Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill in September 2020 that would serve as the framework to have ethnic studies as a California high school graduation requirement. According to Newsom “hundreds of individual schools have already adopted their own [ethnic studies] curriculum,” but the official draft of the bill has yet to be approved by the governor. 

However, Newsom did sign the bill that requires students in the California State University system, which include schools like CSUN and Chico State, to take an ethnic studies course before graduating in August of 2020. 

According to CalMatters, “The bill overrides a similar but less strict requirement the system imposed earlier this summer.”

Oak Park High School is anticipating the approval of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum by the California Department of Education in March of 2021.

“We are having discussions with our English and History departments and our administrators [about] how we want to roll [the class] in. And we would like to schedule implementation for the graduating class of 2027,” OPHS principal Kevin Buchanan said.

With this plan, OPHS would be three years ahead of the CDE deadline of 2030. OPHS students will be able to take the required class during any of their four years of high school.

“I truly believe that our students need to go out into the world, equipped with an understanding of how race and injustice works in our society and how these patterns are repeated over history and have created the inequalities that exist,” Buchanan said. “The past defines the present.”

By offering this course to all grade levels, the administration is hoping classes will be more diverse in age, making for great class discussions. 

“We have been called out over the summer and over social media for not necessarily having the best cultural climate for embracing diversity, and I would like this course to not just prepare students as they leave us, [but] I [also] want it to impact our school,” Buchanan said.