Members of the Pueblo County School District 70 Board of Education voted unanimously to halt further implementation of the TRAILS Tier 1 Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum “pending further study” on Dec. 11 following complaints from parents.
Board members accepted a $700,000 gift in March to implement TRAILS, a three-tier program helping students “build healthy relationships, manage strong emotions and make caring, responsible decisions,” according to the Pueblo D70 website.
However, TRAILS faced criticism from some parents and community members who argued that there was a lack of transparency with the program’s rollout, that the curriculum is a burden to teacher workloads, and that some items within the curriculum were inappropriate, among other complaints.
“Offensive” items publicly objected to by Pueblo D70 community and board members at a Sept. 24 meeting included the discussion of pronouns, LGBTQ+ issues and what has been described as “Critical Race Theory.” Board Vice President A.J. Wilson said that he agreed with about 90% of what was in the TRAILS curriculum.
“I’m not talking the LGBTQ,” he said. “I’m not talking the Critical Race Theory. We don’t agree with that stuff… at least I don’t agree with that stuff. That’s the other 10% that isn’t okay in a lot of this curriculum stuff that I was seeing. That’s not the type of stuff I want our students to understand.”
While some community members have voiced concerns, others spoke in support of the program at a Nov. 19 meeting, arguing that it provides valuable mental health resources, equips students with skills to regulate their emotions and assists students from diverse backgrounds who may feel marginalized.
“It would be arrogant to believe that kids are not walking into our school buildings with the weight of what they are going through at home… with the weight of what their life experience may be as a person of color, as a person who’s just different whether it be in who they love or what they believe in,” Pueblo D70 parent BreeAnna Guerra Rodriguez said.
Pueblo D70 Superintendent Ronda Rein fields questions following a press conference on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
Superintendent says board decision ‘takes away valuable tools’
Following the board’s Dec. 11 vote to halt curriculum, Pueblo D70 Superintendent Ronda Rein sent a statement to the Chieftain in which she said the halting of the TRAILS Tier 1 curriculum “takes away valuable tools” from teachers.
“There are a few individuals who are passionate and question the agenda of the TRAILS curriculum, but the only agenda is to ensure that all of our students are provided opportunities to know how to regulate their emotions and advocate for themselves, demonstrate empathy, build healthy relationships, set goals, and make good decisions,” Rein said.
Rein also said that there has been false information circulating about the TRAILS program’s implementation. She said claims of the district sharing student data with TRAILS and claims that district money was spent on TRAILS are false.
“We aren’t conducting research or experimenting as we have a long history of providing social-emotional support to our students,” she said. “We already collect data on attendance, behavior, and the well-being of our students and this is public information that doesn’t provide any personally identifiable information.”
While a halt has been put on TRAILS Tier 1, Pueblo D70 will continue to work with families to help students excel academically and “be good people,” according to Rein’s statement.
Prior to the Dec. 11 vote, Pueblo D70 board member Chris DeLuca said that if the district is going to halt the TRAILS program, other SEL curriculum options must be explored to meet the needs of students.
“At the end of the day, we do represent the kids… We need to make sure that they are taken care of first,” DeLuca said.
According to 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey data, about 33.8% of high school students throughout Pueblo County reported “most of the time” or “always” having poor mental health within 30 days of taking the survey.
About 7.1% of all high school students in Pueblo County reported attempting suicide in the past year. This statistic includes 24.9% of transgender students, 18.1% of bisexual students and 3.3% of gay or lesbian students.
The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey is confidential and administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Pueblo D70 Prayer Walk: Prayer walk hosted by Pueblo D70 Board VP and Forging Pueblo met with counterprotest
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Why the Pueblo D70 board is pausing a mental health program
