JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Kimberly Daniels, a Democrat and member of the Florida House of Representatives from Jacksonville, said she had no idea controversial statements concerning slavery were included in the state’s recently released curriculum -- despite her role on the African American History Task Force that was set up to review and give input on the teachings.
Daniels said while she was online during recent task force meetings she was dealing with a three-week illness and was “barely there.”
“I’m not making that as an excuse, I am telling you the truth. I did not know that that particular part was in there, and I would have adamantly stood against it,” Daniels said during a lengthy news conference on Thursday afternoon.
The new standards have become a controversial topic in recent days after the revelation that Florida’s teachers are now required to instruct middle-school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Daniels noted that she was not part of the African American History Standards Work Group that actually developed the new standards, but she is part of the 12-member task force. Other members of the task force have said they had little say in the development of the new standards.
The goal of the Commissioner of Education’s African American History Task Force, according to its website, is to “advocate for Florida’s school districts, teacher education training centers, and the community at large, in implementing the teaching of the history of African peoples and the contributions of African Americans to society. The Task Force works to ensure awareness of the requirements, identify and recommend needed state education leadership action, assist in adoption of instructional materials by the state, and build supporting partnerships.”
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. pushed back on assertions by groups such as the Florida Education Association teachers union and the NAACP Florida State Conference that the standards “omit or rewrite key historical facts about the Black experience” and ignore state law about required instruction.
Diaz defended the standards while commending a workgroup involved in developing the curriculum and the Department of Education’s African American History Task Force.
“As age-appropriate, we go into some of the tougher subjects, all the way into the beginnings of the slave trade, Jim Crow laws, the civil-rights movement and everything that occurred throughout our history,” Diaz said.
MORE: DeSantis is defending new slavery teachings. Civil rights leaders see a pattern of ‘policy violence’
On Wednesday, a Duval County history teacher told News4JAX he resigned from his job at Ribault High over the new curriculum.
“It’s just too much pressure now for a teacher to teach in this environment that they are creating,” Pastor R.L. Gundy said.