Do you think what the Jeffco School Board is doing is shameful?

We are graduates of Jefferson County Public Schools.

We are parents of Jefferson County Public Schools students.

We are business owners and members of the community.

We’ve been room moms. We’ve volunteered at Field Day and music performances. We’ve sat in the stands to cheer our students for their academic and athletic accomplishments.

We’ve participated on accountability committees and are veterans of PTA and bond/mill levy campaigns.

We believe in the district’s ability to offer a quality education to our children. And yet what we’ve seen going on in Jefferson County Schools over the past several months is deeply troubling.

School boards have traditionally been nonpartisan, but that no longer is the case in Jeffco. The result is a school board that appears more committed to carrying out a political agenda rather than one focused on what’s best for our students. In fact, recent actions by the board’s new majority have done nothing more than throw the district into chaos.

Acting in direct conflict with district policy, the new board majority hired an attorney with no clear scope of work and a contract of up to $90,000 a year to be paid for with tax dollars. The new majority also recently loaned money to a financially failing charter school even though the school has not repaid its initial debt to the district. More stunningly, this new majority halted a $5 million grant focused on kindergarten assessment despite the fact this assessment will be mandated by the state beginning next school year. In a time when school districts have experienced shrinking budgets and faced tough choices, this seems capricious and not in the best interest of our children.

In 2012, Jeffco voters approved a mill levy override on the promise that money would be used to maintain the district’s history of excellence. Now the new majority has proposed moving $7.4 million in mill levy funds to support Jeffco’s 15 charter schools instead of restoring programs and positions cut prior to the override. The state does not require districts to share any of their mill levy funds with charter schools. Yet Jeffco does at the rate of $100 per pupil — an amount jointly agreed upon by the charters and the district. To give 15 charters more than $500,000 each to use as they wish is extreme.

This new board majority appears to be full of contradictions. Instead of following through on Board President Ken Witt’s declaration that the board would operate in an open and collaborative manner, there have been numerous instances of sidebar meetings among select board members and attempts to retreat into executive session rather than engage in healthy conversation about important decisions affecting the district’s more than 84,000 students.

The veil of secrecy and independent meetings under which the new board majority operates is shameful. Trust is inherent in a system that works and regrettably the new board’s actions have broken that bond.

What is this new majority is trying to achieve? Jeffco students continue to outperform the state in all grade levels and content areas on CSAP/TCAP tests. U.S. News & World Report ranks six Jeffco high schools in the top 40 on their 2013 Best High Schools list. According to the Colorado Department of Education, the graduation rate for Jeffco students hovers above 81 percent — 5 percent higher than the statewide average. Jeffco Public Schools ties for the second best graduation rate of the nation’s 50 largest school districts, according to Education Week’s Diplomas Count report. We should always strive to improve, but do we need a wholesale overhaul of a district that is already recognized for its achievements?

We all want Jefferson County Public Schools to continue to rank among the top districts in the state and nation. But that will only happen if the district’s board is willing to truly engage with the community in an open and transparent manner that holds our students’ best interests at heart.

Author: Mile High Mamas