Susan Greenberg

After 12 years serving on the Beaverton school board, I’ve witnessed our community navigate countless challenges with resilience and mutual respect.

Recently, however, a concerning trend has emerged that threatens the collaborative spirit essential to education governance: the Beaverton Education Association has increasingly overstepped its proper role by attempting to inject divisive, one-sided political viewpoints into our curriculum.

I have previously been proud to earn the BEA’s endorsement, recognizing the vital work the union does for teachers. My voting record often aligns with their positions. However, for the first time, BEA has pushed an alternative curriculum that has neither been recommended by the district nor approved by the school board. This marks a concerning shift towards attempting to override the district’s authority in curriculum development, deepening community divisions.

That’s why as ballots head to Beaverton area voters, I strongly urge voters to reject the candidates being backed by the BEA and send a statement to the union to refocus its efforts on teacher’s well-being and student success instead of biased curriculum.

The Israel-Palestinian conflict represents one of the most complex geopolitical issues of our time. Any educational approach to this topic demands nuance, balance and age-appropriate content that acknowledges diverse perspectives. Yet the BEA has advocated for materials that present this multifaceted issue through a singular, biased lens, leveraging a discredited curriculum tool that even proposed to teach kids how to pray in a Muslim faith tradition.

It’s hard to not see this as an attempt to replace education with indoctrination.

It’s easy to see how unsafe and uneasy these efforts have made many of our students and teachers feel, especially those of our Jewish community who have already suffered and seen a rise in anti-Semitism nationwide.

When the union leverages its considerable power and influence to circumvent the district curriculum process, it undermines the district’s credibility in the classroom and the foundation of democratic board-led educational governance.

The lesson plans in question were already removed from the Portland Association of Teachers website last year after heated criticism. The general tone in the Beaverton School District has been remarkably more collegial and respectful by and large compared to the politically charged environment in Portland, and this election Beaverton voters have an opportunity to keep our district on that track.

Beaverton’s strength truly is its diversity. We have more languages spoken in our student’s homes than any district in the state. Our parents entrust their children to our schools with the expectation that they will learn how to think, not what to think. When controversial topics are presented without balance, we fail in this fundamental mission and betray that trust.

In my three terms on the school board we have been fortunate to deliberate, debate and vote in a professional manner filled with mutual respect. As of late, I’ve seen bad actors try hard to end that. I’ve seen Jewish leaders ostracized from community conversation and heard from worried parents about their Jewish students feeling excluded at schools that pride themselves on cultures of inclusion.

Board meetings that should be squarely focused on student achievement and district operations now devolve into contentious, ideologically divisive debates. This division serves no one — not our teachers, not our community, and certainly not our students.

It’s time for union leaders to respect the district’s professional boundaries for curriculum creation while continuing their critical organizing work of teacher advocacy.

Our schools must remain safe places where students can feel comfortable to be themselves, free to encounter diverse viewpoints and develop critical thinking skills to form their own informed opinions.

The vast majority of Beaverton educators navigate sensitive topics with remarkable skill and fairness every day. They deserve our full support for their professional autonomy within appropriate guardrails and not the disrespect or confusion of a union promoting a certain way to teach on the most sensitive topics.

Parents, teachers, students and certainly elected school board members need to remain vigilant to protect educational integrity from political agendas of any stripe. Our children deserve nothing less.

I hope voters will elect board members who seek to keep Beaverton on a path of unity, mutual respect and a shared commitment to our mission, pursuing academic excellence, belonging and dignity, and community connections.

Unity on our board isn’t merely desirable — it’s essential to that mission. Let’s reclaim it together.

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Susan Greenberg is a Beaverton school board member.