A suburban Denver school board refused to back off a proposed review of the high-school Advanced Placement (AP) US history course on Thursday despite waves of protest from dozens of students, parents and residents who accused the board’s new conservative majority of trying to influence children with their political views.
Some in the audience yelled “Resign” and “Recall, recall” as the board voted 3-2 to expand the membership on two existing curriculum review committees to include students, parents and administrators.
The two women on the board who oppose the conservative majority held their heads in their hands after losing a bid to delay the vote so they could have more time to study the plan.
Photo: Reuters
“What’s the rush?” board member Lesley Dahlkemper asked. Her repeated challenges to board president Ken Witt drew applause.
It is not immediately clear whether the expanded committees are to review the history course. Witt said he expected that committees would be asked to review it.
Board member Julie Williams refused a call to withdraw her original proposal that angered students and teachers by proposing that the course be reviewed with an eye toward promoting “patriotism and citizenship” and downplaying civil disorder, saying that she wanted to keep all options open.
Photo: Reuters
The latest move is not likely to satisfy the students and others who packed the hearing room and also watched the meeting on a big screen outside in the parking lot — with popcorn. The students turned in two cardboard boxes of a MoveOn.org petition that they said was signed by more than 40,000 people across the US.
Many people spoke out against members of the board’s new conservative majority, who called students who have walked out of class to protest “pawns.”
“This is America. Stop calling us names when we exercise our rights,” said Lisa Cooke, a mother of two students.
Another parent, Robert Gleason, after pointing at the Colorado state flag in the front of the room, told the board that he did not want the school district to follow in the path of Texas, where the state school board has told teachers to stick to state history standards, not the new course framework that some view as anti-American.
One man donated a copy of George Orwell’s 1984 to the board.
One of the outnumbered supporters of the conservative members held up a copy of the state constitution, saying that it gives local school boards the power to make decisions about curricula.
Witt, Williams and John Newkirk listened calmly at the mounting criticism.
Students across a majority of the 17 high schools in Colorado’s second-largest school district have left classes in droves over the past few weeks.
The protests began more than a week ago, after the school board first proposed the US history review. Teachers, who are also upset about a new merit pay plan, staged a sickout that closed two schools before students began walking out of class in protests.
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