JeffCo school board decision draws questions re:transparency

Synopsis of the Jefferson County School Board Reform Discussion
July 23, 2014
by jeffkids

The following is a synopsis of the Jefferson County School Board Reform Discussion hosted by the Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, held July 23, 2014. The Church noted that this was an opportunity for all in the community to share information, ask questions and discuss issues.

The panel included:

• Nora Flood, President of the Colorado League of Charter Schools
• Dan McMinimee, New Superintendent of Jeffco Schools
• Paula Reed, Columbine High School Teacher and JCEA Member
• Rev. Wendy Williams served as Moderator.

The Rev. Williams asked several questions of each of the panelists and followed with questions received from the audience.

Dialog is good. I was particularly encouraged by this part:

There was agreement from all panelists that testing our students is over the top. The audience began to applaud. We can only hope that our legislators and the Colorado Department of Education are listening as well. Ms. Flood noted that small, rural districts do not even have the bandwidth to use technology for the upcoming testing.

and the closing statement:

The entire discussion was very open, warm and inviting. The Jefferson Unitarian Church, Rev. Williams, and the volunteers are to be commended for hosting this gathering and welcoming the discussion.

We'll see what the new year brings.

The Jeffco School board meetings are back on schedule now that the school year has begun. The first one is right now, streaming here if you'd like to listen: www.ustream.tv/channel/JeffcoBoardRoom

Jeffco School Board Meetings have begun. Mark your calendars:
Regular Meetings Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m. study sessions, as needed

Sept 4
Oct 2
Nov 6
Dec 11
Jan 15
Feb 5
Mar 5
Apr 2
May 7
Jun 11

There are also special meetings scheduled you can reference here: www.jeffcopublicschools.org/board/docume...edulePOSTING_000.pdf

Well, this school board continues to push their agenda and anger more people.

Two JeffCo high schools cancel classes because of teacher absences
Posted 5:24 am, September 19, 2014, by Chuck Hickey and Kent Erdahl

A spokeswoman for the district did not say why so many teachers called out on the same day.

A student protest is still planned at Standley Lake High School for 8:20 a.m.

Teachers are upset with the school board over the district’s new teacher pay model and a proposed curriculum review panel for AP U.S. history classes.

Conservatives across the country have been pushing back against new guidelines for AP U.S. history classes, accusing the college board, which is behind Advanced Placement courses, of revisionist history and anti-American bias. In response, a conservative member of the JeffCo school board wants to create a new, board-appointed committee for curriculum review.

Jeffco parents fear censorship as board considers new curriculum panel, AP history
by Nicholas Garcia on September 18, 2014

A proposed panel that would oversee Jeffco Public Schools’ standards, curriculum, and assessments is provoking anxiety among some parents who fear the panel could be a de facto tool for censorship.

That’s because the committee’s first task might be to ensure that revisions of an advanced American history class are patriotic and teach students to respect authority.

The nine-member panel, as outlined by conservative board member Julie Williams, would be appointed by the board and report directly to them on an ongoing basis. The committee would most likely be comprised of lay citizens — not necessarily education and curriculum specialists.

As currently outlined, the proposed panel in Jeffco will be charged with ensuring the course is aligned to Jeffco Public Schools’ standards, and is factual and taught without bias. But the panel is also supposed to make sure materials do not “encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law,” and instructional materials “present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage.”

Those directions, which Williams said she replicated from another source, has sparked the most conversation among critics.

Critics of the proposal note that Jeffco Public Schools already has two different curriculum committees that might be able to answer those questions.

Shared with permission from Kathy Pott Brown from the Save Our Jeffco Schools Group

I got the call today at 5 AM that my son would have no school today at Standley Lake due to the high number of teacher absences. My wishes go out to them for a speedy recovery. I'm sure that after the Board meeting last night they were feeling sick to their stomachs. I'm feeling queasy myself this morning. Some are worried that missing a day of school will harm our students. I am much more concerned at the harm that they are getting daily by having teachers who are stressed over pay and an inability to have any trust in the School Board. He is hurt much more by the fact that our best and brightest teachers are leaving Jeffco or teaching altogether. My son will recover from this one day. I'm hoping that Jeffco can recover from the months of ugliness that this Board has caused day after day since they were elected.

Posted with permission from Austin Jolly from the same Save Our Jeffco Schools group:

"Dear BOE,
My name is Austin Jolly, and I am a former student of Jeffco and an IB graduate of Lakewood High School - Class of 2012. I was fortunate to have spent all thirteen years of my K-12 education in the Jeffco public school system.

I understand that you all are trying to eliminate AP classes from the curriculum, namely AP US History. Quite frankly, that is a bad idea. I took AP US History during my sophomore year at Lakewood under Katie Agard, a phenomenal history teacher. Not only did I learn of how our country was established and developed, I learned of the significance of this country's history. AP US taught me to think critically, and to always question the validity of information. Perhaps most importantly, I learned how to write with direction, precision, and clarity.

I am but one of countless students who have taken this course and have greatly benefited from it. I scored a 4 on the AP national test in May 2010, and received real college credit for my efforts. My success was acknowledged by the University of Colorado, where I am currently studying to obtain a Bachelor's degree. Taking AP classes, as well as IB classes, shaped me to become an active student, and a self-sufficient individual. I cannot think of any good reasons to eradicate these classes.

I would like to shed one more piece of insight onto you all. As I stated above, I am a student up in Boulder, so I have no firsthand experience of all of the issues that are being discussed with respect to Jeffco schools. I'm not sure of the details that you all discuss such as funding, taxes, curricula changes, etc. However, I do know this: you are all doing something that is greatly upsetting your constituents. People don't trust you. I don't know about you, but I would feel really uncomfortable if I was a leader of an organization, and all of my constituents didn't agree with my decisions. I was Student Body President of Lakewood High School, and when I had an idea that not everybody agreed with, I was open to critiques. I recognized that my ideas may not always be the best, and that it is important to consider everyone's thoughts.

Again, I don't know all the fine details, but I see the big picture very clearly: a few years ago, Jeffco was stable, and no dramatic issues emerged. Then, you three were voted in as the majority, and now parents question if they should move their kids to a new district. That's a pretty dramatic change in events. I recommend you let that soak in for a moment. I would hope that as representatives of Jeffco students, you are all working to make Jeffco the best it can be. Evidently, you're doing something wrong, because nobody is on board with you.
Sincerely,
Austin Jolly

NTM, I disagree that this is the teachers "throwing a temper tantrum". There are many, many parents, retired teachers, students, and former students who are unhappy at what this board is doing. They are organizing letter writing campaigns, demonstrations, and student "sick outs" now. Ask yourself - if it was a liberal majority, would you be pleased with how they are operating? They've spent money they were not authorized to, refused to release records of financial statements from the attorney they hired to represent themselves, not the district, that we taxpayers are footing the bill for, written questionable statements displaying breaches in ethics of conduct, and much more.

Now they want to review the curriculum on a sham citizen committee that they would load up with their supporters to change what is taught in schools so that "Instructional materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard for the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage."

I'm sorry, but that statement right there, if coming from a liberal, they would be accused of socialism. Why not of conservatives? This country was founded on civil disobedience and disregard for unjust laws. Just because you teach students the facts of our history doesn't mean that you aren't producing good upstanding citizens. It's when you try to hide what's happened, or encourage non-critical thinking, that you do a huge disservice to our students.

There is a process for reviewing curricula material; this is not it.

Posted by Leslie Dahlkemper, one of the school board minority, on her FB Page :

Here's the full text of the resolution: Board Committee for Curriculum Review.

The committee shall be seated by the Board. Each director may nominated up to three candidates for the committee and the entire board then will vote to select the nine (9) members of the committee. The charge to the committee is to review curricular choices for conformity to JeffCo academic standards, accuracy and omissions, and to inform the board of any objectionable materials. The committee shall regularly review texts and curriculum according to priorities that it establishes, however, at any time, the Board may add items to the list for review. The committee shall report all comments (majority and minority) to the board in writing on a weekly basis as items are reviewed. Board members may move for discussion or action on items reported when matters warrant public discussion or action. The committee’s initial projects will be a review of the AP US History curriculum and elementary health curriculum.

Review criteria shall include the following: instructional materials should present the most current factual information accurately and objectively. Theories should be distinguished from fact. Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage. Content pertaining to political and social movements in history should present balanced and factual treatment of the positions.

Julie Williams, who initiated this curriculum review committee, admitted that she doesn't even know what's taught in AP History classes. Why doesn't she sit in a few, and review the textbooks and class materials, before going to these lengths? What is the real agenda?

They aren't on strike. Nothing has been organized by the union that I am aware of. And it's not just teachers who are upset - as you can see from the quote I put up above, it's parents and students too.

Here's my issue with the raises: they are being tied to performance evaluations that were conducted before this was decided to make raises based on this evaluation process. According to one teacher I know, the evaluation consisted of one visit by the principal to the classroom and that's it. Do you think your boss could evaluate all that you do, out of dozens of employees, with one half hour visit of one day watching you while you work? There's no formal review process and it's flawed - how do we really know that those who are rated excellent are in fact excellent, and that those rated poor are in fact poor? The teachers are asking for a better review process, not to get something for nothing or not be held accountable.

I have no problem disciplining/holding accountable teachers who do not meet performance criteria, but anytime performance evaluations are used to decide merit-based pay, they should be standardized and administered equally and fairly across all schools. I'd love to see great teachers rewarded so that they are more likely to stay and continue to teach more kids, and I'd like to see teachers' pay increased - they have one of the most important jobs in our country and they deserve more. It should be competitive and there should be incentives to encourage motivation. I have yet to see that actually built into our school systems.

Some of our Jeffco schools were rated some of the best in the state, by USA Today no less. If there's an issue with what is taught, then it should be brought up with the state board before they adopt curricula and materials, not by having Joe Schmo off the street try to decide what is appropriate to teach or not (honestly, I think it's past time for national standards, I don't believe educational criteria should be decided at the state level, it makes for too much variance in rigorousness).

I think there's a huge difference between teaching "pride" and whitewashing our history to create good little non-thinking automatons. Look at these sentence individually:

• Instructional materials should present the most current factual information accurately and objectively
• Theories should be distinguished from fact
• Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights
• Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law
• Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage
• Content pertaining to political and social movements in history should present balanced and factual treatment of the positions

Do you see what a slippery slope those questions pose? I have no issue with analyzing the rigorousness of educational material; I have a huge issue with a group in one county with an political agenda "appointing" citizens who may or may not have necessary expertise in analyzing educational material, to decide what is appropriate to teach my kids in public school in this county, differing from everyone else in the state. I'm sorry, but the sentences I see above smack of oppressive regimes trying to control what is being said and to keep people from questioning government.

Julie Williams who initiated this curriculum committee review admitted that she doesn't even know what exactly is taught. Shouldn't the school board find out for themselves before asking ordinary citizens to decide what's appropriate or not?

History is not a static "this happened on this date", and this person was born, held this office, and died on this date; history is a living, breathing, and at times subjective topic. It should be taught asking students for each event: what decision was made, why it was made, and what the consequences were of that decision. It should teach critical thinking and learning, so that anyone else's opinion of "condoning" something (I myself highly condone the War for Independence, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Feminist Movement) wouldn't mean squat (if it even happens) because the students have learned to think critically for themselves. That's how I learned AP History, in the middle of the conservative capital of Ohio.