Can someone give me the straight poop on Douglas County schools? (tax, teachers)

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by davidv

I guess that remains to be seen. I wonder how well the 4 conservative members will work with the 3 new members. Seeing what has happened in Jeffco, I predict a lot of 4-3 votes with the conservative group using their slim majority to push through the same agenda.

That is my biggest concern but we shall see. I think the $4.2 million fine may have been the final straw.

[Bellflower]

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

We won! Public education beat big money and I could not be happier!

JeffCo will have a corporate reform free board, but the reformers will still have the majority in DougCo. Change will not happen overnight, but I'm confident the new board members will slowly chip away at some of the damage that has been done. Thank you voters!

A hearty congrats to the parents, students and teachers of DCSD! A 4-3 majority in favor of Fagan and her disastrous reforms suggests positive, substantive change will be glacial, but three voices beats zero by any measure. At the very least, there will now be three people on the board who actually value public schools as the heartbeat of healthy communities rather than seeing them as stumbling blocks to privatization. Too late for my son who graduated Chaparral in the spring of 2015, but this really is a great day!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

Partially correct. You make the union a much bigger player than it actually is. The Kochs and their followers do hate unions and DCSD did away with the union a few years ago; but those of us fighting are not attempting to get it back.

Thank you for the correction. The way it worked here in COLO SPGS there was Koch Bros money behind mayor Steve Bach (1-term, decided not to re-run) who promptly tried to privatize our city hospital system but we raised enough stink that our Memorial Hospital System ended up in a lease deal with UC-Health. The city tried to welch on its requirement to use the lease money to catch up on what it owed to PERA for the retirement plan of the unionized employees. The court battle lasted two years but in the end the courts made the city pay the bill it rightfully owed. Mayor Bach was successful in getting rid of our unionized auto mechanics at the city garage and replace them with non-union mechanics contracted via a firm in England. What went on here was chapter and verse of the Koch Bros / John Birch ideology of destroying unions at any cost.

All that being said, I do hope DOUGCO and JEFFCO get their public schools back on track with a solid education that is devoid of strident ideologies.

FWIW my wife and I never wanted or had children, but over the 41+ years we've been married at least $50K out of all the property taxes we've paid were allocated to public schools; it doesn't bother me a bit. It is the price we must pay to have a population that is educated and capable, one nation, one people, in a democracy. The rising tide will lift all boats, we're all in this together, united we stand, so my wife and I pony up our share of the cost.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by Bellflower

A hearty congrats to the parents, students and teachers of DCSD! A 4-3 majority in favor of Fagan and her disastrous reforms suggests positive, substantive change will be glacial, but three voices beats zero by any measure. At the very least, there will now be three people on the board who actually value public schools as the heartbeat of healthy communities rather than seeing them as stumbling blocks to privatization. Too late for my son who graduated Chaparral in the spring of 2015, but this really is a great day!

My daughter is in 2nd grade so there is hope for her getting a good education.

Vogel lives around the corner from us and we have had the opportunity to hear her speak about the district.

[guyatwork37]

Good job Dougco! While this is encouraging I agree with a previous poster that change will take many years to bring the quality back to the school system since so many teachers left. But a great step in the right direction.

[Kibbiekat]

Ballots dropped this week, so it seemed like a good time to revive this thread with an election update.

Douglas County is on the verge of taking back our school district. The reformers lost last time, and knew that had to make changes if they wanted to win this time. None of the incumbents are running, even though 3/4 could. They have 4 new people running under the name Elevate. They are the same old reformer wolves in sheep's clothing.

In order to make DCSD the great district it once was, we must elect
Anthony Graziano
Krista Holtzmann
Kevin Leung
Chris Schor

I've met them all. I've listened to them speak. They are truly in it for the kids, not corporate profit. They are not the reformers. They are not politicians. They have 80+ years of experience working with and advocating for kids.

Happy voting!

[guyatwork37]

In the last post I made here in 2015 I don't live in the area yet, but was planning he move. I now live in Highlands ranch and I am clearly very invested. I've been reading the articles and I went to one of the forums and even let Holtzman at the Douglas county Fair. It's very clear that the commUNITY members care about the district and just want to bring it back to it's former standard, while the elevate folks are clearly the reform party people under a new name. Got my ballot yesterday and happy to cast my vote and rebuild this once formerly great school district.

[Kibbiekat]

Originally Posted by guyatwork37

In the last post I made here in 2015 I don't live in the area yet, but was planning he move. I now live in Highlands ranch and I am clearly very invested. I've been reading the articles and I went to one of the forums and even let Holtzman at the Douglas county Fair. It's very clear that the commUNITY members care about the district and just want to bring it back to it's former standard, while the elevate folks are clearly the reform party people under a new name. Got my ballot yesterday and happy to cast my vote and rebuild this once formerly great school district.

I'm glad to hear it!

[N610DL]

You think Douglas County is bad, try Somerset County, NJ. NJEA is rigged as hell, property taxes are significantly higher, teachers push that CNN textbook liberal agenda because they are forced to by the union. Count your blessings.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by guyatwork37

In the last post I made here in 2015 I don't live in the area yet, but was planning he move. I now live in Highlands ranch and I am clearly very invested. I've been reading the articles and I went to one of the forums and even let Holtzman at the Douglas county Fair. It's very clear that the commUNITY members care about the district and just want to bring it back to it's former standard, while the elevate folks are clearly the reform party people under a new name. Got my ballot yesterday and happy to cast my vote and rebuild this once formerly great school district.

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

I'm glad to hear it!

Originally Posted by N610DL

You think Douglas County is bad, try Somerset County, NJ. NJEA is rigged as hell, property taxes are significantly higher, teachers push that CNN textbook liberal agenda because they are forced to by the union. Count your blessings.

The district as a whole isn't terrible. There are some really good schools and teachers. The remaining reformer candidates will be voted out next month, well at least I believe they will. Then they can fire the interim superintendent who is just a puppet right now. Good things are coming to the district. I haven't received my ballet yet but when I do I will be filling it out and turning it in immediately.

I hear a lot about what is going on from my wife who is a special needs teacher at one of the schools in Highlands Ranch. The teachers are finally starting to sound optimistic about their future because of the grass roots movement to elect non-politically motivated board members that are not backed by Koch money.