By Christine Mai-Duc, Los Angeles Times (MCT)
Hundreds of Denver-area high school students walked out of classes Wednesday morning, continuing several days of protest over controversial changes being proposed to their history curriculum.
Students at two schools in the Jefferson County Public Schools District, about 10 miles west of Denver, walked out of classes around 8:10 a.m. Wednesday. Many of them marched outside school gates, carrying signs reading “Education without limitation” and “Civil disobedience is patriotism.”
Students and teachers there have been up in arms about a proposal that would require history lessons to promote citizenship, patriotism, and respect for authority and not “condone civil disorder, social strife, or disregard of the law.”
The policy would also guide teachers to “present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage.
“I respect the right of our students to express their opinions in a peaceful manner.However, I do prefer that our students stay in class,” Superintendent Daniel McMinimee said in a statement. McMinimee said he has met with students at several of the high schools over the last few days to answer questions and address concerns. He added that the school board has made no decisions about the proposed curriculum changes. Wednesday’s walk-outs follow demonstrations at several other schools in the district Monday and Tuesday.
On a Facebook page promoting a walkout at Arvada West High School, organizers said “The point is to make a statement about being against these changes … anything that shows we are standing up for ourselves and our teachers.” Fourteen of the district’s 17 high schools have now participated in some sort of protest to the changes, said district spokeswoman Lynn Setzer.
District officials said they’re not sure how many students have participated so far, but one school official at Chatfield High School, one of the two high schools where students walked out Wednesday, said about 500 students had left class to protest. By 11 a.m., many appeared to be returning to class, Setzer said.
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