In defense of change in Je≠co schools

Crowds of high school students have carried signs and gathered along busy streets during what should have been normal school days in Jefferson County. Our community members who witnessed or heard about these protests deserve to know the rest of the story.

As a new Jeffco School Board member, it’s surreal for me to walk the halls of the schools I attended decades ago. While my memories of those years are fading, the faces in the schools are fresh and there’s an energy, eagerness, and passion to learn that I find inspiring.

Regrettably, however, not every Jeffco student is getting what he or she needs to succeed in today’s global environment. Recent achievement data indicate that fewer than 60 percent of our graduates are college- and career-ready in math and science. Only a third are proficient in writing, and nearly 30 percent of our graduates need remedial work before they enter college. While there are many Jeffco students who fall outside these disturbing trends, far too many are left behind.

My physics teacher taught me that for every action, there is a reaction. The reaction to a new board majority of nonunion candidates has been loud and prolonged. This is, I suppose, largely due to fear of the unknown and change in the status quo.

The situation has erupted in the past week, first with a teacher sickout at two high schools, then student walkouts at several others. While the board and our district leaders value the voices of students, cutting class tomake a political statement is a different matter, especially when union-led teachers have misinformed those students rather than encouraged them to exercise critical thinking skills.

For example, the revised AP U.S. History framework has been widely criticized for leaving out key parts of our nation’s underlying story, yet when board member Julie Williams suggested engaging the community in this discussion via a curriculum review committee (hardly a new practice), she and the board were instantly accused of “censorship.” No action has been taken on either the committee or the curriculum, but that didn’t stop opponents of the board majority from exploiting these flash protests to overshadow the truly positive stories.

It’s time to disenthrall ourselves with policies of the past that are leaving far too many students behind.