Last month, supporters of a would-be charter school made their case to the Montrose County School Board, hoping to receive an official charter which would allow it to open in the district. The meeting on May 20 was not the first time the leaders of Montrose Classical Academy sat before the county school board to discuss their charter application: this whole saga played out last year as well, and ended with the school board rejecting the classical school’s charter application.
Last week, dozens of Colorado school board members and administrators issued an open letter to the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), making what they called “an urgent and resolute demand” that the organization “immediately adopt rules” to ban trans-identifying teens from participating in high school athletics in Colorado. Signed by 80 signatories representing 14 public school districts, ten charter schools, and one BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), the letter references President Trump’s February 5 Executive Order, “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” and suggests that CHSAA will be subject to federal investigation if it does not comply with the letter’s demands.
Advocacy organizations also weigh in on HB24-1363.
Conservative activist group Advance Colorado is leading the charge against House Bill 1363, “Charter Schools Accountability.” The bill would impose additional regulations on Colorado’s charter schools, removing automatic waivers for things like teacher licensure and readiness assessments, allowing community members to appeal a local board’s decision to approve a charter school, and granting boards broader powers to revoke or not renew a charter.
While Mesa County Valley School Board’s three new members – Andrea Haitz, Angela Lema, and Will Jones – ran as a “conservative bloc” and talked about the need for transparency during their campaigns, the trio has been less than transparent regarding one of their first items of business since being sworn in November 30.
When representatives from Alternatives Pregnancy Center began giving a presentation to his freshman health class at a public school in Highlands Ranch earlier this month, Clark Wilson already knew what the organization was — an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center, or CPC, that uses deceptive tactics to sway women’s reproductive health care decisions.
