Texas education officials are directing local school districts to cancel or modify any events they have planned for Cesar Chavez Day after sexual assault allegations against the labor leader surfaced.
The New York Times published an investigation last week that included accusations from two women that Chavez sexually abused them when they were underage girls, as well as accusations he sexually assaulted Dolores Huerta, with whom he co-founded the United Farm Workers in the 1960s.
In guidance sent Monday, Texas Education Agency officials said school districts should “cancel or otherwise redirect” any events they have planned related to Cesar Chavez Day, which falls on March 31.
Dallas ISD spokesperson Nina Lakhiani said the district doesn’t have any district-wide events scheduled to commemorate Cesar Chavez Day.
The Education Lab
The guidance also acknowledges that Texas’ state standards for social studies include lessons on Chavez in fifth grade and high school U.S. History. Texas’ State Board of Education is in the middle of rewriting the social studies standards, and TEA officials wrote that it’s unlikely the revamped version will include lessons focusing specifically on Chavez.
But any revised standards the board ultimately approves won’t take effect for years. In the meantime, state education officials said districts should remove any lessons about Chavez from their curriculums, and said they won’t be considered out of compliance with the state standards if they do so.
Monday’s TEA guidance comes after Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that Texas will no longer observe Cesar Chavez Day, and that he would ask state lawmakers to remove the holiday from state law.
The revelations leave school boards and district officials across Texas grappling with how to handle the labor leader’s legacy. Many districts, including Dallas, Fort Worth and Little Elm ISDs, have schools named for Chavez.
Joe Carreón, the district’s board president, told The Dallas Morning News last week he would work with the campus community at Cesar Chavez Learning Center to determine the school’s future name.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.