Unless you’re new to this website, you already know that the Woodland Park school board adopted the American Birthright standard for social studies last month. Colorado Public Radio published a great article about this, and talked about how the state board of education rejected these standards last fall. These standards have already been used to censor one class, so naturally parents are concerned.

So, what’s a concerned parent to do? Well the state mandates that each district implement standards that meet or exceed the state standards.

Surely the American Birthright standard, which the state already rejected, wouldn’t meet these criteria?

I contacted the Colorado Department of Education. They in turn reached out to the Woodland Park school district about this issue, and received this reply:

So, they’ll be taking a non-compliant standard, picking and choosing sections to ensure compliance? On the surface this sounds bad but possibly compliant. But in the end, who will judge whether the district has pulled off this tightrope act? Turns out the answer is…the district themselves. The state does not review districts to actually ensure they’re complying with the state standards! This is what the Colorado Department of Education told me:

So there you have it.

Is there no government body overseeing our school board? Hey, what about the Colorado Association of School Boards! Sounds promising, right? Umm…no: