DENVER – Eight national and local organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, wrote the Jefferson County School Board today in opposition to the board’s proposed review of the curriculum for Advanced Placement U.S. History.
School board members have proposed a new “board committee for curriculum review” with a stated mission to “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights.”  According to the original proposal, “Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage.” The committee would also be tasked with identifying materials that “may reasonably be deemed” to be “objectionable.”
The groups, which support academic freedom and oppose censorship in education, identified aspects of the proposal as “deeply problematic.”  The term objectionable, for instance, is “inherently vague and subjective and would predictably result in complaints based on personal, political, moral, or religious grounds,” they observed.  In addition, “terms like citizenship and patriotism are similarly subject to multiple interpretations, as evidenced, for example, by the public debate about whether civil disobedience can be an act of patriotism.”
The letter notes that “it would be nearly impossible to teach US history without reference to ‘civil disorder,’ which is appropriately discussed in connection with the American revolution, the labor movement, civil rights and gay rights activism, US entry into World War I, voting rights protests, and public demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, abortion rights, government surveillance, and countless other significant events in US history.”
Moreover, according to Joan Bertin, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, which spearheaded the response, “it is well established that public school officials are not constitutionally permitted to suppress information and ideas on the ground that it is ‘unpatriotic’ or ‘objectionable.’  Students are in school to gain knowledge and learn to analyze facts and think for themselves, not to be indoctrinated into a particular view of patriotism.”
Several legal decisions are cited in the letter, including McCullom v. Board of Education, in which the U.S. Supreme Court warned in 1948 that efforts “to eliminate everything that is objectionable… will leave public education in shreds.  Nothing but educational confusion and a discrediting of the public school system can result.”
The curriculum review proposal, which will be considered at a public meeting on Thursday, Oct. 2, has spurred protests across the district by students, parents and teachers, who have publicly urged the board to reject censorship and to not “make history a mystery.”
“Decisions about instructional materials should be based on sound educational grounds, not because some people do or do not agree with the message, ideas, or content of a particular book or lesson,” the groups wrote. “We strongly urge you to adopt policies and procedures that focus, not on molding patriots or citizens in a particular image, but on educating students to be informed, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and engaged participants in their communities.”
Additional signers on the letter include National Council for the Social Studies, National Council of Teachers of English, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, PEN American Center, the Comic Book Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Resources:

Letter from academic freedom groups opposing Jefferson County curriculum review proposal

Statement of ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley on the Jefferson County curriculum review proposal

October 1, 2014
DENVER – In light of National Hispanic Heritage Month and with another statewide Latino organization joining the groundswell of support for marriage equality in Colorado, Why Marriage Matters Colorado released a short video featuring the Rodriguez family, a Latino family from Longmont. The video features Ray Rodriguez and his family, as he shares how he came out to them and discusses their unconditional support for him – and the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.
You can watch the video here: www.marriageco.org/Rodriguez

“I think everybody should be able to love who they want to love. I would like to see my son get married some day if that’s what he chooses,” said Jennie Rodriguez of Longmont about her son Ray.
“This is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and it’s appropriate that we honor all of our family members – committed families both gay and straight. We have a long, rich cultural history of family bonds. This is a continuation of that heritage,” said Cristina Aguilar, Executive Director of Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR).
COLOR’s endorsement comes on the heels of the Colorado Latino Forum announcing its support for marriage equality last month. Other Latino community leaders who have come out for the freedom to marry include: State Representative Joe Salazar, State Representative Dominick Moreno, State Senator Jessie Ulibarri, State Senator Irene Aguilar, State Senator Lucia Guzman, Denver City Councilman Paul D. López, Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz, and Denver Public School Board member Rosemary Rodriguez. Why Marriage Matters Colorado is broadening the dialogue with Coloradans about why marriage is important to same-sex couples and their families and why it is consistent with the values of liberty and freedom. More information on this statewide initiative – which is being spearheaded by leading statewide LGBT advocacy group One Colorado, ACLU of Colorado, and Freedom to Marry – can be found here: www.whymarriagematterscolorado.org

DENVER - Members of the Jefferson County School Board have proposed a new “board committee for curriculum review” with a stated mission to “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights.”  According to the board’s proposal, “Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage.” The review committee would also be tasked with informing the school board of “objectionable materials.”

ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley issued the following statement:

“The ACLU of Colorado is watching with a concerned eye attempts by Jefferson County School District officials to institute an apparently ideologically-motivated review of the district’s history curriculum.
“State-funded school curriculum should promote academic integrity, not ideological agendas.  A committee that polices educational materials for insufficient devotion to patriotism or a lack of respect for authority runs the real danger of substituting propaganda for education.
“It’s troublesome, especially during a week in which the ACLU and anti-censorship advocates across the country recognize Banned Books Week, that the curriculum review committee would be charged with identifying and referring so-called “objectionable materials” to the school board.  “Objectionable” is a standard that lends itself to censorship by empowering a small few to judge content based on their own personal or religious beliefs.
“The ACLU of Colorado offers its support to the students, teachers, and parents who have exercised their right to peacefully protest the proposal.  It’s ironic that an attempt to downplay examples of social change being accomplished through civil disobedience has spurred a community-wide crash course in just how important it is to be able to speak out and question authority in a just and democratic society.”
For an infographic of banned books throughout history: https://www.aclu.org/free-speech/infographic-banned-books-week

Read Fighting for Captain Underpants, a new blog about censorship in recognition of Banned Book Week: https://aclu-co.org/blog/fighting-captain-underpants/