Your Words are Powerful

I am surprised and pleased to see that after my long break from writing this blog, people are still reading it.  I return to these pages because the state of Jeffco Schools has only gotten worse. Students, teachers and parents are all protesting the actions of the three conservative board members, Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk.  That is no surprise.  Witt, Newkirk and Williams are acting under the same impulses as other extremists we are also hearing about in the news. Extremism is never good. In the end, extremist fall hard.  Read it in the history books, but I guess that is too much for Mrs. Williams and her "godly" groupies.

Over the past several weeks, I have read many, many wonderful letters and emails written by parents, students and teachers. They write because they know something valuable is being threatened - free speech and public education. Because they can say what is important so much better than I can, I am turning this blog over to publishing their letters. These letters are  being sent to the Board of Education by the hundreds. Precious words condemned to the black hole of an email box that will probably never be read by a board member. Words only have power if they can be read. So, please keep sending those letters to Board of Education, but please send them to this blog too. Paste them in the comment section below.  I will paste them in this blog when appropriate. I will do my best, with your help, to make sure that the world gets a chance to read your wonderful and powerful thoughts. Please write constructively, don't defame or liable, but do write from the heart.  Be professional and kind. If you are a teacher whose students are being hurt, say so. If you are a teacher and have to work at Home Depot to make ends meet, tell your story.  If you are a mom whose child is not getting the education they deserve write a letter here. Tell us about an unfair evaluation system for teachers, how the law is being broken at board meetings.  The world needs to know these terrible things that are happening in our once wonderful school district . These pages are yours.  Letters that are signed are more powerful than those that are unsigned, but I understand the need to protect jobs and income by remaining anonymous.

Starting now, this blog is "The Voices of Jeffco."

LETTER #1
 

Ms. Williams:

As a parent of two recently Jeffco graduates (2012, 2014), it is sad to see that a focus of the Board is on the curriculum of students in AP courses. The reason given by Ms. Williams is this: ""I don't think we should encourage kids to be little rebels ...We should encourage kids to be good citizens."" (9News.com) Ms. William's fears are unwarranted, and beg the question, Have you been in more than one AP Class that does this?. I want to let you know that I have two very good examples that Ms. Williams' comment is incorrect. Both of my children successfully completed AP classes at their Jeffco (non-charter) High School, including APUSH. My son graduated with a 4.3 and my daughter, a 4.5. My son was accepted into ALL of the United States Military Academies. He is currently a Junior at C.U. Boulder and in the United States Air Force. Can you get more patriotic than that? He obviously wasn't deterred because of his AP classes or by the curriculum that he received in Jefferson County. My daughter took nearly every AP class offered at her high school, something like 8 or 9. She is now in the President's Leadership Class at CU Boulder with the goal of becoming one of the few female Neuro-Surgeons,(look up the requirements to be accepted into this exquisite group of students leaders). Again, she is not a "rebel", she is probably one of the model citizens we should all strive to be.

I find it sad that you, Ms. Williams, are finding it necessary to attempt to change the curriculum, which I don't think you have ever taught, and I'm not sure you have ever taken. The teachers who developed the critical thinking skills in both my children did so long before our state adopted the Common Core standards, which emphasize critical thinking. Our children are taught in schools that they are important, that their questions are important, and their ideas are valued. How does "your" way support that? Changing the curriculum so that authors and Board members tell them what to think limits their abilities to become the model citizens our society so desperately needs right now. I am proud of the education that my children received; their success speaks to that - and they are not the only success stories Jeffco can claim.

Is this really where we are going with education in 2014? Which country out there is or has been successful implementing this type of educational policy? It is NOT how things in the United States are ran. Go to Boston and feel the history that the founding fathers created, or read about it in the plentiful, free, and available literature. We (USA) are who we are because we were LEAD by a group that had the determination to fight for freedom. Every time our freedoms have come into question, freedom wins. Again, visit the history books. It is deplorable to think where we would be as a nation if we allowed others to tell us how to think. Where would civil rights be? Equality?

As a parent of a military Commander and 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force, it saddens me that a citizen of our United States wants to exercise her freedom of speech to take away others' freedom to think and speak. My son will fight for our rights and freedoms and that includes you, Ms. Williams, and your "outdated" ideas of education.

Every time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, think about all those who have, do, and will serve to protect these rights.

Ms. Toni Bower

Concerned Jeffco Parent