Douglas County faculty board member Elizabeth Hanson resigned Tuesday night, stepping down earlier than the board was set to vote on modifications to the district’s fairness coverage — one among a number of areas through which Hanson and the conservative majority have had sharp variations.
“There are some egregious issues which might be occurring on the board proper now,” Hanson, who was elected in 2019, advised JHB. Her resignation, which is efficient instantly, comes months earlier than her time period was set to finish in November.
“As a Board of Training, each resolution that we make must be grounded in how are we making our district higher for our college students and our staff and this board is unfortunately failing each,” Hanson advised the board when asserting her resignation.
She mentioned “the final straw” was her colleagues’ latest refusal to settle a lawsuit that accused administrators of violating Colorado’s open assembly regulation final yr once they ready to fireside former Superintendent Corey Sensible.
The lawsuit may value the district as a lot as $500,000 — cash Hanson mentioned she believes ought to go to colleges.
“I don’t really feel I can look our college students within the eyes and guarantee them that this board is doing every thing in our energy to satisfy our ethical and or authorized obligations to be sure that our college students have an inclusive and secure studying atmosphere,” Hanson mentioned concerning the potential modifications to the fairness coverage.
Tensions had been excessive even earlier than the assembly began, with dad and mom and college students rallying outdoors to oppose district officers’ dealing with of racism after a household spoke out concerning the therapy of a Black teen at Fort Rock Center Faculty.
The racism that 14-year-old Jeramiah Ganzy confronted was so dangerous that his household is transferring out of Fort Rock, his household and their legal professional beforehand advised JHB.
“The board must do extra,” mentioned Melissa Sutherland, a mother or father who organized the protest, earlier than the assembly. “They definitely don’t stand as much as racism.”
Superintendent Erin Kane addressed the protest in the course of the assembly, saying “Racism in any type is unacceptable at DCSD.”
The varsity board was scheduled to vote on modifications to the district’s fairness coverage, which has come below hearth by conservatives who erroneously claimed the coverage would result in faculties instructing vital race principle. The coverage really states how the district handles fairness and variety points.
A earlier faculty board handed the fairness coverage in March 2021, virtually a yr into the racial reckoning that adopted the police killing of George Floyd and others. However later that yr, 4 conservative members gained a majority on the seven-member board and as one among their first actions in 2022, directed the superintendent to assessment the fairness coverage and suggest potential modifications.
Every week later, the board fired Sensible in a cut up vote. The three minority members, together with Hanson, alleged on the time that the board’s president and vice chairman – Mike Peterson and Christy Williams – had issued Sensible an ultimatum and violated Colorado’s open assembly regulation within the course of.
Sensible has additionally alleged his help of the fairness coverage contributed to his termination and the district has paid him greater than $830,000 to settle discrimination claims over his firing.
Kane, who changed Sensible, didn’t suggest any particular modifications to the fairness coverage after her assessment, in line with a presentation given final month.
However the conservative board members, together with Peterson, have proposed modifications that their colleagues have mentioned dilute the coverage.
The modifications embody including new definitions of “variety,” past race, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities. For instance, the most recent model consists of “studying choice variety,” which it defines as “variations in studying modes, preferences, and types.”
One other paragraph added to the coverage additionally says that college students ought to take “possession of their efforts to pursue chosen pathways,” whereas supported by educators and fogeys.
“This acknowledges scholar company – whereas circumstances do impression and form an individual, they don’t seem to be the only figuring out issue of their life,” the paragraph reads.
The proposed modifications “weaken the coverage,” mentioned member Susan Meek in an interview earlier than the assembly, including, “The method has been rushed and is insufficient at this level to be making these selections.”
Board members had been additionally anticipated to vote on revisions to seven different insurance policies throughout Tuesday’s assembly, together with these on psychological well being and bullying prevention, in line with the agenda.