Jeffco seems to be having some issues with the school board

[Ronin13]

There aren't a whole lot of facts out from the side of the school board, and having voted for the 3 conservatives I tend to side with them on this as far as their pushing back against Common Core, but I'm not entirely sure what their proposal is exactly...

GOLDEN — Dozens of Evergreen High School students walked out of their morning classes on Monday and carpooled to the Jefferson County School Administration Building to protest what they see as the school board's attempt to censor advanced history curriculum.


"I want honesty in my classroom," the students said in a letter presented to Superintendent Dan McMinimee, who spoke with four student representatives and the board. "Teachers want honesty in the classroom."
The protest followed a teacher sick-out that closed two schools last week. Schools were back open on Monday despite rumors that educators might not show again. Students said similar protests are planned for the rest of the week.
"We came in as a preventative measure," said Mali Holmes, a senior at Evergreen.


The group of 100 to 200 students protested for about 45 minutes before returning back to school, specifically asking that civil disobedience topics not be removed from the AP U.S. History course. Student leaders told The Denver Post that the gathering was planned on Facebook late Sunday night.


Monday's protest marked the second day in a week that students missed school because of mounting controversy in the district. McMinimee said he asks students and educators to let him come to them instead of having kids miss school driving to the administration building.
"I think you just keep trying to communicate and maybe over-communicate," McMinimee said of efforts to stabilize the tumult.


The curriculum controversy stems from a board member's proposal to form a review panel to promote patriotic material, respect for authority, and the free-market system. In turn, the panel would avoid material about "civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law."
Several parents also attended the protest to support their children, including David Temple, who, along with his son, met with McMinimee.


"I thought it was helpful," Temple said. "I think the superintendent was open and honest about his thoughts."


Students said they are upset with how the board has proposed to sweep "under the rug" certain parts of the AP U.S. History curriculum. McMinimee said he would take the letter to the board and voice the students' concerns.
"I can say in the future there will be a heightened degree of transparency on how this is carried out," Dr. Syna Morgan, chief academic officer, told student leaders.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26...ory-curriculum

I've already staked a claim in the argument as I've already told a few people that if the proposal isn't exactly published and we cannot see what all it entails, then this sounds like more of that "Protesting just to protest" without having all the facts. Sad part is, I graduated from Evergreen High School, and I never protested while I was in school... I was too busy doing school work. Does anyone have any insight into this? I have yet to read anything from the school board that actually states they're "censoring" history. It seems more like "lets stop teaching from the angle that we don't do a lot right, to we do much much more good than bad," or even teaching a different view on civil disobedience that got out of hand so as not to condone that behavior. As we all know, most teachers are liberal, and I think perhaps this is just the school board trying to curb them a bit so they teach more objectively rather than toss their opinion in every chance they get.

Still, I have yet to see the word-for-word proposal, so I cannot really say if these kids are in the right or they're just going along with more of that "Occupy" mentality "I'm protesting! Dammit I'm mad, and I'm protesting! I'm not sure what, but I'm protesting!"

[Irving]

Even when I was in high school I thought walk-outs were worthless excuses to ditch class. Even back then I knew that no one gives a shit what high schoolers think about anything.

[Mr.Fred]

The school board wants to make history "happier".

They want to remove all mention of George Washington, George Washington Carver, Albert Einstein, The Holocaust, The entire Civil Rights movement, and numerous other things that they think will show the US and world in a negative light....

I agree with the students. I don't necessarily like the walk outs or the teacher call ins, but I agree with what their stance is...

And yes, I do have a dog in this fight. Two of them, actually.

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[Ronin13]

The school board wants to make history "happier".

They want to remove all mention of George Washington, George Washington Carver, Albert Einstein, The Holocaust, The entire Civil Rights movement, and numerous other things that they think will show the US and world in a negative light....

I agree with the students. I don't necessarily like the walk outs or the teacher call ins, but I agree with what their stance is...

And yes, I do have a dog in this fight. Two of them, actually.

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Again, I think you're putting the cart before the horse. Have you seen the actual proposal yet? Does it explicitly say removing all mention of the above? They stress promoting patriotism, I would think that Washington and the Civil Rights Movement would be pretty big deals when it comes to patriotism... especially from a conservative standpoint.

[Jamnanc]

Agreed, I think you are being misled. It seems to me they want to take the emphasis off of some of the mistakes that America has made and make it into the kind of history we were talking we were younger. What my kids are being taught at school is that America has ruined the world.
It's like you asked a complete socialist to write the history books as a negative view of capitalism America freedom and our system of government.
I would like to see history taught from as neutral of a standpoint as possible, liberals are using our schools to indoctrinate children to their way of thinking, not presenting the facts allowing them to come up with conclusions themselves.

[Mr.Fred]

I knew I should have kept my mouth shut when I saw who started this thread.....

I'm not being misled.

We'll see how it turns out.

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[Aloha_Shooter]

More accurately, the Colorado Education Association has a problem with the school board and since they lost the election they have resorted to brainwashing students and misinforming the populace. My understanding is the board wanted the curriculum to quit focusing on America's mistakes, which is the core part of the liberal agenda for rewriting US history. They also wanted to institute more merit-based pay versus the union-approved seniority-based pay raises.

It's a shame the students are being used as pawns this way but the ones I saw on the news sounded like they were just repeating the schlock they were being told by the teachers union.

[crob1]

More accurately, the Colorado Education Association has a problem with the school board and since they lost the election they have resorted to brainwashing students and misinforming the populace. My understanding is the board wanted the curriculum to quit focusing on America's mistakes, which is the core part of the liberal agenda for rewriting US history. They also wanted to institute more merit-based pay versus the union-approved seniority-based pay raises.

It's a shame the students are being used as pawns this way but the ones I saw on the news sounded like they were just repeating the schlock they were being told by the teachers union.

I agree. I would go a little further though, and say the new board wants the teachers to quit brainwashing the students into thinking that America is an evil empire. Schools have been doing away with any kind of patriotism, and positive views of America for quite a while now. I think what the board wants, is a little more of an equalized view. I say, it's about time.

[CO Hugh]

Mike Rosen had a guest on yesterday to discuss the issue. First the proposal by the Board was tabled. So it is going no where, there may be discussion but that is it.
The issue is that the AP US History curriculum by the College Board is proposed to be tied in to Common Core Standards, and be more leftist, like Howard Zinn's History of America: America is based on genocide, theft, etc.

The Board wanted to analyze the curriculum and have a more pro America bent. Rush Limbaugh has been discussing as well.

Bottom line the teachers are using the student's as pawns to protest in favor of having the communist version of American History taught.

God Bless America!!!

[Rooskibar03]

Seems the way we teach history is a bit of misdirection to the fact that teachers will have a merit based pay system. I could have sworn that is what this started over ane now it's barely a blip.

Me me thinks the public would support a pay structure where if you are good at your job you are rewarded and if you suck you won't. Now I relaize that goes against Union menality so it makes sense they don't want to talk about it.

Why would a "conservative" school board want to change the way we teach history? That a liberal agenda.