Reporter Michael Booth from The Colorado Sun joined us to discuss current turmoil within Woodland Park School District over social studies curriculum.
Woodland Park teachers and other staff are asking the community to help combat “a culture of fear and silence.”
“One hundred kids go to the school district and last week, about 80 teachers and staff wrote a letter in common urging the community to get more involved and put pressure on the school board to do a couple of things,” Booth told KUNC. “One is to restore a past social studies curriculum.”
The conservative school board majority — elected in 2021 — switched to a model of social studies that has been controversial in the rest of the country.
The Colorado state school board has previously rejected the American Birthright Standard that Woodland Park schools are currently using. That standard rejects social-emotional learning and the study of current events or civic engagement. It says lessons that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, or social justice are harmful to learning.
Booth said the state rejected American Birthright as inadequate for most students, but the Woodland Park school board adopted it anyway.
“The school board has also directed the teachers and staff to not talk directly to the press without the superintendent's approval,” Booth said. “And that has prompted this idea of a culture of fear and silence and that they're not allowed to speak out.”
Elections are coming up in November for three of the five school board seats. Six candidates are vying for the positions.
Another issue up for debate in this election is mental health services.
“One thing they've (school board members) done that has upset a lot of students and parents and staff is that they decided to not renew a $1.2 million grant that supported up to 15 mental health positions in the school district," Booth said. "The school board head (Superintendent Ken Witt) has been quoted by Erica (Sun reporter Erica Breunlin) as saying that he thinks the mental health situation created too much bureaucracy and that they need to focus on teaching kids in traditional ways.”
