SANTA ANA : Civics Test Sparks Uncivil Remarks

Debate over seemingly innocuous proposals that Santa Ana Unified School District students be tested on civics knowledge sparked an angry exchange this week among district trustees.

The argument started after the board Tuesday approved a policy that students take tests on their knowledge of civics and the Constitution but rejected a similar proposal offered by Trustee Rosemarie Avila. Her proposal would have allowed the board to review and approve test questions.

“I’m sad and disappointed that the board members are negating their role as policy makers” by allowing staff to design the tests without board review, Avila said after her proposal was rejected.

Board President Richard C. Hernandez responded later that “for you to make these kinds of statements is really appalling to me. I’m sorry you see things here that put things in a confrontational mode when they don’t have to be.”

“It makes me sad that you have attempted to put your fellow board members in a bad light,” he added.

The board approved a proposal by Trustee Robert W. Balen requiring students to be tested on civics-related subjects, including knowledge of the Gettysburg Address, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the three branches of government.

The board passed it on a 4-1 vote, with Trustees Balen, Hernandez, Audrey Yamagata-Noji and Sal Mendoza supporting it.

Avila voted against Balen’s plan and offered a similar proposal to require that students memorize the Bill of Rights and portions of the Declaration of Independence and be given a 20-question, board-approved test on the Constitution.

Hernandez said tests should be made by teachers because the board’s job is to set policy and leave the implementation of it to staff. Further, having a test that did not change from year to year, as Avila proposed, would make cheating easy.

Avila’s proposal failed, also on a 4-1 vote, prompting her statement that the board shirked its responsibility to set policy.

Yamagata-Noji told Avila that saying the board was not being civic-minded was “just your own way of drawing attention to things and distorting the truth.”

Avila, who often votes against the board majority, said later: “I resent the fact that any questioning of anything that goes on in this district is taken in such a personal manner.”

She added that dissent on the board is “healthy” and that if voters wanted a single viewpoint, they would have elected only one trustee.