Jeffco board tables vote on curriculum review, AP history

GOLDEN — The Jefferson County Board of Education tabled plans to develop a new curriculum review committee after a spirited conversation that included a debate about the purpose of studying history.

The board skipped action on the plan, at the advice of legal counsel, after board member Jill Fellman asked if the conversation about the Advanced Placement U.S. history course fell under the scope of the posted agenda topic.

The board’s discussion, which in part included questions about whether the advanced U.S. history course should promote respecting authority and laws, was interrupted several times by a skeptical audience.

“What about Martin Luther King? What about Rosa Parks?” one audience member asked.

Board member Lesley Dahlkemper called the plan, as worded, “too extreme for Jeffco.”

Board member Julie Williams, who authored the proposal for the “community committee,” said critics misinterpreted the criteria she outlined in a proposal to review the history course.

“I am not suggesting that we eliminate any of our factual American history,” she said.

The proposed committee came after repeated attempts by Williams to pass resolutions to curtail the Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by Colorado, and their companion assessments.

Williams, in an interview with Chalkbeat, said she wanted the panel to first review the advanced history class because she felt the program was still new enough to curtail if there were questionable content, as she believes.

Williams concerns about the standards and AP U.S. history course echo the concerns of some conservatives throughout the country. Defenders of the history course in Jeffco and say those fears are baseless.