Thursday’s edition of NBC Nightly News dedicated an entire segment to panicking over a school board of a small town in Colorado being taken over by conservative members and bemoaned how the board enacted a pro-American educational curriculum.
In the report by correspondent Antonia Hylton, due to B-roll footage aired, the town’s political atmosphere was made to seem like it was in disarray with rowdy school board meetings and citizens screaming at each other.
According to Hylton, this political division has occurred “ever since new school board members won seats campaigning on conservative values, and then made sweeping changes.”
“It's been chaos. The school board has started to introduce a political divide to a group that had never had one,” high schooler Jacob Deschmidt tattled to Hylton to which she asked him “do kids feel like adults are taking care of them right now?” He said no.
Hylton then went into her smear campaign against the school board, huffing that “they hired a superintendent, Kenneth Witt, who was previously recalled from his seat on a nearby school board after pushing a controversial history program.”
“The district also became the first in the country to implement a social studies program called American Birthright, developed by conservative activists and rejected by educators around the country, including Colorado's state board of education,” Hylton claimed.
By her own admission, the curriculum “emphasizes patriotism.” And without evidence, asserted it “discourages civic engagement.”
Based on that, it’s understandable why leftists like Hylton are freaking out. Anti-Americanism is their political platform.
Hylton even found a left-wing activist teacher in town who would tell her on camera that the pro-America curriculum was “terrifying.” Yet she never was forced to explain how that was. She only vaguely suggested “Anything that is not the way that the leader says it should be is wrong and evil and should be destroyed.”
According to Hylton, the teacher “was placed on administrative leave after she spoke out at a school board meeting.”
Toward the end of the report, school board president David Rusterholtz summed up why this new curriculum was enacted: “When I graduated, the vast majority of the graduates were proud to be Americans. And we want to see that happen again, because we live in the freest, greatest country in the world.”
NBC relied on triggered teenagers and scary footage of angry school board protesters to make their case against the changes made by the school board. It only took the board’s president one sentence to convincingly make his case.
This dishonest segment on NBC Nightly News was made possible by Fidelity. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript click “expand”:
NBC Nightly News
5/18/2023
6:44:05 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: There is a fierce battle brewing in a small Colorado town south of Denver. Angry residents split over sweeping changes enacted by the local school board and its new conservative policies. Antonia Hylton has details.
ANTONIA HYLTON: Woodland Park, Colorado, a tight knit conservative mountain community has grown so divided, high school junior Jacob Deschmidt says he no longer recognizes his hometown.
JACOB DESCHMIDT: It's been chaos. The school board has started to introduce a political divide to a group that had never had one.
HYLTON: Do kids feel like adults are taking care of them right now?
DESCHMIDT: Um, no.
HYLTON: For years, Woodland Park school board meetings were uneventful. Now they look more like this.
MATT GALOWSKI: You're a bunch of thieves and cowards. And I can't wait to vote you out
HYLTON: Ever since new school board members won seats campaigning on conservative values, and then made sweeping changes.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: They don't want to hear what you have to say.
HYLTON: The board chose not to reapply for grants that paid for students' mental health services. They hired a superintendent, Kenneth Witt, who was previously recalled from his seat on a nearby school board after pushing a controversial history program. NBC News obtained this video from a staff meeting where Witt defends his position on mental health.
KENNETH WITT: And delivering social services through schools seems to deter a lot of focus on education.
HYLTON: The district also became the first in the country to implement a social studies program called American birthright, developed by conservative activists and rejected by educators around the country, including Colorado's state board of education. It emphasizes patriotism and discourages civic engagement.
SARA LEE: It's terrifying.
HYLTON: When Sara Lee, a Woodland Park teacher for almost two decades learned what was inside the new program, she started to panic.
LEE: Anything that is not the way that the leader says it should be is wrong and evil and should be destroyed. And that's how I feel about that American birthright curriculum.
HYLTON: Sarah says she was placed on administrative leave after she spoke out at a school board meeting. She is among the nearly 40 percent of high school staff who won't be returning in the fall, according to a district administrator. On May 10 when the board voted to extend superintendent Ken Witt's contract, hundreds of community members lined up in the rain. David Rusterholtz is the school board president. Why would this school take on a curriculum that so many educators say is dangerous?
DAVID RUSTERHOLTZ: We're the first ones and the only ones at this point to do it.
HYLTON: Tell me what’s in the curriculum that made you want to bring it here?
RUSTERHOLTZ: The vast majority of the people who support that we hear from, that I hear from, they are -- for having put that in there. When I graduated, the vast majority of the graduates were proud to be Americans. And we want to see that happen again, because we live in the freest, greatest country in the world.
HYLTON: This November, three seats on the school board are up for election. Parents like Matt Galowski worry about how much could change between now and then.
GALOWSKI: Wake up. Don't—don't rest. Don't think that your district is safe. I never saw this coming.
