The Colorado Springs School District 11 (D11) Board of Education voted Wednesday to allow the master agreement with the Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA) to expire. After nearly an hour and a half of public comment from pro- and anti-union speakers, the board voted 6-1 to end the contract, the only master agreement in El Paso County, which has been in place for over 50 years.
Situated 45 miles southeast of Denver, Elizabeth School District has just 2,474 students, fewer than many high schools in Denver, Cherry Creek and Aurora. As a result, it’s easy to overlook the day-to-day workings of the small district in favor of the attention-grabbing antics of its larger neighbors.
The floor of the Ute Pass Cultural Center quaked in time with the bass drum on Tuesday night as hundreds of Woodland Park citizens crowded into the room to await election results. By 6pm, an hour before polls closed, the venue was packed, the sounds of laughter and conversation competing only with the soulful voice of the band’s singer – who I finally realized was Erin O’Connell, the local parent-turned-activist who has led much of the charge against the town’s controversial school board. The anxiety and anticipation which grips the first hour of so many election night parties was absent, replaced by the palpable relief the community felt at having finally made it to this point.
The process for founding a new charter school in Colorado is not exactly simple, but it is straightforward. Interested parents and community members come together, get some ducks in a row, and then file an application with the local school board, which has the legal authority to approve or deny charters. If a charter is granted, the process of opening the new charter school in the district begins. If the school board denies the charter, that’s the end of it.
On Monday night, Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute hosted a lecture by theologian Owen Strachan, who addressed a number of themes in his recent book, “Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel – and the Way to Stop It,” in which he argues that modern social justice movements are antithetical to Christianity.
