Colorado Votes To Fire Education Board Conservatives Who Tried To Mess With History Books
Heres a history lesson three Colorado Board of Education members learned the hard way: Dont try to change public school history books to better suit your conservative ideology. If you do, youll be out of a job.
In Jefferson County, Colorado, voters made that clear on Tuesday, when they chose to oust three conservative board members after growing tired of the constant attempts to subvert childrens education. The three members Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk had a reputation for attempting to whitewash American history and remove all the uncomfortable parts. All three had been swept into office during the heady Tea Party years, but like many other ultra-conservative politicians around the country have found, voters who once thought the Tea Party was a great idea quickly grew tired of the novelty of having a bunch of right-wing fanatics in office.
Witt, Williams and Newkirk were right-wing fanatics to the very end. The Associated Press documented some of the destruction they left in their wake.
The board members facing recalls cruised to victory in 2013, but their arrival quickly caused a stir. The superintendent of the school district, Cindy Stevenson, left days after their election, saying she felt disrespected by them and couldnt do her job anymore.
Then came a decision to tie teacher pay increases to performance rather than seniority, and accusations that the three conservatives on the five-member board were meeting privately before scheduled meetings. Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk have repeatedly denied holding secret meetings.
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