Board member: promo video includes ‘woke, not hypnotized’
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This screenshot is from a string of videos called “Flocabulary.” the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board narrowly approved a list of more than 500 supplemental digital resources CUSD teachers can chose from in 2025-26, by a 3-2 vote, at its June 25 meeting with one board member voicing an objection based on how the term “woke” was used in a sample video .
An item that didn’t even appear on a board agenda in the past at the start of a school year narrowly was approved by the smallest of margin by the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board at its June 25 meeting.
After having approval of 2025-26 digital resources pulled from the consent agenda for a lengthy discussion, the board voted, 3-2, to approve a list of more than 500 digital resources for the 2025-26 school year.
Saying he found a sample resource from a longstanding line of video resources called “Flocabulary” to possibly being inappropriate, board member Ryan Heap wanted to find a way to line-item ???? approve digital resources.
But the board ended up voting on the resources as-is, with Board President Patti Serrano, Vice President Barb Mozdzen and board member Claudia Mendoza voting to approve it.
Heap and the other parents’ rights advocate board member, Kurt Rohrs, voted against it.
“Flocabulary uses rap music helps students learn in a number of ways,” Heap explained. “I don’t like rap, but I know a lot of kids do. I appreciate helping kids learn and being energized about it. But in one of the promo videos I watched, there was a student who rapped a line to the effect of ‘I may be woke, but I’m not hypnotized.’ If it’s in a promo, it’s likely in the (everyday-use content). I would like our district to teach skills and acadmenics and not try to straddle a fine line with some social progressivism. Especially when we’re trying to get an override and bond passed (in November), we should have content that all our constituents would sign off on.”
Jessica Edgar, the district’s assistant superintendent for pre-k-12 teaching and learning, said trust in teachers is an important bond with district leadership. That trust is maintained partly through believing teachers will make curriculum-focused choices for their ages and grade levels when selecting from an array of digital resources.
Edgar said she will look into both indicating, on the list of 500-plus items, which ones are supplemental and which ones are core resources, and also ways to use Infinite Campus to keep all parents aware of exactly what content might be used in classes.
Heap moved to approve the entire list with Flocabulary excluded. That motion was defeated, 3-2, with Mendoza, Mozdzen and Serrano voting against it. Mozdzen then moved to approve the digital resources list “as presented in the original consent agenda, which passed by the same 3-2 margin with Rohrs and Heap in dissent.
The board went through a similar sequence of voting at the meeting when it approved a pair of annual service contracts with Southwest Behavioral & Health Services, also by a 3-2 vote, with Heap and Rohrs dissenting.
The board is next set to meet publicly Wednesday, July 9.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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