Government class instruction comparing Obama to Hitler draws public ire in Baldwin County [View all]

A controversial reading list was pulled after complaints from parents at Spanish Fort High School.


Complaints about a politically divisive curriculum taught by a Spanish Fort high school government instructor continued to surface before the Baldwin County School Board on Thursday.

The latest concerns, expressed during the board's monthly meeting in Bay Minette, focused on classroom instruction that allegedly included comparisons of President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and criticism about government social welfare programs leading to "the nation's downfall."

Others claimed the AP Government class taught by Gene Ponder involves outdated materials and blogs to back up political claims, and utilizes non-scientific reasoning on issues such as gun control.

"This is not a small group of students misinterpreting or challenging a viewpoint," said Julia Coccaro, the high school student who first raised concerns about Ponder's choice of right-wing authors and celebrities in a summer reading list last year. That same list was pulled by the school system in June.

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