That seems like a safe bet. A student walkout to protest the action has been announced for this afternoon. In addition, a letter decrying the Dougco board's action includes the names of more than fifty present and past school board directors across the state, and a change.org petition titled "DCSD Members Broke the Law and Should be Recalled" has been signed by more than 22,000 people.
Allegations that the boardmembers who engineered Wise's sacking — Becky Myers, Mike Peterson, Christy Williams and Kaylee Winegar — violated Colorado open-meetings law also turned up in a February 4 lawsuit that attempted to stop the session. While it was unsuccessful, the complaint raises the specter of more legal action to come.
Against this backdrop, detractors and supporters of Wise, a 26-year Douglas County School District veteran who supported the use of masks in the schools, have been waging a war of words online, using assorted Facebook pages as staging areas. Kids First DCSD backs the actions of Myers and company, while both Douglas County Parents and Speak for DCSD lambastes them.
Among the items on Speak for DCSD is a video shared by Kids First DCSD last October, before the election that saw the conservative slate snag four seats. It begins with this: "We have seen a lot of chaos in the boardroom from frustrated parents who have lost trust in the board. Vote Myers, Winegar, Williams and Peterson for DCSD and bring 'boring' back to our school board meetings."
The hastily called meeting on February 4 was many things — but boring wasn't among them. Here's that campaign clip.
The craziness of the February 4 meeting was captured in live tweets from 9News's Kyle Clark. Among them: "I'm going to repeat that: The DougCo school board president just said they might not have fired the superintendent if their plan to fire the superintendent hadn't been revealed."
Peterson, the board president to whom Clark referred, acknowledged that passions were running high in a statement regarding Wise's ouster and the elevation of deputy superintendents Andy Abner and Danielle Hiatt to the role of co-acting superintendents. "I recognize this is an emotional time for our community," he said, "and want you to know I am committed to restoring peace and unity to our school district with a continued focus on educating our children."
No such luck yet. The petition now circulating notes that it's not a "formal recall," but the outpouring of support for Wise there and on a GoFundMe page that's raised more than $28,000 on his behalf speaks volumes about the size of the opposition to his pink-slipping.
The student walkout could be large, as well; the district serves more than 64,000 students at eighty-plus facilities. The "Education Over Politics" Instagram page, which asserts that this action is "student-led," sets the start time for the demonstration at 1:10 p.m. today, February 7, and offers this bit of fashion advice: "Wear black on Monday to the walkout as if you're going to a funeral to represent the death of students' and teachers' voices across the district."
Over the weekend, Tay Anderson, a Denver School Board member who is no stranger to controversy himself, shared a letter signed by dozens of school-board members past and present across the state, protesting the Douglas County board's action. It reads:
As duly elected School Board Directors representing rural and urban communities throughout Colorado, we are both shocked and disappointed by the unprecedented action to terminate Superintendent Corey Wise without cause by the newly elected members of the Douglas County School Board.
As elected School Board Directors our job is to prioritize the needs of students and staff across our districts and to put our communities first. Effective leadership is rooted in transparency and accountability and requires us to work across ideological divides to create strong and resilient schools.
Removing an effective superintendent like Corey Wise without cause, without opportunity for public engagement, and despite strong and vocal pushback from teachers, students, and staff is a failure of governance.
While the minority voices on the Douglas County School District Board were unable to prevail, their voices were heard. We appreciate their dedication to their roles, their demand for public conversation, and their adherence to all rules and regulations regarding open meetings and the Colorado Sunshine Law.
Former Superintendent Wise served the Douglas County School District with dignity and honor for over 25 years. His endless service to educators, families, and students deserves to be celebrated. We can all empathize with the difficult challenges that former Superintendent Wise and the previous Board of Education faced as they had to govern through an unprecedented public health crisis.
As former Superintendent Wise decides what will come next for himself and his family we hope that they are afforded the necessary time to heal from this disappointing process.
To the educators of DCSD, we acknowledge that this decision causes new uncertainty during an already difficult time. We value the work you do for students and families across Colorado.
Finally, we echo the call by those in the minority on the Douglas County School Board for a transparent process that is in full compliance with the law as they select the next leader for Douglas County Schools. We also hope that the new majority recognizes the need for unity as they will be charged with bringing together a divided community.
We stand ready to support all members of the Douglas County School Board to ensure all students across Colorado have access to a high-quality education that is focused on student achievement and not politics.
Current Colorado School Board Directors
President, Kate Hudnut — Summit School District RE-1
President, Kathy Gebhardt — Boulder Valley School District
President, Ramona Lewis — Adams 14 School District
President, Xóchitl Gaytán — Denver Public Schools
President Duane Tucker — Englewood School District 1
Vice-President, Lisa Sweeney-Miran — Boulder Valley School District
Vice-President, Tay M. Anderson — Denver Public Schools
Vice-President, Stephanie Mason — Aurora Public Schools
Vice-President, Renee Lovato — Adams 14 School District
Vice-President, Consuelo Redhorse — Summit School District RE-1
Vice-President, Kristen Draper — Poudre School District
Vice-President Caty Husbands — Englewood School District 1
2nd Vice-President Steven Leflar — Englewood School District 1
Secretary, Michelle Quattlebaum — Denver Public Schools
Secretary, Michael Carter — Aurora Public Schools
Secretary, Maria Zubia — Adams 14 School District
Secretary, Johanna Kugler — Summit School District RE-1
Treasurer, Scott Esserman — Denver Public Schools
Treasurer, Janet Estrada — Adams 14 School District
Treasurer, Nichelle Ortiz — Aurora Public Schools
Treasurer, Nicole Rajpal — Boulder Valley School District
Treasurer, Richard Martyr Ph.D. — St. Vrain Valley School District RE-1J
Treasurer, Lisa Webster — Summit School District RE-1
Director Scott Baldermann — Denver Public Schools
Director Tramaine Duncan — Aurora Public Schools
Director Richard Garcia — Boulder Valley School District
Director Rev. Bradley Laurvick — Denver Public Schools
Director Carrie A. Olson Ph.D. — Denver Public Schools
Director Stacey Zis — Boulder Valley School District
Director Christopher Alleman — Summit School District RE-1
Director Chris Guarino — Summit School District RE-1
Director James Amador — Adams 14 School District
Director Gloria Quintero — Summit School District RE-1
Director Julie Ott — Colorado Springs School District 11
Director Kitty Sargent — Boulder Valley School District
Director Beth Niznik — Boulder Valley School District
Director DJ Anderson — Poudre School District
Director James Brokish — Poudre School District
Director Meosha Brooks — St. Vrain Valley School District RE-1J
Director Kelly Alter — Eagle County School District
Director Barbara Clementi — Pueblo School District 60
Director Juan Peña — Eagle County School Board
Former Colorado School Board Directors
Past President, Anne Guettler — Garfield School District RE-2
Past President, Dr. Laurie Albright — Boulder Valley School District
Past President, Laura Case — Estes Park School District R-3
Past President, Jan Tanner — Colorado Springs School District 11
Past President, Jim Mason — Colorado Springs School District 11
Past Vice-President, Tessa Kirchner — Eagle County School District
Past Vice-President, Shelly Jarnot — Eagle County School District
Past Vice-President, Jennifer Bacon — Denver Public Schools
Past Director Naomi Johnson — Poudre School District
