Lest there be any confusion as to whether the walkout this week at Douglas County Schools was student-inspired, it wasn’t.
Exhibit A:
It was the teachers and activist parents who weaponized our kids with their politics and get-out-of-class-free stunts to stage a media photo op for the sole purpose of furthering the teachers’ union goals of gaining bargaining rights in DougCo.
Using children to fight adult battles is a favorite tool of the teacher unions, but it is shameless and cowardly.
They are also misleading those same parents and children as to the reason for their sickout that shut down the entire school system and cost every student yet another day of learning.
The so-called equity policy was never rescinded.
The school board passed a measure asking the superintendent to report back to them this fall if in fact the equity measures in place were actually working.
Ari Armstrong on Complete Colorado Page 2 writes:
The new conservative-led school board approved a resolution on January 22 asking the superintendent to “recommend potential changes” to the equity policy consistent with principles laid out in the resolution.
The resolution confirms that Douglas County “respects and cares for the individual dignity of every student and staff member” and “wants every student and staff member to feel welcome.” So what’s the rub?
The resolution rejects “any policy or practice that wrongfully prioritizes group identity over individual beliefs, actions, and experiences.” It explicitly endorses equality of opportunity. The resolution also supports an environment in which students and families “can freely express views and opinions that may be counter to others’ views and opinions and are free from superficial attempts to ascribe group identity characteristics to his or her beliefs.” I think all of that is perfectly reasonable, so long as people don’t express “opinions” in school in a way that demeans other students.
Read the whole resolution here, it positively reeks of equality and respect for others.
Then there’s the firing of Superintendent Cory Wise.
Such personnel matters aren’t typically discussed in open forum meetings, because it’s a good way to get sued. Yet Wise and his union buddies used that as yet another excuse to get the parents and students riled up to come to his defense claiming rules were being broken.
Then surprise, surprise, Wise filed a lawsuit against the school board for firing him.
We would expect the school board will use Wise’s misrepresentation of what happened with the equity policy as a key element of their decision to fire him.
Over the last 10 years #DougCo had 4 BOE superintendents. Not sure why the firing of Wise is any different from the previous Supers especially since Wise had no previous experience as a Superintendent. Let’s hope the BOE can find an experienced leader to take us forward. #DCSD
— Scott Rubin (@ScottRu17191523) February 8, 2022