Another Douglas County group–the Douglas County Parents– objects to the local school board’s proposals.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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September 15, 2014
Today, Douglas County Parents (DCP) announced their concerns regarding the resolution passed by the Board of Education (BOE) on September 2, 2014, authorizing the submission of Innovation Waiver requests to the State Board of Education (SBE).
Grounded in the Innovation Schools Act of 2008, which gives local schools the ability to apply for a waiver from the SBE to opt out of state mandated standardized tests, this resolution could also transform the Douglas County School District into a “District of Innovation.”
Harmful consequences of becoming a “District of Innovation” include:
The Douglas County BOE would have the power to terminate non-core teachers and staff at will, and to waive teacher licensing requirements.
The Douglas County BOE would have the ability to dictate curriculum.
Innovation schools would have the same autonomies as charter schools, without the full responsibilities for operations and human resources that charter schools have. This would drive the demand for charter school enrollment down, potentially hurting the charter school communities in Douglas County.
DCSD would join “turnaround” districts such as Denver, Pueblo and Kit Carson, whose innovation schools have failed to achieve the intended goals of the program. DCSD would no longer be compared with districts such as Cherry Creek, Boulder, Littleton and JeffCo.
High schools would no longer be eligible to compete for “top lists” which are measured by state standardized tests.
Millions of public tax dollars would be spent to create yet another new system to comply with state and federal accountability measures.
As mandated by the Innovation Schools Act, “it is required that the prospective innovation school receives majority support from teachers, administrators and School Accountability Committee (SAC) members; as well as a statement of the level of support from classified school staff, parents, students and the surrounding community.” Because this resolution was passed without public community input, DCP believes that this majority of support was not sought, received, or proven.
“We firmly believe that the parents, teachers, staff and community of Douglas County have the right to choose whether or not they want this designation for our district,” said Cristin Patterson, spokesperson for DCP. “There are grave, irreversible consequences for choosing this path, and we implore the district to hold a public discussion on what this would mean for our schools and community. Upcoming state legislation may provide changes in state testing procedures, so we do not understand why district leaders would risk so much when the state is already pursuing a viable solution.”
About Douglas County Parents:
DCP is a growing local advocacy group made up of over 1,350 parent, teacher, student, and community member volunteers of all political affiliations, ages and professions who are concerned about the policies that the Douglas County Board of Education and district administration have forced upon our community. DCP’s community outreach efforts include sharing facts backed by documentation garnered through the school district and Colorado Department of Education websites and publications, Colorado Open Record Requests, and attending a variety of meetings. Please contact spokesperson, Cristin Patterson, at cristin@douglascountyparents.com for updates and statements relating to DCSD issues. You may also find more information at DouglasCountyParents.com.
Thank you for your time,
~ Cristin Patterson ~
Douglas County Parents
Spokesperson/Media Contact
cristin@douglascountyparents.com
http://www.DouglasCountyParents.com
Diane Ravitch's blog 
These Douglas County parents are on the right track. You may not know it but your country is infamous, known for the wrong reasons nationally.
Douglas Country has done some terrible things with “market rate” pay for teachers that puts most elementrary teachers, art teachers, and most teachers of foreign languages in the lowest pay bracket. That bracket limits the maximum pay that they can ever receive.
Kindergarten teachers are in a higher bracket. Teachers in special education are in the highest bracket, followed by many teachers in high school.
Fight this and other proposals that play into the hands of people who think market-based everything is just wonderful.
This nnovation Schools Act, is from the American Legislative Exchange Council…producer of ready-to-use legislation that is designed to kill school boards and due-process for teachers under the banner of creating “an innovative district.” with a manager in charge of the district. The district is comprised of cherry-picked schools that form a feeder system to high school. The cherry picking will permit the formation of “innovative districts” similar to those in the South that were first created to keep segregated schools.
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Another parent group in DougCo. They are against doing what DPS did with innovation (magnet) schools. Is this whole state producing crazies?
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