By The Haystack Staff
As you may have heard, Julie Williams, a member of the Jefferson County School Board has proposed to review the Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum. She believes it “should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.” The proposal has rattled students attending schools in Jeffco. Students have participated in protests including some at Wheat Ridge. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, students at Wheat Ridge had prepared a walk-out for third period. Our walk-out was inspired by the other schools that had done the same, and was planned on Monday night.
We believe the walk-out could have been planned out better. Our walk-out was planned the night before through a Facebook page. If we want to have our voices heard we needed to plan it out thoroughly. Having it planned the night before is not enough time nor will all students be aware or well informed. Through conversations heard that day, students did not know there was a walk-out happening, and, in result, many of them took it to their advantage and just left class to leave it. There were students who were well informed about the issue; however the way the protest came about was messy.
A few minutes before second period was going to end, principal Griff Wirth gave an announcement. He told the student body that we should not attend the walk-out and went on to explain that it was not the correct way to have our voices heard. He wanted to offer the students alternative ways to walking out of school.
Wirth said of his announcement, “I also shared with many of them options as to how to be heard and convey their message. Options include writing letters, visiting with the superintendent, attending school board meetings and working with parents to gain support.”
Despite the announcement, a group of students continued on with the protest, supervised by Wirth, assistant principal Nic DeSimone, and security guards from our school. Wirth continued trying to convince the students not to go through with it. After several minutes of debating, a handful of students went on with the walk-out. Others didn’t understand Wirth’s intentions and felt discouraged, leading them to return back to school.
Senior Jairy Hinojos said she felt annoyed because she believed students deserved to have a voice. Even though Wirth was coming from a respectable place, some students like Hinojos do not think the way he came about it was good.
Although some students disagreed with the announcement, others understood Wirth. Junior Sammy Noel said, “I believe we’ll get more of an impact by not skipping school.” These students planned to continue on with the protest after school.
Wirth was not told by the district to make this decision. After being asked why he tried stopping the walkout, he said that it wasn’t the best representation of our school and that many students who had approached him that morning did not know why the walk-out was happening.
However, several students knew exactly why they were protesting. Senior Nora Ridgeway said, “I chose to protest today instead of going to my third period class. I made this choice because of recent school board actions and proposals, specifically the censorship of our history. I believe that I should not have to attend school if the teachers are not allowed to teach us the truth about the past. I am thankful that people had the courage to defy laws in order to make today’s society more just. Otherwise, had this not been the case, I would not be able to vote as a female and I would not attend an integrated school. We should not be taught simple obedience; we should be taught justice.”
As a whole, we, The Haystack, believe that even though Wirth had noble intentions, this issue requires more drastic measures than just a letter. We feel that the voices of students should not be overlooked and disregarded, but respected as the most important opinion. Students should have the right to walk out of school and peacefully protest against the school board. We have a right to have a voice when it comes to not only our education, but also future generation’s education. However, we also think having a walk-out is not the correct way to make an impact. There are many people who believe we are just trying to get out of class, and even though it may not be the case, we should still show that we are passionate about the issue by sharing our voice and beliefs outside of school. You can attend school board meetings, plan protests outside of school, join the teachers on Wadsworth Blvd for Boots On The Boulevard, this Friday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, and you can follow Facebook pages such as the WRHS School Board Protest. If you want to be more informed on what is happening follow the Jefferson County School Board Watch page on Facebook. This will be more impactful because it demonstrates that we care enough to spend an afternoon or weekend protesting.
