Seventy percent of the teachers at two Colorado schools refused to work as conservative Jefferson County board tries to change courses and teacher contracts

Two high schools in Colorado canceled classes Monday after dozens of teachers called in sick in protest of a conservative school board’s proposal to change the history curriculum.

This is the second such teacher sick-out in two weeks and comes on the heels of student walk-outs over the issue. At the two high schools where sick-outs were staged, Golden and Jefferson high school in Jefferson County, 73% and 81% of teachers called out, respectively. Unrest is also tied to new teacher evaluations. Negotiations for a new contract between the district and the union broke down last spring.

The board wants to review Advanced Placement US history curriculum, which was recently revised by the College Board, the organization that sets standards for the courses. Some conservative school board members feel that the new curriculum has an overly negative view of US history, and advocate changes.

“My feeling is it’s an attack on teachers and public education, and a disregard for the needs of our students,” said a social studies teacher who worked that day but had knowledge of the protest. The teacher wished to remain anonymous for fears of retribution. “It’s a really, really scary to be a teacher in Jefferson County right now,” the teacher said.



The educator’s fears aren’t without foundation. The district superintendent Dan McMinimee said that each teacher absence would be independently reviewed, and teachers could be docked a day if their absence falls outside of the collective bargaining agreement. He didn’t rule out future discipline if the sick-outs continue.



“I think it’s time for us to take a stand, and let’s put a stop to this,” said McMinimee. “At the end of the day we don’t have kids in classrooms where they need to be in classrooms.”

The question of who is organizing the actions, and whether they’re truly “grassroots”, is a contentious one in Jefferson County. Many aligned with three conservative board members, Julie Williams, John Newkirk and the board’s chairman, Ken Witt, blame the teachers union. Teachers union representatives say it’s a grassroots movement. Many cite outside influence from partisan groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the National Education Association. Both injected large amounts of cash into nearby school districts.

“This wasn’t organized by [the Jefferson County Education Association],” said John Ford, teachers union president. “But, we certainly understand teacher frustration right now, and I think our whole community’s experiencing the same kind of frustration with the secrecy, waste and disrespect from our school board majority.”

Meanwhile, Sheila Atwell, executive director of the conservative-learning Jefferson County Students First, said the teachers union was responsible for both the sick-outs and student walk-outs.

“I do think very much it’s union driven,” said Atwell.

“Of course they’re very careful in the way they organizing,” she said. “You put two and two together, it’d be kind of hard to believe that that’s not the case.” She also said the NEA was influencing organizing in the area.

Atwell is a mother of two, with one child homeschooled and another attending private school. She says she campaigns for changes to Jefferson County public schools because public education is “pretty darn important for the community and the nation”.

The tensions over the issue first started to bubble up to the national media after conservative board member Julie Williams introduced a measure to review the AP history curriculum under specific criteria.

“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,” the curriculum review proposal said. Proponents of the review, including Atwell, say that most of the controversial passages have been struck. A hearing is scheduled for 2 October.

The AP history curriculum was changed by the College Board this fall, and the revisions were mostly praised by teachers.

“I think at our school traditionally, we’ve maintained there’s benefits to the AP course beyond just passing the AP exam,” Denver Public Schools teacher Mark Thalhofer told the Denver Post, in mid-September. “There’s things we’ve always covered that the test doesn’t.”

The College Board issues credit and guides curriculum for all advanced placement courses in the country. Students earn college credit through the academically intense and in-demand high school courses.

Soon after the College Board issued its new guidance, the Republican National Committee condemned the new standards as “radically reinventionist” and anti-American. The Texas state board of education has proposed banning the AP history class altogether.