New Jeffco School Board Members Already Breaking Law, Spending Money

UPDATE: There may be much more to this story than originally thought. Check out this information from Examiner.com:

Although Witt did not provide the board or the public with information about the terms of compensation, the Loveland Reporter-Herald states that Thompson School Board is currently considering a contract with Miller’s firm, Miller Sparks LLC, to represent their school board at hourly rates of $225 and $205, respectively.

The Reporter-Herald also stated that on Wednesday, Dec. 11, Thompson School Board President Bob Kerrigan told his school board that Miller Sparks was the “Colorado Springs-based law firm that currently represents Jefferson County schools.”

Kerrigan’s comment raises additional questions, because Jeffco’s contract with Miller was not approved until 24 hours later at Jeffco’s regular school board meeting on Thursday and key details of that contract are still not available to the public. [Pols emphasis]

That last sentence is a doozy. It seems that members of the Thompson School Board knew about a new attorney in Jefferson County before some members of Jeffco's school board (let alone the public).

—–

The three new members of the Jefferson County School Board were sworn-in just three weeks ago, but they've already managed to break the law.

Republicans Ken Witt, John Newkirk and Julie Williams were elected in November and gained majority control of the school board when they were inaugurated on Nov. 21. The pro-charter school, anti-tax conservative slate has been quiet about their intentions since Election Day, refusing to comment in a Denver Post story published one day before their swearing-in ceremony, but all three were supported by Alex Cranberg-funded pro-voucher groups — the type that have advocated for recent "reforms" similar to those that have plagued Douglas County Schools in recent years.

At last night's Jeffco School Board meeting, Witt, Newkirk, and Williams surprised fellow board members Lesley Dahlkemper and Jill Fellman by announcing that they had extended an offer to Colorado Springs-based attorney and charter-school advocate Brad Miller to represent the board on legal matters — even though the district already has a chief legal counsel (Allen Taggert is retiring at the end of the month, but the school district already had a transition plan in place for a new attorney). Witt told the board that it was important to have Miller in place before Saturday's Board Retreat, though he did not provide information about the cost or other specifics regarding Miller's offer. Witt, Newkirk, and Williams shrugged off questions about why there was such a rush to spend taxpayer funds on another attorney for the school district, and pushed the matter through by a vote of 3-2.

If you didn't already catch the legal violation in the last paragraph, here's the problem: under Colorado's "Sunshine Laws," elected officials cannot hold secret meetings or discussions of the type that led to a contract offer for Miller. Witt, Newkirk, and Williams offered Miller a contract BEFORE informing the rest of the board and voting on the matter. Whatever your political affiliations, the law is pretty clear that you can't do this sort of thing — though Miller was apparently unconcerned since he was in attendance at the board meeting last night. The whole point of Colorado's open government laws are to prevent elected officials from holding discussions or conversations that are not accessible to the public. Witt and friends don't have much of a defense here given that they extended an offer to Miller sometime before last night's board meeting; they didn't just talk to Miller, they made a decision, in secret, unbeknownst even to other board members.

If you are so inclined, the board meeting can be viewed on YouTube. We'll update on whatever happens this weekend at the board retreat, which Witt signaled was the impetus for rushing Miller's "contract" through the board. Perhaps the new board members will have more "decisions" to announce to Dahlkemper and Fellman.

View the original article here

Can Naquetta Ricks Help Democrats Control CU Board of Regents?

Naquetta Ricks, Democrat for CU Regent

Colorado Democrats have had quite a run of success in the past decade-plus, taking control of both U.S. Senate seats, the Governor's Mansion, and the legislature, to name a few. But despite that success, there are still two elected bodies where Republicans still control a majority: the State Board of Education and the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

There are 9 members of the CU Board of Regents; two seats are elected "at-large," meaning in a statewide race, and the other seven are elected by voters in congressional districts. There are currently 4 Democrats on the board: Michael Carrigan (CD-1), Joe Neguse (CD-2), Irene Griego (CD-7), and Stephen Ludwig (at-large). Assuming Democrats can retain control of seats in CD-2 and CD-7, that leaves one 2014 opening that could swing the district…CD-6.

Democrat Naquetta Ricks is kicking off her campaign for Regent in CD-6 tonight with an impressive list of endorsements already under her belt. Ricks is currently the only candidate for the open seat being vacated by Republican Jim Geddes, who was elected in 2008 — before redistricting — and cannot seek re-election because he no longer lives in the district (Geddes was just elected to the Douglas County School Board anyway). The new CD-6, as we all know, went from a safe Republican seat to a toss-up after redistricting; in fact, President Obama carried CD-6 in 2012 by a 52-47 margin (Republican John McCain carried the district 53-46 in 2008).

If Ricks can win her race for CU Regent, and CD-2 and CD-7 remain in Democratic hands, the CU Board of Regents would be under Democratic control for the first time in decades.

View the original article here

Douglas County School Board Should Be Shown The Classroom Door

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Well the evidence is in and for all the upheaval over the past four years in the Douglas County schools because of the 2009 election of so called conservatives to the board of education and the subsequent implementation of their policies to terminate the ever evil teachers union and to send public money to private sectarian schools, they have nothing (repeat nothing) to show for it. The scores below represent the percentage of children in the Douglas County school district proficient in the three primary areas of learning:

                   2009        2013

Math            69%        70%

Reading        81%        82%

Writing         68%        69%

In words, after all the hoopla and gnashing of teeth over how bad those unionized teachers are and how all we have to do is stop bargaining with the union and set-up our own teacher evaluation system, establish charter schools, and launch a program to send public tax dollars to private sectarian schools nothing has changed. For all the nonsense expounded by the four so called conservative candidates who were elected in 2009, they haven't improved public education in Douglas County one bit. The nonprofit funding arm of the Douglas County schools paid Bill Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, to come out to Douglas County in September and deliver a speech praising the school board reforms. In other words, even though there hasn't been any appreciable improvement in student performance, they're going to pay nationally known figures to endorse their reforms because the board can then proclaim they have worked, even though the evidence shows they haven't improved academic performance. The present board is attempting to fool the public.

The test numbers above aren't the only statistics that support the futility and uselessness of the board's so called reforms. The Colorado Department of Education rates each school district by awarding a composite score for academic achievement. Since the present board was elected, Douglas County schools composite rating has dropped:

                  Annual Rating by CDOE

?2010                      78.2

2011                      72.7

2012                      73.7

What does all of this mean. The Republican Party, which intervened directly in 2009 and again this year in the Douglas County school board elections (and now in the Thompson School District elections in Loveland, Colorado), has wasted the last thirty or more years using the teachers union as its whipping boy and proclaiming that if it wasn't for the union we could educate our kids. Surprise, surprise, it turns out the union wasn't the culprit after all. What a waste of time at the expense of our children. Again, the Republican Party refuses to deal with the real reasons some kids have difficulty learning but of course to deal with those realities we all know costs money and that goes against one of the other sacred Republican principles – "There's a problem – cut taxes."

Apparently, the Douglas County school board members have and are resisting the request from some quarters that they establish performance standards for the board and their reforms. I wonder why? Could it be this has all been a waste of time and money, and in reality has been nothing more than the pursuit of hard line ideological myths that have no basis in reality?

Link

View the original article here