A teacher’s biased assignment: From ‘printed’ to ‘retracted’ in less than 6 hours

By Michael Justice    July 16, 2017 @ 1:58 p.m. CST

If you haven’t heard of Spanish Fort High School in Alabama by now, then it’s probably about time that you sit down and get familiar.

Spanish Fort High School in Baldwin County, Alabama has made the news for cases like teacher involvement in underage drinking, terrorist threats (not muslim), and even rape – all in the last 2 years.

This particular story is about a biased summer reading assignment given to students by their 12^th grade Government & Economics teacher – Mr. Gene Ponder.

You may think you’ve heard this story before, but you really haven’t. It’s worth noting that this report, as well as those that follow, are about much more than just a reading assignment. Let’s start at the beginning though.

This story began to unfold on the morning of June 21, 2017 at about 9:00 a.m. (CST), when Luke Reosti, a rising senior at Spanish Fort High School studiously decided to prepare for his summer assignments.

Reosti read the instructions of the assignment for his AP Government class and noticed something strange – it seemed as if most of the books on the assignment list were heavily slanted towards a specific political ideology. The books were mostly conservative titles, and it didn’t seem like there was much balance. Reosti called his mother, Elizabeth Denham, and talked to her about the assignment.

Denham wanted to review the titles herself, so at approximately 9:30 a.m. Reosti printed a copy of the assignment.

When Denham read the list of books, she was shocked. “It was immediately clear that the list was not balanced,” she said. Denham took a picture of the assignment, and at exactly 10:00 a.m., she posted the image into a private group on Facebook to get feedback from others. Shortly thereafter, she sent an email to the teacher questioning the author choices, and expressing her overall disapproval regarding the reading material outlined in the assignment.

Julia Coccaro – a friend of Reosti’s – is also a rising Senior at Spanish Fort High School, and is also enrolled in Ponder’s Government class next year.

Coccaro saw the assignment on Denham’s private Facebook group at around 10:30 a.m. that morning. Minutes later, at precisely 10:35 a.m., Coccaro re-shared the image publicly on her Facebook page, where the story of the assignment started to gain public traction.

By quantitative standards, it certainly wasn’t balanced.

In fact, over 16 percent (a sixth) of the books on Ponder’s list would come from one, partisan, non-academic author, Michael Savage – who’s books hold 5 of the top 6 positions on Ponder’s summer reading list – with titles like, “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder,” and, “Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama’s Attack On Our Borders, Economy, and Security.”

The rest of the list is a who’s who of right-wing conservatism and libertarian ideology, featuring authors like Mark Levin, Anne Coulter, and Ron Paul – just to name a few.

Ronald Reagan also appears on the list.

Without doubt, a book by Ronald Reagan – or any former President – might easily and responsibly be incorporated into a balanced book list for an AP Government reading assignment. However, and not surprisingly perhaps, Ponder chose Ronald Reagan’s book “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.” It’s worth noting that there are various books written by (and about) President Reagan that would have been less partisan and more suitable for his entry-level student audience.

Other book titles chosen by Ponder include, “Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault on America,” and, “Libertarianism in One Lesson.”

It’s hard to miss the message being delivered to students through these book titles, let alone the content. It’s equally challenging to imagine how these book titles would coincidentally land on the same summer reading list of a 12th grade AP Government class.

Some conservatives were not happy to have the term “conservative” associated with Ponder or his book choices.

An Alabama attorney that identifies as a conservative said, “I don’t like that you’re calling it a conservative book list.” The attorney went on to argue that many of the books on Ponder’s reading list do not reflect real conservative values. The attorney added that “fairness is a conservative value,” and that someone who constructs such a book list, “does not have fairness in-mind,” and thus, should not be considered a true conservative.

All Spanish Fort High School students interviewed by Independent Press Journal (IPJ) – conservative and liberal – agree that Ponder’s assignment is not balanced. Even among the most conservative students, and Ponder’s staunchest supporters, the book list could not be justified.

Jack Morgan, a former student of Ponder’s class who said that he “enjoyed Mr. Ponder’s class last year,” is headed to University of Mississippi “Ole Miss” this upcoming fall. When asked about the reading assignment by Ponder, he conscientiously said, “I like Mr. Ponder a lot, but if you’re asking if the book list is balanced – it’s definitely not.”

Another former student who identifies as a conservative said about Ponder’s reading list, “it’s a little one sided.”

Parents and students who do not identify as conservative had similar reactions.

Denham said, “There is such an obvious bias in this list. It’s impossible not to notice it,” she went on to say, “it’s not like there are any scholarly pieces of academic work on that list either. It just blows my mind that an AP Government teacher couldn’t come up with better material in the first place, let alone a more balanced reading list.”

Julia’s mother, Debra Coccaro said, “it’s basically Gene Ponder pushing his personal political views on his students. There’s just no other way to look at it.”

The fact that conservative and/or libertarian leaning students feel that his assignment was not balanced suggests that these students have a better sense of academic objectivity than their teacher.

Many students and parents question if the position of 12^th grade AP Government teacher is the right place for someone who displays an inability to separate political views from their job as a public educator.

When asked, a University Political Science Professor was hesitant to criticize another teacher’s curriculum, but felt that from an academic viewpoint, the assignment was obviously biased, and therefore “unacceptable.”

Educators have voiced that it is extremely unlikely that an AP Government teacher – especially a teacher with ten years of experience – would have constructed such an assignment without the advanced knowledge and/or intent that it would be biased.

Julia Coccaro believes Ponder’s assignment had the intentional effect of using his position as an authority figure and educator “in a way that’s meant to tilt students’ thinking towards his own political ideologies.” Coccaro went on to say, “these aren’t books that are meant to teach students about American Government, or how the American Government functions. These books are meant to get students thinking a very specific ideological way. It’s so obvious.”

Students and parents point out that if this assignment violates policy – as the Principal and School Board have claimed – then the question still remains as to why this violation is only now coming to the attention of administrators who are tasked with oversight on matters related to curriculum development and instruction.

Sources have confirmed that this book list – or one very similar to it – has been assigned to students in Mr. Ponder’s class for at least the last 4 years.

“Saying that Mr. Ponder’s reading list is a violation of policy without pointing to the exact policy is basically sweeping the entire issue under the rug,” Julia Coccaro said, “we want to know what the policy is, because apparently nobody is following it.”

Denham said, “If they’re going to say that this was all because of a violation of policy on behalf of the teacher, well then they should make that policy clear.” She went on to ask, “If Gene Ponder was violating a policy, which policy was it? How does such a list go unnoticed by those responsible for oversight? Who is responsible for the lack of oversight in this matter?”

Julia’s mother, Debra Coccaro said, “the responses from Baldwin County and the Principal are just examples of them whitewashing the issue.” She went on to say, “I’ve asked the principal for the vetting process. What is the vetting process? And I haven’t gotten any response.”

These important questions by parents and students remain unanswered – even ignored by Spanish Fort High School administrators and Baldwin County Public School officials.

IPJ’s multiple attempts to seek comment have also gone unanswered.

Read more on this topic:

Teacher created bias right-wing assignment to balance out “communist socialist agenda” at his school

EXPOSED: The Anti-Government, Government teacher [PowerPoint Slides]

RACISM EXPOSED: “Where are my white-male federal privileges?” asks Alabama teacher [PowerPoint Slides]

Michael Justice is an independent contributor to IPJ who focuses on stories related to education, civil rights, and consumer protection. He has a B.S. in Technical Management and a M.S. in Banking & Finance from Boston University. When Michael is not working on a story for IPJ, he works as a legal investigator specializing in fraud and consumer protection cases.
Email: michael.justice@independentpressjournal.com