Long Island Republicans have largely remained silent on a bill that would make teaching Jan. 6 mandatory across state schools.
Schneps Media reached out to 27 Long Island Republican elected officials but received only six responses.
State Sen. Steven Rhoads called the bill “political theater.”
“This bill is nothing more than a cynical attempt by Assembly Member Lavine to inject politics into the classroom,” Rhoads said.
“If the state believes every controversial or recent political event warrants mandatory classroom instruction, where does it stop? By that logic, should Albany also mandate lessons on the Biden administration’s immigration policies[?]”
“The role of the state is not to micromanage history lessons, but to give schools the freedom to teach what best serves their students,” Rhoads concluded.
An aide to state Sen. Jack Martins said the bill “leaves a lot of unanswered questions,” such as why the legislators are deciding what the curriculum is and what Jan. 6 will be replacing in the curriculum.
New York State has several topics that are mandated to be taught, such as the American Revolution, chattel slavery, the Potato Famine, the Holocaust, and 9/11.
Assembly Member Ari Brown said, “While some of the sponsors of Assembly Bill A3966 may be nice people on a personal level, patriotism isn’t the first thing on their mind—more like a twisted view on anarchy or how to appease the Democrat Socialists on their side of the aisle – because they’re all terrified of being primaried.”
“I don’t mind teaching students truths about Jan. 6th in New York schools, but I would never vote for this amended bill,” Brown said.
Attempts to reach state Sen.Alexis Weik, who is on the Senate Education Committee, and Nassau County Supervisor Bruce Blakeman were unavailing.
North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino both said they did not want to comment on matters not under their jurisdiction.
The bill was introduced in the Senate and Assembly Education Committees by state Sen. John Liu and Assembly Member Charles Lavine.
The bills have yet to come to a vote.
