A new name and a new organizational plan was presented to the Tucson Unified School District board Thursday evening. Mexican-American studies curriculum was dismantled in 2011, but it's back and now known as Mexican-American Student Services.
Not too much has changed, but the biggest difference is in the departments staffing and the budget for the staffing changes.The district department is trying to be as transparent as possible when it comes to funding.
"They need to know the dollars. I think there's always been, you know, some hush-hush about money and we really have to show, this is where we're spending our money on our students. This is what we're investing," said TUSD's Maria Federcio-Brummer, the director for Mexican American Student Services.
This will support students K-12, and is said to improve educational outcomes for all Mexican/Latino-American students within its district lines.
"We're moving our trajectory in how we provide services from a deficit-based model to an asset-based model. So rather than looking to fix kids, we're looking to build them up, in order to get them achieving academically," said Federcio-Brummer.
The curriculum of teaching Mexican-American studies moved to the Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Instruction Department. That department teaches all other culturally historical classes within TUSD.
