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.
Education Reform
DAVIS: Familiar Faces Bring Education Crusade to Southwest Colorado
In the dusty, red-hued southwestern corner of Colorado, a rural school district finds itself mired in a saga of drama and controversy which, despite receiving coverage in the local paper, has not yet broken into Front Range news outlets. On the surface, it’s a local affair, but the ongoing story in the Montezuma-Cortez School District is noteworthy for its ties to attorneys, administrators, and activists associated with Colorado’s network of right-wing education reformers, and for the way their actions in the district are flipping the script which they and their allies have run in districts across the country.
DAVIS: John Birch Never Dies
Right-wing activists have escalated their assault on the country’s public education system, birthing what The New York Times calls an “increasing tempo of radical right attacks on local government, libraries, school boards, [and] parent-teacher associations.”
Denver Public School Board Pivots on School Closure Policies Following Meetings with Out-of-State Charter School Advocate
Before the June 13 board meeting, board members had been committed to specifically not including any reference to standardized testing and state performance frameworks results as criteria for school closure decisions.
Denver Archbishop Announces Opposition To Colorado’s New Comprehensive Sex-Ed Bill
Denver’s Archbishop announced his opposition yesterday to a proposed sex education bill under consideration in the Colorado Legislature.
Douglas County School Board Members Bemoan Chaos, Distance Themselves from Controversy, on KLZ 560 am
Douglas County Board of Education President, Meghann Silverthorn, and board member Dr. Judy Reynolds appeared on KLZ’s Rush to Reason show Monday, to present their perspective on the recent controversy surrounding a student-organized protest this spring, opposition to their actions in anticipation of that protest, and the resulting fallout, which including an independent investigation into their actions.