DCSD continues to elude transparency: A Reformer from the Fagan regime, a charter school activist and “Kids First” campaign supporter, quietly hired for leadership positions
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The community was recently informed of two new hires on the Douglas County School District’s leadership team via the media. Dan McMinimee is the new Executive Director of Schools for Pathways, Choice and Alternative Education, and Alison Rausch was hired to fill the newly created position, Director of Parent, Community, and Civic Engagement. To date, there has been no public announcement of either of these two new hires by the district.
At a time when gaining community support for desperately needed funding should be the highest priority in DCSD, it is concerning that Superintendent Erin Kane has filled these two positions with people whose backgrounds raise red flags and will further erode trust in the district.
The first of these new hires, McMinimee, is not unfamiliar to many in Douglas County. McMinimee, who Kane hired as Executive Director of Schools for Pathways, Choice and Alternative Education, is a well-known reformer. His lack of leadership in DCSD resulted in a loss of instructional time for students and a monetary loss of $2M to the district. He also served a brief stint as the superintendent of Jefferson County Schools under the reform board who were recalled in 2015.
McMinimee was originally hired by Elizabeth Fagen, the former DCSD reform board’s superintendent, as Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education. McMinimee became well known as Fagen’s “henchman,” enforcing several destructive changes to the district that resulted in declining academic achievement and increased teacher turnover. In 2012, when the district took deep cuts to high schools, resulting in a move to an eight-period school day, McMinimee failed to realize that students were not receiving enough instructional time to be classified as full-time students. This, despite several community members speaking out about concerns regarding the loss of instructional time per class under the new schedule and cuts being taken at a time where the district had a $20M unexplained budget surplus.
Not only were these cuts unnecessary, but McMinimee’s lack of oversight also resulted in the Colorado Department of Education issuing a $4.2M liability to DCSD, which was later negotiated down to just under $2M. In the corporate world, an executive whose actions resulted in a multi-million-dollar loss and a significant number of customers not receiving the product they paid for, would likely be grounds for firing. But by the time this mistake was caught, McMinimee had moved on to Jefferson County, and no action was taken.
After the Jefferson County reform board was recalled, McMinimee went on to be the superintendent of the charter school network, New American School.
The other individual, Rausch, currently listed as an American Academy Board director, was recently hired as DCSD Director of Parent, Community, and Civic Engagement. As a reminder, Kane was the Executive Director of American Academy prior to being hired as Superintendent. Rausch is an administrator of a controversial Facebook group called “Parents Advocating for DCSD Students” (formerly known as “DCSD Parents for In-Person Learning”). This private Facebook group has been a haven for anti-mask and anti-vax individuals and regularly removes members who abide by the rules of the site, but have been flagged as undesirable for political purposes.
Even more concerning are Rausch’s ties to the “Kids First” school board members. While Rausch donated to the “Kids First” political committee to help elect the current school board majority, the bigger issue is her former employment at the Colorado League of Charter Schools, which not only endorsed the “Kids First” slate, but spent more than $150,000to help them get elected through an Independent Expenditure Committee, a 527 Political Committee, and donations to Ready Colorado, which spent the funds on the “Kids First” slate. As a reminder, Superintendent Kane was elected to a four-year term as a Board Director for the Colorado League of Charter Schools in 2021.
What is the Colorado League of Charter Schools’ agenda in Douglas County? And has Rausch been hired to ensure its investment pays off? Why is Kane hiring people with extensive charter school backgrounds to run a district that’s oversight is primarily neighborhood schools?
Keeping in mind that the “Kids First” school board members still haven’t shared their agenda beyond “taking the district in a different direction” to date, these two recent district leadership-level hires are a red flag that trust and transparency are once again being put on the back burner in Douglas County.