Teachers, Student Sue Mass. DOE

November 01, 2005
The Harvard Crimson
By LAURENCE H. M. HOLLAND
Contributing Writer

Arguing that new state curriculum guidelines on the Armenian genocide deprive students of the complete historical picture, two local teachers and a high school student have signed on as plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Education.
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The Massachusetts curriculum used to include some materials that depicted the events in Armenia as genocide and some that did not characterize it as such. However, the latter documents have been removed from the curriculum.

The lawsuit filed last Wednesday maintains that the Massachusetts Department of Education, and its commissioner, David P. Driscoll, violated students’ First Amendment rights when it removed the materials arguing that the deportations did not constitute genocide.

Officials at the Department of Education could not be reached for comment.
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In the spring of 1999, the Massachusetts Department of Education released “The Massachusetts Guide to Choosing and Using Curricular Materials on Genocide and Human Rights Issues.” According to the lawsuit, the Guide “stated that materials related to genocide and human rights issues should provide ‘differing points of view on controversial issues.'"

Under that policy, materials contending that the deaths of Armenians during World War I did not qualify as genocide were originally included in the curriculum. However, the Department of Education removed those documents at the request of State Senator Steven A. Tolman, D-Brighton.

According to Silverglate, Tolman argued that since the Massachusetts legislature had used the phrase “Armenian genocide” in its curriculum guide, it had in effect made a decision that the events did constitute genocide, and any materials questioning that decision should be removed from the curriculum.
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