Pennsylvania could get statewide 9/11 school curriculum

By: KDKA-TV's Seth Kaplan

HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- New York, where the Twin Towers stood and fell, has one. Virginia, where terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon the same day, has one. But Pennsylvania – site of 9/11's third disaster, in Shanksville – doesn't have a statewide 9/11 curriculum for schoolchildren. 

That could change after a bill – which includes an amendment requiring the commonwealth's Department of Education to establish and publish a curriculum – passed Pennsylvania's Senate unanimously Wednesday. 

"I believe it is of the utmost importance that our students grow up with an adequate understanding and respect for that day in our history," said Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York), who offered the amendment. 

The bill would give leaders a year to produce the curriculum. School districts could decide whether or not to adopt it. 

The bill's uncontroversial nature in the Senate – all Republicans and Democrats in favor – doesn't guarantee passage in the House of Representatives, especially with just three days left in the current session next week. But if it doesn't pass this time, it could pass in early 2023. 

The lack of an official statewide 9/11 curriculum doesn't mean some teachers aren't teaching their students about 9/11. 

Tyler Carl, a social studies teacher at Central Middle School in Reading, teaches his students about 9/11. So do his colleagues at the school. Carl said he teaches the students about the attacks and their aftermath, of course, but also about more hopeful experiences. 

"I got to experience a time when the country was brought together – from a horrific event, but we were very unified for awhile," Carl said. Today's students, he said, live in a far more divided country. 

On Sept. 11, 2021, Carl himself was in the sixth grade at what was then called District-Topton Elementary School – now Brandywine Heights Elementary School – in Berks County. 

"I remember having an announcement made by our principal that we were all going to go back to our homeroom class," Carl said. Homeroom – and then soon after, home. 

The TV was on. 

"And then my parents sat down and kind of explained what was going on," he said. "That's how we learned about what happened that day." 

In addition to New York and Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and West Virginia have official 9/11 curricula. If the proposal passes, Pennsylvania would become the 15th state with a 9/11 curriculum.