Exclusive: South Dakota School Board Member Attempts to Torpedo Statewide Patriotic History Standards

As South Dakota’s new statewide social studies standards are up for approval by the state board of education, emails obtained exclusively by Breitbart News appear to show an effort to undermine their approval from a local school board member.

Last month, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) announced new proposed social studies standards that were formulated to present an “honest, balanced, and complete accounts of historical events and debates that foster a love of country that, like any love, is not blind to faults.”

In an effort to return to teaching a true version of American history, these standards were put in place after the damage done by critical race theory and other schemes aimed at indoctrinating students.

The standards must be approved by the statewide Board of Education Standards, currently chaired by Becky Guffin, who is also the superintendent of the Aberdeen Public School District.

An email obtained by Breitbart News appears to show Guffin’s Aberdeen assistant superintendent, Camille Kaul, working behind the scenes to undermine the effort to pass the new standards.

Critics in South Dakota view these machinations as a conflict of interest for Guffin, who is charged with overseeing the approval process for the standards but whose Aberdeen colleague is actively working to torpedo them. The first public hearing on the standards is set for September 19.

Some are calling for Guffin to step down from the statewide board, accusing her of prejudice.

“I am calling on Guffin to immediately resign from the Board of Education Standards,” state Rep. Sue Peterson (R), who serves as the vice chair of the House Education Committee, told Breitbart News. “She has put herself in a conflict of interest situation whereby she is actively advocating against the standards. If she had problems with the standards, she should have made that known sooner in the process and been upfront about it, and not now trying to circumvent them behind the scenes.”

“Unfortunately, classrooms have become a major political battleground and the right way forward is to ensure balance, academic excellence and respect for the foundational values of our country,” Adam Waldeck, president of 1776 Action, told Breitbart News. “These proposed standards are a huge step forward, and if the Board’s chairman is pre-judging them and rigging the process, she should step down. South Dakota’s kids deserve better.”

In an email written by a teacher — but with messaging expressly from Kaul — Aberdeen staff appears to be working to drum up support to oppose the standards.

“Last week I attended a social studies meeting about the new proposed social studies standards,” the email from a teacher, reporting on a meeting with Kaul, said. “The group that met is trying to figure out the best possible way to let parents (and teachers) know how drastic these new standards are.”

“Camille and the group are working to find the best and easiest way to explain this to parents and the community,” the email continued before attempting to discredit the proposed standards.

Airing grievances, the author of the email lamented that “the original social studies committee, and their ideas, got scrapped” and “they hired someone from a college to come and help create new standards. These new standards are aligned with that specific college’s interests in mind.”

The person South Dakota had come on board to help craft the new standards is former Hillsdale College professor William Morrisey, who, according to South Dakota Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson, “did an excellent job guiding the conversation and ensuring that all perspectives were represented.”

Regardless, the email ends with what appear to be talking points from Kaul to Aberdeen district staff about how to oppose the new standards.

“Camille would like the staff to know … we are to talk to parents and the community with facts and not emotion,” Kaul’s directive listed first. “We do not want this to come across as we are complaining about having to do something new.”

Kaul also messaged staff that “these new proposed standards DO NOT prepare our students for state testing.”

Asking teachers to review the documents to notice “very drastic change[s]” and “encouraging them to go online and make a statement about the standards,” Kaul, through the teacher-intermediary writing the email, appears to argue that “these standards are not developmentally appropriate for elementary. Currently the elementary standards are what the middle and high school are teaching.”

Upon Noem’s announcement of the standards, the Mount Rushmore State governor did say that “these standards raise the bar for the breadth and depth of civics and history education” but at the cost of “drastic change,” which appears to have been what South Dakotans were pressing for in revising the standards.

Last year, Noem delayed the review of the standards, saying in part that “following public feedback from several constituencies, it is clear there is more work to be done to get this right.”

 

The new standards appear to have been well-received by South Dakota lawmakers, Native American tribe members, and others upon their announcement.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled with the new social studies standards,” Peterson said. “They are substantial and straightforward standards that emphasize our founding documents, our pursuit of freedom, and treat our nation’s history honestly.”

“I am glad that Native American heritage and culture will be well represented in these standards,” Joe Circle Bear, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, who was also part of the team crafting the standards, said. “Governor Noem promised to tell our story as part of American history, and these standards do that.”

Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.