A Jefferson County Schools security vehicle blocks the driveway entrance to Standley Lake High School in Westminster Friday. The district closed the school because a significant number of teachers took sick or personal days. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
Re: “Jeffco teachers’ childish stunt,” Sept. 20 editorial.
I was struck by the irony of your description of the Jefferson County teachers’ mass absenteeism on Friday as a “childish stunt.” Letap call it what it is really is — an act of civil disobedience, a phrase that interestingly enough is not what some on the Jeffco school board want their students to learn in AP American History.
We have seen throughout our history that acts of civil disobedience such as the American Revolution, the labor movement, women’s rights and the civil rights movements often spur needed change. Often the powerless employ these techniques because they are the only way they have to fight back at the powerful.
I applaud those teachers who took a stand, and if it inconvenienced people, then thatap the point! Perhaps The Denver Post might choose more appropriate terminology in the future to describe such acts and not pander to right-wing ideologues who fear dissent.
Gerry Camilli, Englewood
This letter was published in the Sept. 23 edition.Call it childish if you wish, but don’t attribute the uproar in Jefferson County schools solely to the pay issue. Driving out a beloved superintendent, changing the pay-for-performance protocol and applying it despite an independent evaluator recommending its abandonment alone might not justify such a response. You elected to ignore the recent board meeting where consideration was given to curriculum reform framed to “promote patriotism, respect for authority and the free market system” while ignoring material that would encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Really? That makes me, a Jeffco resident, want to march, too. Blind patriotism and obedience are not qualities that make our country great. They make North Korea and other societies repressed.
John Ruszczyk, Littleton
This letter was published in the Sept. 23 edition.
For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here. Follow eLetters on Twitter to receive updates about new letters to the editor when they’re posted.
