WJC Will Use Stickers To Cover Flawed Fextbook, Virginia Gazette, October 24, 2010.
The publisher of Our Virginia: Past and Present will provide stickers that WJC Schools and other divisions can use to cover a factually incorrect statement about blacks fighting on behalf of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The flawed statement in the text was traced to a Sons of Confederate Veterans website.
The book made national news this week after a history professor at the College of William & Mary read the passage in her 9-year-old daughter's fourth grade history book. Carol Sheriff, who was interviewed by the Washington Post and appeared on "Countdown" with Keith Olberman on Wednesday, said the Confederacy forbid blacks from fighting for the South until the final year of the war, and there is no record of black Confederate soldiers taking part in any battles.
According to a statement issued Thursday afternoon from WJC Schools, former Toano Middle School principal Theresa Redd attended a meeting of the Virginic Council of Social Studies Educations earlier in the day where the topic was discussed. Redd retired from her principal's job, but was recently appointed Social Studies coordinator for the division.
Five Ponds Press, the publisher of the textbook, told the council it would provide labels that can be affixed to cover the flawed paragraph. WJC expects to receive the labels within the next few weeks. WJC uses "Our Virginia" as part of its fourth grade curriculum. The text was selected through the division’s standard textbook approval procedure. A committee of staff and community members recommended the text, and the public had the opportunity to inspect the textbook. Finally, the book was approved by the School Board.
Text Source: Virginia Gazette
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