Further protests at schools in Jefferson County

Two schools are closed today in Jefferson County as a large number of teachers called in absent. This follows the large student walk outs last week. Much of the media attention on the student protests have been focused on history curriculum and the proposed community review board. One of the majority conservative members of the school board said that instructional material in the history courses should promote “positive aspects” of U.S. history and avoid encouraging “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.” This has angered many teachers and students who say it is revising and sanitizing history.

Bethany Keupp is a senior in the International Baccalaureate program in Stanley Lake High School and one of the students with the group JeffCo Stand Up. She told KGNUs Hannah Leigh Myers, that most of the students are protesting the possible changes to the history course, but many are also standing in solidarity with the teachers who have been protesting an evaluation-based system for awarding raises.

Kerrie Dallman is the President of the Colorado Education Association, a teachers Union. She herself has been a high-school teacher in Jefferson County. She told KGNU’s Hannah Leigh Myers that a lot of attention has been paid to the comments made by Julie Williams, the school board member, about the history curriculum. But Dallman says that students and parents should be concerned about other courses also.