JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. - Hundreds of students poured out of at least five Jefferson County schools on Tuesday to protest what they say is the Jeffco School Boards attempt to whitewash history. Protests also continued on Wednesday at two other schools. About 200 students walked out of Pomona High School in Arvada at 8:30 a.m. gathering at Wadsworth Boulevard, 7NEWS Reporter Tyler Lopez observed. My daughter and her friends at 80th and Wadsworth. Fighting for education. Pomona High School, Robin Reed Johnson posted on the Denver Channels Facebook page. Around 9:40 a.m. about 300 students at Arvada West walked out, holding signs and chanting as they marched along the sidewalk and stood along the street. Students from Arvada, Ralston Valley and Golden High Schools also took part Tuesday. (UPDATE: Chatfield High School and Dakota Ridge High School students walked out Wednesday.) At issue is a proposed curriculum review in Jefferson County that could revise AP U.S. History to promote positive aspects of U.S. history and heritage, while avoiding material on civil disorder and social strife. Our entire history, things that changed America for the better, were acts of civil disobedience, said Debbie Velarde, a junior at Wheat Ridge High School which also had a smaller walkout of about 40 students. The Declaration of Independence was an act of civil disobedience. An idea is to censor U.S. history so they cant talk about some of the negatives, or they dont want to talk about civil disobedience, which is censorship, said Arvada West junior Cole Cuttitta. And censorships communism, censorships national socialism, censorship is terrible. Tuesday was the third consecutive school day that has been disrupted by protests. Students and teachers are upset with recent changes within the school districts leadership. For the students, the dispute is mostly over an effort to review how classes like Advanced Placement U.S. History are taught.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 06:27:12 +0000