PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Local leaders are reacting after the Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for African-American history courses.
Teachers are now required to include how slaves developed skills that could be personally beneficial.
Members of Florida’s African-American Task Force met Monday during the Florida Department of Education’s Summer Institute.
The new standards and how slavery is being portrayed have been hot button issues.
“I think it’s really important for people to understand that we are really recapturing something that used to be familiar,” said John Duebel with the Florida Department of Education.
Some members of the task force have vocalized that the recommendations, when it comes to curriculum changes, have not been heard by the Department of Education.
Most recently, a portion of that education suggested that slaves “developed skills… that could be applied for personal benefit.”
State Senators Shevrin Jones and Rosalind Osgood, both Democrats, and Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair Steve Gallon are set to host a town hall on Thursday on the new African-American history standards.
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. is set to attend.
“My hope is that the education commissioner will have an open ear to hear the concerns from parents, to hear the questions from parents and possibly even the ideas that they might have,” said Jones.