Douglas county school board

[SamuraiCO]

I find it interesting all the national attention Dougco is receiving after they removed the school unions control away from the education process.

I don't have kids but am still vested being a tax payer and never liking the unions involvement and political support.

It is hard to determine where the new candidates come from their bios are scrubbed clean.

So those closer to the issue who are your choices for the school board?

[Bailey Guns]

Don't live there but from what I've read DougCo schools have pretty much become the model on how to reform a school district. It's critical that the republican board members get elected/re-elected to continue the reform and the positive track the district is on. The democrats and unions will do whatever it takes to get control of that district back in liberal hands.

[osok-308]

To be honest, as someone who lives in douglas county and grew up in the douglas county school district, I am not positive to what's going on at the moment. I've seen very little in the newspapers and heard even less from people in the know. I don't like the idea of unions running just about anything, but I would like to hear what others with kids or family in the district think.

[SamuraiCO]

That's why I am asking here before voting. I see the vehicles with messages on their back window with who to vote for and I think those are the union supporting stooges with their clean websites. Can anyone confirm?

[Eric P]

Not sure if it matters to you, but here are Mike Rosen's endorsements:

Douglas County: Doug Benvento, Meghann Silverthorn, Jim Geddes, Judi Reynolds.
Jefferson County: Julie Williams, John Newkirk, Ken Witt.
Adams 12: Debbie Christensen, Rico Figueroa.

[Jesus-With-A-.45]

That's why I am asking here before voting. I see the vehicles with messages on their back window with who to vote for and I think those are the union supporting stooges with their clean websites. Can anyone confirm?
You are correct my friend. The people putting crap on all their windows are the union stooge candidates, they will do anything & everything to regain control of Douglas county.......liberals HATE school choice & teachers HATE the new accountability standards that are now in place in Douglas county that actually hold them accountable for the performance of their students.......novel fucking concept, I know. My wife is a Douglas county school teacher in Castle Rock & she LOVES the new board, she is an excellent teacher & can now be paid for her hard work & dedication to her students........it's all the old, lazy, worthless liberal pig so called teachers that want their tenure so they don't have to do anything.......makes us both SICK!

[asmo]

There have been news snippets and puff pieces in Virginia about what is going on in DoCo - so I am assuming they are running the same pro-union stuff elsewhere. One of the 'stories' said that the Teachers Union is putting something like 2M into the campaign to try and get back in.

Long story short from a few years ago: The old school board got tossed out (for very good reason) and a new board was elected from almost whole cloth. The new board put in a bunch of regs and changes that limited the reach of teachers union - grades went up, costs went down, people got happy.. Teachers union got pissed and pushed back - which resulted in the teachers union getting tossed out on their ear. Grades stayed up, costs continued to go down, new teachers got much happier - the old bad teachers got pissed because now they had to work. Teachers union vowed revenge - and we are at the present day.

Note: I live in DoCo, but have no kids. This is all 2nd hand from my friends who have kids in DoCo, my neighbors, and a few teachers I know in DoCo -- oh and the constant rantings about how evil the Douglas County school board is from my MIL who is a (HORRIBLE) high school teacher in California. If she hates them they have to be good.

[SamuraiCO]

That's what I was looking for thanks.

[def90]

everything I have read so far says that the changes that have been instituted have been positive. There were a few teachers that retired early to take advantage of a contractual retirement guarantee that would be going away under the new system, these teachers have been used by the antis as proof that teachers don't want to work there anymore however there have been hundreds of applications by teachers to get jobs there ever since and it is becoming one of the desired schools systems to work for.

Here's more info on who not to vote for..

http://thecoloradoobserver.com/2013/10/senior-obama-strategist-takes-leading-role-in-douglas-county-school-board-race/

[CO Hugh]

Not sure if it matters to you, but here are Mike Rosen's endorsements:

Douglas County: Doug Benvento, Meghann Silverthorn, Jim Geddes, Judi Reynolds.
Jefferson County: Julie Williams, John Newkirk, Ken Witt.
Adams 12: Debbie Christensen, Rico Figueroa.

I go with Mike Rosen. I live in Douglas and have two children attending school. I am extremely opposed to unions, and object vehemently to using taxpayer money to fund union official salaries who do no actual work for the school district.

Also the union received $1.2 mil in dues and donated approximately $800,000 to the national union, which then went right back to leftist candidates. For those of you without kids, the Teachers are anti 2A. They got involved in the Giron recall.

As for the schools, I cannot tell that there are any problems. My kids started attending under this regime. I hear parents whine, but I think that most of them have teacher pet syndrome. Frankly I never had a job where anyone asked for your feelings and input. My opinion is the teachers have a job and they need to do it and shut up.

Amd 66 is nothing more than a billion dollar restriction plan that will take money from places like Douglas county and send it to Denver and the hood, so vote no.

[OneGuy67]

I go with Mike Rosen. I live in Douglas and have two children attending school. I am extremely opposed to unions, and object vehemently to using taxpayer money to fund union official salaries who do no actual work for the school district.

Also the union received $1.2 mil in dues and donated approximately $800,000 to the national union, which then went right back to leftist candidates. For those of you without kids, the Teachers are anti 2A. They got involved in the Giron recall.

As for the schools, I cannot tell that there are any problems. My kids started attending under this regime. I hear parents whine, but I think that most of them have teacher pet syndrome. Frankly I never had a job where anyone asked for your feelings and input. My opinion is the teachers have a job and they need to do it and shut up.

Amd 66 is nothing more than a billion dollar restriction plan that will take money from places like Douglas county and send it to Denver and the hood, so vote no.

I agree with CO Hugh. My child is a newborn, so he won't be attending school for awhile, but I like the direction the new school board went and especially with how they have been dealing with the teachers union. I just filled out my ballot.

[paddywagon]

There was an interesting article in the CO Observer yesterday about Ronda Scholting manipulating a radio interview with Mike Rosen and the GOP candidate to make her look like she was being sexist. Ronda Scholting has various ties to liberal democrat groups over the last several years and was directly connected to Senator Giron the senator who was recalled down in Pueblo. All 4 of those that you see on the back of the car signs are teachers union and democrat supported. If you go to their websites they say nothing about their party affiliation except one who claims to be "independent". If you go to Douglas County Republican website their is some good info. My wife knows Judy Reynolds personally and she is very straight forward and a gal that really has her act together.

[SamuraiCO]

Just waiting for my ballot.

[KAPA]

Anyone know how I can get a yard sign for the Geddes Reynolds Benevento and Silverthrorn group? I see some for the enemy up in my neighborhood so it would be nice to even things out a bit.

Also, does anyone have any info on how much the unions gave to fight the recall? I remember there was a googlemaps type of overlay from a local paper that showed where all the money comes from. Am curious to find out how much $$ the union gave to the gun grabbers. Kind of makes me sick that some of these people are giving money to who they think are teachers and their kids education and it ends up going to fight a recall that the people of the state put together.

[KAPA]

NW corner of Lincoln and Chambers, some liberal soccer mom spray painted over threr signs for the good guys. Disgusting!

[CO Hugh]

Get your ballots in the union is trying to buy the election

See Completecolorado.com

[Gman]

I ran across this article looking for information while completing my Dougco ballot this evening; http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_24292719/retain-innovation-douglas-county-schools

I'm all for keeping the union out.

[sroz]

Hope everyone cleans their annoying car/SUV windows now.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Not sure if it matters to you, but here are Mike Rosen's endorsements:

Douglas County: Doug Benvento, Meghann Silverthorn, Jim Geddes, Judi Reynolds.
Jefferson County: Julie Williams, John Newkirk, Ken Witt.
Adams 12: Debbie Christensen, Rico Figueroa.

Looks like Rosen picked all but one and Christensen was a VERY close second.

[KAPA]

I am a bit worried that some of our better teachers are going to be leaving DougCo since there is little to nothing happening in terms of pay raises. Not everything is rosy with this crew of conservatives but I think they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. I think the liberals were relying on 66 to pass in order to get a bit more funding to do some good with it. The problem though is that a large amount of anything that 66 would have given our schools would have not gone to the schools but to outside groups that would be leaching on to all the new cash flow from 66.

Since 66 was never going to pass, the liberals could never pull off what they wanted to. If anything, their plan would have led to far less $$$ actually going to the schools since the liberals come with the unions and all the leaches. It seems to me these conservative folks knew they wouldn't have the 66 money and are planning on how to efficiently improve things without all the middle men. In the end this will give DougCo schools the best bang for their buck. Now they have the ball, lets hope they run with it and don't trip over themselves.