviewed first by the ed-tech team for privacy and integration, and then by curriculum staff to confirm alignment to standards. She emphasized the district relies on teachers' professional judgment and said supplementary materials are not used as core curriculum: “We do ask since it's a supplementary material, which means it's not used... every day... we do lean upon our teachers and their professional judgment to align the resource to a standard,” she said.
Board action: The board first considered an amendment to remove Flocabulary from the approved list; that amendment failed in a roll-call sequence. A follow-up motion to approve the full list of digital resources as presented carried 3'0, with two board members dissenting. Trustees asked staff to provide a clearer distinction in future materials between tiered curriculum adoptions (core vs. supplementary) and to supply a list showing which items are tier 1/core, tier 2 and supplementary for transparency.
What's next: Dr. Edgar and ed-tech staff said they will provide the board with a clearer breakdown of which digital resources are core versus supplementary and will review whether district processes for parent notification can be improved for supplementary tools.
Votes at a glance: Amendment to remove Flocabulary — failed; Motion to approve 2025'6 digital resources as presented — passed 3'0.
Speakers quoted: Board member Heap; Dr. Jessica Edgar, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning.
