Hundreds of Students Protest in Denver over New Proposal from School Board

Hundreds of students from Denver high-school walked out of their classrooms on Tuesday to protest a proposal suggested by the school board. As per the proposal, the school's history education will focus on topics that "promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority".

Denver post reported that over the past days, some tensions have been building up due to the proposed curriculum and the evaluation-based system for rewarding the educators.

But the new curriculum proposal raised the issue when the school board announced that they would focus on the topics that would highlight the "positive aspects" of the United States and its heritage. Through this, the school authorities believe that they would avoid material that could encourage civil disorder or disregard of the law.

Two high schools were closed on Friday and on Monday several students from six high schools started to protest, which carried on till Tuesday. It was found that almost 50 teachers from both the schools either took personal day leave or said they were not well.

Several students participated in the protest against their disapproval of the school board's proposal.

Debbie Velarde, a junior at Wheat Ridge High school, said, "Our entire history, things that changed America for the better, were acts of civil disobedience. The Declaration of Independence was an act of civil disobedience".

Another student from the Ralston Valley High School in Arvada said she did not want their education to be censored. She also insisted on the point that it is very important for them to know what all happened in the past.

According to the Denver Post, a conservative majority was elected last year and even a new superintendent was hired. It was also found that the proposed changes that have occurred are all done on the orders of Julie Williams, who was part of the school board's conservative majority.