I live in Douglas County, Colorado. We are fortunate enough to have excellent public schools. UNFORTUNATELY, however, we have a truly terrible school board. Dominated by Republicans, the board has pushed the schools in new and disastrous directions, under the usual GOP guise of "reform." Why should this matter to YOU?
Because this is a battle between the teachers and the teachers' union, versus a Tea Party- backed coalition that is attempting to shape the future of one of the best school districts in the country into a conservative mecca of vouchers for private Christian schools, privatization, the shut-out of the teachers' union, merit-based pay, and other conservative wet dreams.
It's not every day that a school board election attracts attention from the likes of the Wall Street Journal and the National Review. But that's what's happening in Douglas County, Colorado, just outside of Denver, where seats on the Republican-controlled board are up for grabs in November. Conservative educators point to Douglas County as a model in education reform. But hundreds of local parents don't agree.
BRUNDIN: The future of these policies hangs in the balance this November, with four of the board's seven seats up for grabs. Critics of the current school board say its agenda is being shaped by forces outside the county. National groups that favor market-based approaches in public education are paying attention.
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BENNETT: They are almost a laboratory for every serious thoughtful education reform on the conservative side.
BRUNDIN: Bennett was in Douglas County recently, speaking to business leaders, praising the school district's initiatives. And the Colorado chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group, launched a series of TV ads supporting the school board and condemning its critics.
(William Bennett was the secretary of education under Ronald Reagan)
Source
So what, exactly, has this terrible board done? Please follow below the fold.
Well, one big thing: Douglas County School Board Severs Ties With Teachers Union
On Wednesday, The Douglas County School Board voted to officially end negotiations with the teachers union over their collective-bargaining agreement with the district. The board also voted to end the collection of union dues and to stop paying union leaders with district money.
From the same article:
Dan Gerken, vice president of the school board, told 9News that the board is trying to focus on "what's right" for the kids. But Robert Herrell, a retired teacher who helped organize the protests against the school board disagrees, "We did what we were asked and now all of a sudden we're the bad guys. It's a ploy. They want to privatize schools and that's what this is all about."
It has been an extremely contentious couple of years in the DCSD. More than 300 teachers have left Douglas County schools over the course of the last year and the year before that more than 200 teachers left the district, The Denver Post reported. However Brian Cesare, DCSD human resources officer says that the more than 300 teachers who left are less than 10 percent of the total amount of teachers in the district and a 10 percent turnover rate is similar to most metro-area districts.
Why did many of these teachers leave?
A wealthy school district in Colorado is launching a radical experiment that sets a different pay scale for each category of educator, ensuring that even the best third-grade teacher would never earn as much as a veteran high-school math teacher.
The new system, which takes effect next month for all 3,300 educators in suburban Douglas County, Colorado, has sparked fury and resentment among some teachers and some parents. But it has also drawn interest from superintendents around the nation.
A sprawling swath of suburbia between Denver and Colorado Springs, Douglas County is one of the wealthiest in the nation, with a well-regarded school system. A slate of conservative Republicans took control of the school board in 2009 and has pushed through a series of controversial policies, including expanding the number of charter schools and providing vouchers to help students pay tuition at private and religious schools. The voucher system is being challenged in court.
The board abolished traditional tenure protections for teachers in 2010 and said last year it would no longer recognize the teachers' union after contract negotiations hit an impasse.
With no contract to set guidelines on salaries, performance evaluations or working conditions, the board is free to impose systems like the new market-based pay rate.
Vote-suppressing shithead Scott Gessler jumps in...
Major-league asshole Scott Gessler could not ignore this high-profile opportunity to make a nuisance of himself, er, raise his public profile.
n an email entitled, “The Cavalry is Coming!”, Gessler wrote: “Against the advice of the Denver political elites, I’ve ordered my campaign for governor to shift focus for the next week until the Douglas County elections, to ensure that conservatives are victorious this year.”
And some really scary shit buried in the same article:
The Douglas County Republicans endorsed school board candidates in 2009, 2011 and this year. Local party chairman Craig Steiner said the school board methodology is part of a larger, national-scale strategy to gain seats at all levels of government.
See? Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. Especially when you discover that
The bad people are getting a huge influx of outside money
Two wealthy school-choice advocates from outside Douglas County have provided almost all the campaign contributions for the four school-board candidates supporting the direction of the current board.
Oilman Alex Cranberg, of Austin, Texas, and investment fund president Ralph Nagel, of Denver, have donated about 90 percent of the campaign dollars collected by current board supporters Doug Benevento, Jim Geddes, Judi Reynolds and Meghann Silverthorn. Each of the four candidates got a combined $35,000 from Cranberg and Nagel.
On the other hand,
Most of the donations to opposition candidates Barbra Chase, Bill Hodges, Julie Keim and Ronda Scholting — who support a change in the current board’s direction — are in small increments of $50 or less. The vast majority of those identified contributions are from Douglas County residents.
Yes. Actual PARENTS and residents. People who LIVE here and whose children attend these schools. Both my children's schools lost excellent teachers at the end of last year. I read somewhere that many teachers are just waiting to see if this board can get kicked out before they decide to leave.
I protested against the voucher system, wrote letters to the board, called...and eventually got a smarmy form letter about "the best interests of our students." Oh, bullshit. When 11 out of 14 schools that would accept the vouchers are PRIVATE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, there is some serious crap going on here. Separation of Church and State, anyone? I don't care if people want to send their kids to a school where they may learn that Jesus rode dinosaurs. But I DO NOT want MY taxes paying for that.
The pressure on voters has been tremendous. I mentioned a robocall from Michelle Malkin (gag) urging me to vote for the nutjobs and not the AWFUL people who support--gasp--THE UNION! All of the campaign materials I received from the GOP are nothing but fear-mongering blatherings about THE UNION! From a piece of crap I received from the GOP candidates: "YOU SHOULD KNOW the UNION is working to take back the Douglas County School District." "The UNION is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Their UNION bosses are mad because they don't control our school district." All caps and bolding from original document. And then more crap about "We work for YOU." Bullshit. They work for people who want vouchers and privatization.
Not one--not ONE--mailing from the GOPers mentioned any actual successes as a result of the policies of this board. That's because there AREN'T ANY. From an ad placed by DouglasFamilies.com:
Parent Satisfaction Rating: 2008-2009: 73% Now: 38%
Accredited with Distinction Rating by the State: 2008-2009: YES Now: NO
Instructional Hours by High School Subject: 2008-09: 134 Now: 124
Advance Placement Students Scoring 3+: 2008-09: 73% Now: 69%
You get the picture. These "reforms" are HURTING our schools, and our children. And can hurt YOURS if this board is reelected. From the comments below:
OMG, your county is being looked at... (7+ / 0-)
... by our state legislative wackos. You know, the idiots that Moral Mondays were protesting.
You can see a video of the report here (in the video menu at the left of the video pane, to to Monday, October 28, 2013, then chose "NC lawmakers look to Colorado for school choice options"). I'm sorry there is no transcript available. If someone as an automated way to generate one, let me know.
A legislative [oversight] committee reviews a school choice plan from Colorado for possible implementation in NC. Rep. Marvin Lucas, a retired school principal, shares his insights on the issue of school choice.
The report says that Douglas county offers pretty much everything talked about by the wingnut school "reformers" at the state level. Oh geez.
Now you guys really have some pressure! You have to stop your nutjobs so our state nutjobs have nothing to use as an example :-(
I'm republishing this to NC BLUE because it needs our attention too.
Misled Into War: A Timeline/DowningStreetMemo.com
by highacidity on Wed Oct 30, 2013 at 10:38:07 AM PDT
(Please see comment for link to video, until I have time to fix it)
Another quote from a GOP mailing:
We'll work for YOU, Not the UNION. Parents and education reform leaders across the nation view our school district as an example of how public education can work better. They yearn for what we have here in Douglas County: a school board that is accountable to taxpayers, parents, and students, NOT THE UNION.
emphasis theirs.
What utter rot. From the Strong Schools Coalition flyer:
Transparency 2008-2009 2012-13 % Change
Board meeting hours
Behind Closed Doors 6.5 33.2 +410%
Board Meeting Hours
Spent in Public Discussion 92.3 52.7 -43%
Ugh. All emphasis in quotes mine unless otherwise noted.
From a FIRST-TIME COMMENTER (YAY!):
For More Information (4+ / 0-)
If you need more information about what's going on in DCSD, then please visit these websites.
www.strongschoolscoalition.com (all non-partisan info)
www.douglascountyparents.com (all parent volunteers to get out the info)
by hottiemom24 on Wed Oct 30, 2013 at 01:30:56 PM PDT