Jeffco grads, students, and community members, please write to the board of education and let them know what you think! Thanks, Stephanie Noon Bashford, for spreading the word, and shout-out to all my amazing Jeffco teachers. #standupforkids To the Jefferson County Board of Education, I am a 2007 graduate of Jefferson County Public Schools, and I am writing to express my support for the continuing work of Jeffco teachers, students, and administrators. My gratitude for the quality of education that I received also compels me to express concerns with recent proposals regarding the pay system for teachers and the Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum. I would first like to assure you that I am extremely satisfied with the preparation I received from Jeffco teachers. After graduation, I was more than prepared for college and graduate school, and I chose to become a teacher myself in rural New Mexico. I now teach bilingual 4th grade in Denver (largely made possibly by excellent Spanish instruction from Lakewood High School). My career choices have been driven, and are affected on a daily basis, by memories of the engaging, rigorous instruction that I was so fortunate to receive: Jeffco teachers form my daily mental model of the school experience that I believe every child should have. The fact that so many of the teachers to whom I refer, from the years 1995 through 2007, are still working in the same Jeffco schools reflects the depth and longevity of their commitment. I can only imagine how they must have grown with so many more years of experience. I would like to express my absolute support for and confidence in those teachers, and I implore you to approach decisions of teacher pay and evaluation with the level of respect and trust that they deserve. I would also like to stand by those already protesting the potential review and alteration of the AP U.S. History curriculum. I absolutely agree with Ms. Williams that history instruction should promote patriotism: that is, it should promote a commitment to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality to which this country aspires. Naturally, this includes an understanding of the ways in which the United States has not, by any means, yet achieved those ideals. The very education inequalities that spur our policy debates stem from massive historical crimes that would be underemphasized when “promoting the positive.” On the other hand, some of the greatest positive moments in U.S. history resulted from some form of “civil disorder” or “social strife.” How can we ever make progress if we sweep history curricula around these realities, and what value is patriotism if not full and grounded in truth? (I would like to add that I am happy to provide more detailed evidence for this argument if needed, and that I am able to due so because of a critical, well-taught AP U.S. History class in Jeffco.) If you truly believe in the best interests of the students you serve and the county you represent, please consider our voices of concern. Please stand with Jeffco teachers and students in support of progress and understanding. Sincerely, Emily Johns-O’Leary
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 03:00:17 +0000
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