CUSD board member pushes for PragerU videos

Apr. 5—A member of the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board is pushing for materials from the conservative PragerU Kids to be available for use in CUSD classrooms.

"I would probably prefer, in schools, we try to stay away from political issues as much as we can," Kurt Rohrs said. "But it does come up, and if it does come up and there's a discussion in class, my view is that there has to be equal weight given to both sides, because we're trying to teach our kids to think critically."

PragerU Kids was started by conservative radio host Dennis Prager as part of Prager University. It has been adopted for use in at least five states.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne placed videos from PragerU Kids on the state Department of Education's website. He said because Arizona is a local control state, he can't force school districts to use them. However, he is urging them to do so.

"Prager makes high-quality curriculum available and helps schools and parents offer more choices for their child's education," Horne said at a press conference. "Prager materials are rich in content and have a commitment to presenting facts for students to better understand American history."

Rohrs has asked district officials to place a debate on using PragerU Kids materials in classrooms on a future agenda. He said it would balance out some left-leaning teaching he claims is already in schools.

He was asked for specifics. He said there are three areas.

"First one is probably racism, and particularly critical race theory," Rohrs said.

Critical race theory is a course in law schools and is not taught at any K-12 school in the U.S.

"It's not expressed explicitly, but you cannot deny that it has an impact on the way people are approaching this," Rohrs contended.

He said the national discussion of critical race theory and the New York Times' 1619 Project have influenced teachers.

His second area of concern is sexuality and how students identify their sexuality. His final concern was over displaying gay pride flags but not displaying the U.S. flag.

"It's probably not a good message to be sending to kids, and parents don't like it, don't like it at all," Rohrs said. "We're not raising our kids that way, and I don't want you to raise my kid that way. We have a right to object."

Rohrs pointed out there are two different branches to PragerU and that the Kids branch is separate. The main branch includes opinions, and he's not advocating for them to be used in classrooms.

PragerU Kids does not plan to charge for use of its materials.

The Kids videos are often about 10 minutes in length. Some of them steer away from overt political messages, especially when talking about money management and running a business.

However, there are videos that dive into controversial political issues and present a conservative view. They have been criticized for misinformation and incorrect facts.

The following are some examples:

In the Around the World series, "Poland: Ania's Energy Crisis" focuses on climate change. In it, Ania disagrees with climate change protesters, arguing that banning coal will lead to businesses closing and higher energy prices and that renewable energy sources are inefficient. She argues that the climate has always changed throughout history.

PragerU receives funding from energy and fossil fuel business leaders, including Dan and Farris Wilks, who made billions in hydraulic fracturing, and the Bradley Foundation, which has advocated for climate change denialism.

In the video, Ania's fight to deny climate change is compared to her father's fight against communism and her grandfather's fight against the Nazis.

In the Leo & Layla's History Adventures series, "Frederick Douglass: The Outspoken Abolitionist" begins with the brother and sister watching protests during the Black Lives Matter movement.

They travel back in time to meet Frederick Douglass, who tells them the Constitution is a "glorious liberty document." The statement is true. Douglass gave a speech using those words and argued that the Constitution should be used to fight slavery.

That pitted him against other abolitionists of his era who were arguing the Constitution allowed slavery. Douglass correctly pointed out the words slaves or slavery do not appear in the Constitution.

However, the video has Douglass giving advice to the siblings.

"It's good to listen to activists who want to improve things, but they have to be willing to work inside our system and they have to understand that change usually requires patience and compromise, then you might want to join their cause. But, if they're radicals, like (William Lloyd) Garrison, you and your brother will be best served to stay away."

In the same series' the episode "Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World" has the siblings meet the great explorer in 1493 because they keep hearing bad things about him and the efforts to get rid of the holiday named for him.

They confront him about slavery on his voyage back to Europe after arriving in the New World.

"Slavery is as old as time and has taken place in every corner of the world, even amongst the people I just left," Columbus says. "Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don't see the problem."

When told slavery has been abolished in the siblings' time, Columbus expresses happiness. However, he tells them that it's unfair to judge people from hundreds of years ago with modern values.

In the book "Around the World, Sofia Survives the Border," the author explores immigrants trying to enter the U.S. illegally. The girl learns that strong borders are essential for keeping communities safe and prosperous.

Other books in that series explore "Communism and Freedom of Speech" in North Korea and Hong Kong, "Religious Freedom" in Israel and Egypt, and "Energy & Big Government" in Central Africa and Venezuela.

Many of the PragerU Kids videos celebrate diversity, showing people from many cultures. They also push patriotism, saying taking the best from all heritages is one of the reasons the United States is a great country.

Rohrs said he only wants to make the PragerU Kids material available for use and that he would not mandate any teacher using them.

"If a teacher thinks it's not appropriate to use in that class, don't use it," Rohrs said. "There's a lot of stuff that all comes from the left side that we probably shouldn't be using in class. That's the original complaint. That's fine. I trust our teachers to do the right thing."

Rohrs was asked to provide examples of materials currently being used that he considered left-leaning. He pointed to two programs, CNN10 and BrainPOP.

CNN10 is a broadcast by the cable news company designed for young audiences. Many conservatives and people in the middle say they see a liberal bias to CNN.

It's harder to find criticisms of CNN10. Many parents and teachers who are critical of CNN say CNN10 does a better job of being fair and unbiased.

Many of the online criticisms of CNN10 seem more directed at CNN.

BrainPOP has been criticized by right-wing activists for how it discusses race and gender identity. For example, pointing out Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be imprisoned or shot and killed by police.

The district said in a statement, "Chandler Unified School District provides vetted, standard-aligned resources for educator use to provide multiple perspectives that evoke critical thinking."

Rohrs, who identifies with the parental rights movement in school boards, is often in the minority of CUSD Governing Board's votes, and it may not be possible for him to get his colleagues to approve allowing PragerU Kids materials in CUSD schools this year.

However, it is an election year and there are three seats available in November's election. Parental rights candidates would only need to win two of those three to take the majority. At least three parental rights candidates have filed a statement of interest in running.

Rohrs said if the district wants its students to be critical thinkers, it is important both sides of an argument are presented.

"If you're going to present one side, you have to present the other side," Rohrs said. "We're trying to teach our kids in that context, to think critically and see both sides of an issue."