JeffCo school board decision draws questions re:transparency

GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) – Thousands of students took to the streets last fall after learning the district was considering the review, which was reportedly going to be done with an eye toward downplaying civil disobedience.

Now the board has decided to drop the idea of a Board-directed review of AP US History curriculum.

In November 2013, three new school-board members were elected in Jefferson County. Ken Witt, John Newkirk and Julie Williams — or “WNW,” as they called themselves — ran as a group of fiscal conservatives who were in favor of school choice and opposed to Amendment 66, a statewide Democrat-backed tax hike that would have funneled $950 million into Colorado schools. The proposal failed, and Witt, Newkirk and Williams won.

The three now hold the majority on the school district’s five-member board. Depending on whom you ask, that’s either a victory or a crisis. Their opponents say they’re Tea Partiers bent on busting the teachers’ union. They fear the majority will privatize public education by siphoning money from traditional neighborhood schools to feed a growing charter movement that could one day include schools run by for-profit corporations. They’ve accused them of ignoring parent input, wasting money on a lawyer, driving out a dedicated superintendent and passing surprise motions that erode public trust and threaten to ruin the stellar track record of Jeffco schools.

Meanwhile, their supporters say WNW are doing yeoman’s work to improve a district that for too long coasted by on its successes while ignoring its challenges. They say the board majority is boldly rejecting the status quo by taking a close and critical look at what’s working in Jeffco and what isn’t. It’s too bad, they say, that the majority’s work is being distorted by a teachers’ union more concerned with protecting its members than with educating kids.

There have been teacher sickouts, student walkouts, and national media attention focused on the AP U.S. History proposal. Students have protested at meetings and been escorted out by security guards. Teachers have shouted down the board. Disheartened parents have formed watchdog groups. Anonymous Twitter accounts have popped up during meetings skewering the board majority with snarky 140-character missives and mean-spirited memes.

Meanwhile, WNW supporters are fighting back by publishing their own newspaper, The Jeffco Observer.

So who are the students, parents and teachers in those folding chairs?

GOLDEN - During the summer break, more than just students look for new jobs. Apparently teachers do, too. In Jefferson County, that appears to be happening at rate higher than in years past.

The Colorado Department of Education reports that the turnover rate for JeffCo increased last fall from about 10 percent in the previous year to about 15 percent. That is a total of 710 people leaving the district.

A Jeffco district judge ruled Friday that the school district should not be prevented from releasing the names of teachers who were absent during “sick-outs” last fall, rejecting the teachers union's claim that sick days should be protected as personnel data.

District Judge Christie Phillips wrote that the days public school teachers call in sick cannot be considered personnel or private medical information, and that teachers should not expect a right to privacy concerning sick days.

The Jefferson County Education Association, which filed the lawsuit Feb. 18 against Jeffco Public Schools, contended that even though sick-leave records do not contain specific health data, disclosing them to the public could indirectly reveal private information. After sick-outs last fall prompted closures of four schools, including Conifer High, the district received open-records requests for the names of the absent teachers from at least two parents, one of which was granted. That led to the union’s legal action.