Colorado Observer reporter Valerie Richardson quoted a comment from the Education Policy Center in her story about a controversial “Diversity Day” event at Niwot High School in the St. Vrain School District:
Ben DeGrow, senior education policy analyst at the free-market Independence Institute, said the school and students would have been better served by asking parents to “opt in” for Diversity Day.
“Students and parents have reason to be concerned because the political orientation of the workshops all seems to be slanted in one direction,” said DeGrow. “They may be sharing some sorts of diversity, but not intellectual or philosophical diversity.”
More insight on how public schools should address such matters can be found in a 2006 Independence Institute issue backgrounder by University of Northern Colorado professor emeritus Dr. Arnold Burron, titled “Controversial Issues: They Belong in the Classroom.”
The Niwot High School story was broken by 850 KOA talk radio host Michael Brown. You can check out his coverage, complete with previously unpublished documents, here and here.