Leaders of the nation’s primary national early childhood education organization are pushing back against Gov. Kay Ivey’s recent denunciation of training materials and firing of a state official who endorsed them.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children, NAEYC, has not recently offered statements on national or state political issues. But on Monday, a group of 11 current and former executives called Ivey’s recent actions a “renewed attack” on educators.

Gov. Kay Ivey forced Early Childhood Education Secretary Barbara Cooper to resign Friday. Ivey said she had received a complaint about so-called “woke concepts” in a book, the fourth edition of NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practices manual, which is used in preschool teacher training. It is unclear how many Alabama child care centers actually had received the material.

Ivey specifically objected to book passages that referenced to white privilege, systemic racism and LGBTQIA+ families.

NAEYC’s letter and petition defends Cooper and supports the training manual, which they said has helped “hundreds of thousands of early childhood educators create joyful learning environments” for children.

“Decades of research and evidence have confirmed the principles that children can’t learn math, science, and reading if they don’t feel seen, safe, and supported – which is what developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) is all about,” the group wrote.

NAEYC is a national resource for early childhood educators that has been around for nearly 100 years.

Several states, including Alabama, have long used NAEYC-aligned early childhood standards and promote NAEYC-accredited child care facilities.

“Our nation has a long history of educators, parents, and policymakers who have put their lives and livelihoods on the line in support of progress for children and families,” the letter continued. “Dr. Barbara Cooper, one of NAEYC’s Governing Board members who was forced out of her state leadership position in Alabama over the use of NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) book, is the latest but likely not the last.

“We honor and stand in community with her defense of those principles, and with all the educators who make unique and everyday sacrifices – from their tireless work in the pandemic to their low compensation that subsidizes the cost of child care – even as we collectively work towards the day when these sacrifices will not be needed.”

“The challenges to developmentally appropriate practice are not new, nor are they about one organization, one leader, or one state,” they added. “They are about all of us, our best practices, and our collective ability to support, educate, and care for all of our children and their families.”

Other reactions

Republican Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter said Ivey should be able to hire and fire her cabinet. He said he didn’t know the details other than Ivey was unhappy with the materials.

“So she did what she thought was right. And I certainly agree with it that we need to have literature in our schools that teaches the way it is, not making fiction up,” he said.

Allison Sinclair, president of LOCAL Alabama, a conservative parent group, said she supports Ivey’s decision and also questions why Ivey appointed Cooper in 2020.

“It’s far past time to remove bureaucracy and activists from our children’s education,” Sinclair said. “The education system in this state is failing because the people in charge are too worried about promoting their woke ideology, not reading, writing and arithmetic.”

Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, said she believes Cooper was fired because she is a Black female.

“You took a woman, again, as decorated as Dr. Cooper is, and you strip her down and publicly humiliate her,” she said.

“There was nothing that the governor’s office could demonstrate that she failed to do her job,” Givan told reporters Tuesday. “There was no malfeasance. There was no breach of any fiduciary duty. It was simply a book, ultimately a book.”

“They are saying that we are here promoting gay folks,” Givan said. “We’re here promoting Black history. We’re here promoting an era in Alabama’s history that folks want to sweep under the rug. We’re here promoting democracy. So, when they use that word woke, that’s what they’re saying woke is.”

Democrats are planning further discussions and have questions for Ivey, Givan said.

“The governor’s act was a public lynching of Dr. Cooper, whose background, experience, professionalism, and expertise have all been repetitively lauded by the governor herself,” according to Lenice Emanuel, Executive Director of the Alabama Institute for Social Justice.

Emanuel said rejecting NAEYC’s resource book is “nothing short of preposterous.”

“Governor Kay Ivey has sent a resounding message that anyone who seeks to operate in a manner that centers equity will be met with harsh consequences,” Emanuel said. “Such a move could only be intended to teach others a lesson, that is, anyone seeking to empower those that have been perpetually disenfranchised will be punished.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center said Ivey’s decision to fire Cooper and reject NAEYC’s resources are far-reaching.

“It signals the governor’s plans to undermine the education of Alabama students by discouraging educators to acknowledge the histories and lived experiences of Black, Brown and LGBTQ+ people,” Jalaya Liles-Dunn, the group’s Learning for Justice director, wrote in a statement Monday.

The ACLU of Alabama issued a statement from Executive Director JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist: “Censorship has no place in Alabama classrooms at any level and is harmful to students, educators, and administrators. Dr. Cooper worked with teachers to set up an inclusive and welcoming classroom for all students – centering equality, dignity, and worth. The governor’s actions are divisive and detrimental to free speech and are a disservice to all students and teachers.”

Gilchrist said educators, not politicians, are the right people to determine how to “fully prepare students to thrive in a multiracial, inclusive democracy.”

“If Governor Ivey truly cared about the education of all children in Alabama, then she would not be perpetuating this nationwide coordinated effort to censor instruction and content that is inclusive of all children in our public schools.”

AL.com reporter Mike Cason contributed to this reporting.