On April 24th, a Colorado House committee met to discuss SB23-111 Public Employees’ Workplace Protection. A former High School teacher, David Graf, testified at this meeting about his experiences and why he felt SB23-111 should be supported. You can listen to his testimony below. The bill is still working its way through the legislature.
Category Archives: Advocacy
5/2/2023 – Local Government Independent Ethics Commission
If you missed Nate Owen and Logan Ruths testifying in support of HB23-1065 on May 2nd, you can listen to it at the link below. They did a great job! HB23-1065, if it becomes Colorado law, would provide for ethics oversight of government agencies like school boards. It passed this committee 5-2 and continues to advance through legislature.
HB23-1065 – Local Government Independent Ethics Commission
Please reach out TODAY with your support for this bill! The Appropriations committee meets tomorrow to discuss it. The Woodland Park school board is a great example of why this ethics commission is needed in Colorado!
UPDATE – if you want some help drafting an email, check out THIS DOCUMENT.
Under current law, the independent ethics commission created in article XXIX of the state constitution does not have jurisdiction over officials or employees of special districts or school districts. The bill gives the independent ethics commission jurisdiction to hear complaints, issue findings, assess penalties, and issue advisory opinions on ethics issues concerning a local government official or local government employee.
source
Please email all the members of the Appropriations committee asking them to support this bill. Include your own personal stories of how you feel our school board has acted unethically. Committee members are:
- Emily Sirota – emily.sirota.house@coleg.gov
- Shannon Bird – shannon.bird.house@coleg.gov
- Judy Amabile – judy.amabile.house@coleg.gov
- Rod Bockenfeld – rod.bockenfeld.house@coleg.gov
- Andrew Boesenecker – andrew.boesenecker.house@coleg.gov
- Scott Bottoms – scott.bottoms.house@coleg.gov
- Brandi Bradley – brandi.bradley.house@coleg.gov
- Lisa Frizell – lisa.frizell.house@coleg.gov
- Leslie Herod – leslie.herod.house@coleg.gov
- Iman Jodeh – Iman.Jodeh.house@coleg.gov
- Elizabeth Velasco – elizabeth.velasco.house@coleg.gov
Teacher/Faculty Appreciation Project (WPSA)
Those that work in our schools as educators, office & support staff, librarians, IT specialists, custodians, counselors & student support liaisons, and resource officers are some of the most incredible and outstanding individuals in our community. Schools are a safe, supportive place for students of all backgrounds: we are given the opportunity to grow as scholars through the assistance of our experienced and fantastic teachers, we are given the resources needed to explore the complex realm of graduation and higher education and/or careers, and we are offered the support and guidance through difficult situations from our incredible counselors and resource officers. These teachers and faculty members are here for us.
As students, it is heartbreaking and distressing to see the very people who have educated us, taught us kindness and respect, and instilled in us a love for learning be bombarded with harmful rhetorics and accusations. As our Board of Education continues to ignore the needs of students, we are labeled as pawns of our parents and teachers. Our educators 1st Amendment rights have been violated multiple times, and several of these wonderful humans have been fired or reassigned with no regards to the professionalism or ethics a board should employ. Teachers have been demoralized and strongly undervalued through false narratives and fear-mongering, when they should be regarded as one of the most important groups of people in our nation.
We do not stand for nor tolerate the defamatory and damaging rhetoric that is spread against our teachers and school faculty. As a result, the Woodland Park Student Alliance is launching a campaign to spread positivity and awareness of just how much teachers and faculty support, enrich, and better the lives of their students and community. It is incredibly important to document and relish the positive impact these professionals have on students, their parents, their coworkers, and their communities.
More info, and the form to fill out, can be found here.
Learn more about the Woodland Park Student Alliance
What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
We’re hearing more and more about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in our schools across the country. It’s become a rallying cry for extremist groups such as Moms For Liberty (M4L). Unfortunately, groups such as M4L are spreading misinformation about SEL, so please take the time to educate yourself properly on this issue.
A good starting point is, Five facts: What does social and emotional learning really mean?, and also the video below.
Also pay attention to, What Does the Research Say?
Are the Bad People Really Winning?
You are the one who can step from the shadows and tell the darkness that it has had the run of the house for long enough; who can send the brilliant floodlight of hope streaming into the shadowed places from where it had been vanquished.
It is only a matter of opening your mouth and releasing the truest of your truth without fear or hesitation or decorum. It is in you moving from looking for hope on the horizon and to finding it in the mirror.
— Read on johnpavlovitz.com/2023/02/09/are-the-bad-people-really-winning/
(podcast) Have You Heard – Youth Power
This latest episode of the Have You Heard podcast, Youth Power, is worth sharing with kids in the district. It dealt with students in Michigan dealing with a variety of school issues, displaying impressive growth and learning how to advocate for what they believe. I think kids in our district might find it inspiring…they are not alone, they are not acting inappropriately, they are not powerless.
You can listen to it at the link above, or find it in your favorite podcast app (link for Apple users).