The Tucson Unified School District voted late Tuesday night not to renew the contract of its director of Mexican-American Studies. The decision surprised no one but made for a rancorous meeting.
The school board had barely started discussion on whether it would vote to renew director Sean Arce’s contract for another year when the crowd inside the meeting room broke into chants and shouts. Protesters pounded on the windows, then someone in the crowd lit a small smoke bomb amid the chaos.
Outside, Arce stood on the street watching the meeting on a live screen.
"The way the vote went down doesn’t surprise me, it was unfortunately decisions on TUSD riding on politics, on personal retaliation," he said.
He said TUSD had left open the chance to become a school principal but said he'll focus his time on finishing his PhD and begin educational consulting as well as continue to push for the reintroduction of Mexican-American studies classes in the district.
The TUSD board voted to eliminate its Mexican-American studies after Arizona threatened to withhold millions of dollars in funding if it did not comply. The classes were suspended but the program itself lingers in limbo, its future is not known.
