SPARKS FLY IN CAMDENTON MO
Students Win
Students Protecting All Rights for Kids or SPARK is a group of students from Camdenton High school in Camdenton, Missouri who have caught our attention. They are taking up the mantel exposing unfair practices of political bias and propaganda. During a recent telephone interview, we were told they had formed about 4 years ago while still in Middle School. The group asked the Principal to review six lessons of concern for political bias. They were directed to The School Board who refused to listen to their concerns. The kids did not give up, however and collected over 50 signatures to petition the board. A review committee eventually agreed to take a look at the course work. Three of these lessons were taken out of the curriculum. Review of these lessons can be seen here:
Students to provide a safety Net
Their short term goal is to improve the educational process and provide a “safety net” for all students in the Camdenton School District. That is, so that students will have an option of voicing their concerns about curriculum choices that contain bias or propaganda toward a political ideology. Long term they hope to take their cause throughout Missouri and the Nation.
We have all been told Common Core is no longer in our Missouri Schools. Well, the only thing that has changed is the name; the name now is: Missouri Learning Standards. The Common Core Label is printed right on their school work. The main point though is not necessarily Common Core; the students wish to stop the political bias.
To be fair, the Principal made it clear that he had already reviewed some of the curriculum and had them removed. See the letter from the Principal at the web page above.
We applaud anyone standing up for students and what is right. The SPARK group should give us all hope for a future where we can speak out against unfair and bias treatment. They can be reached at the following: 573-286-6293 or 573-286-4924 and email is joinsparknow@gmail.com; also face book under SPARK. A web page has been developed and you can access it here www.joinspark.tk donations are being accepted so they can travel and spread the word.
A copy of this article was submitted to the principle of Camdenton High School requesting comment. To date no response has been received.
Mart