LAKEWOOD — Several dozen students from Carmody Middle School walked out of their classes on Tuesday morning in protest, continuing three weeks of student, teacher and parent activism in Jefferson County targeted at school board leadership.

Tuesday’s protests represent the first time younger students have participated in the walk-outs and protests.

Students were running through traffic Tuesday morning, one of whom was ticketed for jaywalking as police threatened to issue summons to any student who ran into the street.

“This is the most disorganized one we’ve had yet,” a Lakewood police officer told The Denver Post.

Students, like their older and taller high school counterparts who have been protesting since last week, waved signs and were cheering, “Don’t censor history!”

Several students who were interviewed by a Denver Post reporter did not fully understand the protest movement.

Catelyn Beasley, an eighth grader at Carmody, said there were some students just trying to skip class, but felt many knew about the proposed curriculum committee.

“The district is trying to take our history away,” said Dalton Henderson, another eighth grader at Carmody.

The group’s leader tried to get the kids to walk to Wadsworth Boulevard, but students turned around and headed back to school on the advice of a parent, Rene Wyant-Petrilli, before gathering near a church entrance to voice their opinions.

“I think it’s great,” Wyant-Petrilli said as she monitored the students. “I think the schools are missing a big opportunity here to teach them how to protest.”

Police said the students had been walking in circles for about an hour before they finally settled at the intersection of Kipling Street and Jewell Avenue.

One parent angrily berated her child as she escorted her back to school from the protest, yelling “Who do you think you are?”

Students from the majority of the county’s high schools in the last two weeks have left class in protest.

The protests follow the closure of two county high schools on Monday after an overwhelming number of teachers either called in sick or absent. Superintendent Dan McMinimee threatened disciplinary action against those educators who failed to turn up for work.

Monday’s closure came after a series of student walk-outs and protests last week at most of the county’s high schools.

While teachers have been voicing discontentment for months, a proposed committee to review the AP U.S. history curriculum provided the catalyst for the county-wide movement.

Julie Williams, a board member, initially introduced the proposal in an effort to promote “positive aspects” of U.S. history and avoid encouraging “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.”

The board tabled the idea for the panel, and significant cuts and changes have been proposed.

The committee proposal was not supposed to be on the agenda of this Thursday’s school board meeting, but on Monday a discussion of the proposal was added in response to the student protests.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul

Staff writer Eric Gorski contributed to this report.