Grassroots victory at DCSD
Nate Ormond called off Road to Recall at the DougCo Board of Education meeting 3/2/21 as the board unanimously voted to return the district to full in-class learning. Only grassroots pressure inspired them to finally make a common-sense decision. This is a victory, but their leadership failures will continue until four are replaced in November. The awful psychological, emotional, suicidal, and educational damage children experience when denied socialization and learning in school have been discussed by experts for months in the media and are well-known. The BOE has ignored that science. Medical experts including Dr. Fauci and the CDC have urged rapid return to in-person school. The BOE has ignored that science.
In summer 2020, the district received over 32,000 responses to a survey asking parents to choose between in-person or e-learning. Eighty-four percent of parents, who are responsible for weighing medical risks to their children, chose in-person. The district ignored them and wobbled back and forth from remote learning to in-person to hybrid, wreaking scheduling havoc for working parents and their children, many of whom cannot learn via computer. Attempting to conceal that kids are falling behind academically, this board dumbed down the grade scale so a C, formerly 70-79, is now 64-75 and other grades are similarly altered. The directors have ignored that the district’s 33 public charter schools have been open for most of the pandemic yet experienced virtually no contagions. Our children are finally back to school and now we turn to replacing this failed board.
Joy Overbeck
Parker