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Sonia Pressman Fuentes

Letters To The Editor

Sonia's Letter to the Editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune appeared on Feb. 28, 2019.  In it, she complains about the fact that schools in Sarasota County don't teach women's history. Read the letter.

Sarasota schools should teach women’s history

For many months, I’ve been trying to find out if Sarasota County public schools teach American women’s history and women’s rights movements. Only one School Board member ever responded to me, and she told me she was too busy with other matters to consider this.

Before a luncheon some months ago, the principal of the Pine View School told me Pine View does teach women’s history, but it was not a time when I could get any details on that teaching.

At a Democratic dinner on Feb. 24, a longtime School Board member sat next to me. In response to my question about the teaching of women’s history, she did not refer to any School Board policies or practices. Instead, she spoke in terms of individual teachers. “Some do and some don’t. It depends on the teacher,” she said.

When I asked if there was any supervision of the quality of teaching women’s history, she did not refer to any.

Next year, we will be celebrating the centennial of women’s right to vote. It is unconscionable that our schools still don’t teach our young people the history of American women and their continuing struggles for equality.

Sonia Pressman Fuentes, Sarasota

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