A San Francisco Bay Area school board will use broad lessons against bias to replace a curriculum against bullying gay people.
The vote by the Alameda board of education on Dec. 8 did little to ease tensions in the island city near Oakland. A lawsuit and threats of recalling school board members accompanied debate over the “Lesson 9” curriculum adopted in May to prevent anti-gay bullying.
The new anti-bullying lessons approved by the board, at the recommendation of Superintendent Kirsten Vital, will be supplemented by children’s books that explicitly address six specific forms of bias, including against homosexuals.