What to Know
- The Pennridge School District Board has ended a contract with Vermilion Education -- which has ties to the far-right stemming from Jordan Adams, the company's CEO
- After months of contentious meetings, the GOP-led board who approved the contract for the new curriculum were ousted when Democratic candidates took all five open board seats in the recent election
- School officials and parents have expressed concerns with the district's hiring of Vermilion Education as the company has only existed for about six months and -- after a failed attempt to retool a school curriculum in Florida -- Pennridge was the company's first school board client.
In something of a surprise move, the Pennridge School District Board ended a controversial contract with Vermilion Education -- a company with ties to the far-right Hillsdale College, stemming from Jordan Adams, the company's CEO -- during a meeting on Monday night.
"I support the termination of the Vermillion contract and the firing of Jordan Adams. I'm a little confused as to why this is happening now and not months ago when we kept asking over and over and over again ad nauseum," Christina Hicks of Hilltown Township told the board at the start of the meeting.
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In August the Board approved Vermillion's curriculum plan, that would have removed books from the school's curriculum, retool Social Studies to add more of a focus on American history, as well as a suggestion to ensure first graders learn more about the "Ancient Near East" and ensure school texts were "free of sexualized content."
Adams, the head of Vermillion, is a graduate and former employee of Hillsdale College, a conservative, Christian school in Michigan that created a controversial 1776 curriculum plan that has been accused of "whitewashing" American history.
"There are a lot of Civil War reenactment type people and fans out there who are really happy that the Civil War will be taught at Pennridge once again," Phoebe Wilcox of Bedminster Township told the board at Monday's meeting.
Earlier this month, voters rejected the controversial conservative school reform as Democratic school board candidates took all five open board seats.
When it came time to vote on the move to cancel Vermillion's contract, board member Joan Cullen discussed the final report that the district received from the company, calling it "an embarrassment."
"When you read it, it's basically a recitation of quotes he pulled out of context from different courses he has," she said. "For someone to say this is a professionally produced report is obviously laughable."
She argued that the board should have voted against paying the company for the report.
"If I were still teaching, this would get a failing grade from me," she said.
During the meeting, Cullen, and others, argued over the timing of the cancellation of the contract, with some noting that Adams' company had been paid $35,000 for work that was unacceptable.
Outgoing board member Megan Banis-Clemens defended the cost, saying the board had spent more on other consultants in the past.
"We have spent so much money on previous consultants, there was never the same outrage. Never even looking into it. Never questioning it at all," she claimed.
In the end, the board voted unanimously -- with four members abstaining -- to terminate its contract with Vermillion Education.
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