Support DCSD Teachers and Staff
Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes
It’s easy to be frustrated, angry, or even confused, with why our teachers and staff are taking Collective Action by calling out sick and participating in a community rally at 1 p.m. tomorrow, but I urge you to read on.
DCSD staff have been through collective trauma over the last decade. Amidst the ongoing disruption of a global pandemic and the news of the ultimatum delivered to Corey Wise by the current President and VP of our BoE, the DCSD community is having flashbacks to the Reform years, from 2009-2017. Many are seeing the re-emergence of deliberate, negative actions with the new board majority, Reformers 2.0. If you did not live in Douglas County or have kids in schools 2009-2017, you may be asking, "What does Reformer mean? What happened?"
Let's take a few minutes to go back in time to understand the impacts the Reformer Board had on our district…
In 2009, four candidates ran as a DougCo GOP-endorsed slate with a conservative agenda and won. John Carson, Dan Gerken, Doug Benevento and Meghann Silverthorn quickly got to work implementing their agenda. They hired Liz Fagan to lead DCSD. She immediately became the highest paid superintendent ($280k plus 100% health insurance, retirement benefits, personal vehicle, and security guard) in Colorado, while also being paid more than superintendents of districts in major cities like Chicago and New York City). In 2015, the Reform Board was advised to fire Fagan, who had become wildly unpopular, in order to win the upcoming elections. They selected Erin Kane as interim-superintendent when Fagan left in 2016.
In November 2010, one year after taking office as Board of Education Directors, Carson, Gerken, Benevento and Silverthorn announced plans to implement a voucher program in DCSD. During a meeting in March 2011, they voted to launch the voucher program in the 2011-2012 school year. The voucher program resulted in seven years of litigation and appeals before it was finally declared unlawful in 2018, by the Colorado Supreme Court.
As the school year progressed, the Reform Board decided to add another level of intimidation and fear by forcing staff (June 2012) to sign their DCSD contracts BEFORE the Collective Bargaining Agreement with Douglas County Federation expired. The results of those actions scared staff into staying and reduced their voice as a whole.
Later in 2012, a survey was sent out to teachers and staff to assess their satisfaction with the direction the district was going. The results spoke volumes. Teachers then saw a new corporate-modeled pay program implemented that ignored years of experience, advanced degrees and past performance reviews. They became fearful of speaking up and expressing their concerns or frustrations because of retaliation at the district level. Parents and students experienced immense disruptions and turnover as teachers were fired abruptly. Some teachers who spoke up against the Reform Board’s policies and direction were even escorted out of the building by district security.
Parents began to connect and gather, forming grassroots organizations that began to work to hold the Reform Board accountable and bring awareness to the destruction of the district and loss of so many qualified and master teachers. These groups shed light on how little time the Reform Board spent in public meetings discussing district business and how much time the Board spent in executive session (secret) meetings. Through their grassroots effort, they were able to help elect three new board members, which provided a platform to hold the Reform Board directors even more accountable.
This reign of power-hungry Reform Board members continued until more recent, pro-public education Board members became the majority in 2017, and began the enormous task to right the ship.
With DCSD’s turbulent past and the recent election of four candidates whose actions appear to be aligned with the Reform Board of 2009, it has become evident that the opinions, education and professional knowledge of the minority Board Directors, as well as teachers and staff, are not appreciated nor even considered by this new Board majority. First, the Board majority passed its Resolution to the Educational Equity Policy, which school administrators and the minority board members clearly opposed. The tone of the Resolution was an attempt to diminish the strength of the Educational Equity Policy. Only a few days after the Resolution was passed, Directors Peterson and Williams violated both law and DSCD policy in attempting to end Corey Wise’s employment.
Following these two clear and distinct moves by the current majority Board members that echo the first Reformer Board’s habits of ignoring public input and holding closed-door meetings, DCSD Teachers and Staff are not waiting to speak up. They watched their building leaders plead on their behalf to not alter the Equity Policy that they, along with stakeholders across the district and community, poured so much time and effort into building, ignored by the BoE majority. They are unwilling to see that history repeat itself with Reformers 2.0 in DCSD, so their immediate action is necessary. It’s important we treat our staff and teachers as the professionals they are.
For additional context about the Reformers, Education Inc. is a great resource. You will need a library card to access it, so go grab your number and be prepared to feel like you are watching Groundhog Day: DCSD version!
Link to "Education, Inc".