Letter: Douglas County School parent shares concerns about actions of school board

The following is a letter sent to the Douglas County School Board and has been shared here with permission by its author. The items discussed are on the September 12 board agenda found HERE.
Dear Douglas County School Board,

I am writing to you yet again, this time in opposition to many agenda items scheduled for the upcoming board meeting on Tuesday, September 12, 2023. DCSD School Board Agenda for Tuesday, September 12, 2023. I’ve had to spend a considerable amount of time educating myself on the agenda since it is so full and many items contain a focus on bylaws. Busy parents in our community have little time to actively research these items in order to be active participants. Unlike all of you, we actually have children in our community which we are focused on. It’s clear from this agenda that you are continuing your efforts to restrict speech and drive your highly contentious, extremist agenda.

Here are my concerns:

Item 11- District Newsletter – It’s completely unnecessary for the board to collect the contact information of the community to send direct communication. Especially when the board has been secretive and unwilling to listen and engage with the general public in a positive and trusting way. Information in the newsletter form should come from the district. I believe the board will use my contact information for other purposes that aren’t in my best interest.

Item 12- Temporarily Suspend the Operation of Certain Bylaw and Policy Sections – Please provide an explanation of why the board is seeking to change the work of the prior board. Your intentions are unclear. What is clear is that these changes would give the Board unprecedented and unwarranted control over the workings of the District by micromanaging and slowing down daily operations.

Item 14- Review by Board Members of Board Bylaw 030 – You would like to take action to require that all administrate regulations developed by the Superintendent be first reviewed by legal counsel and require that all statements, letters, opinions, recommendations, and district communication delivered to the public, the parents or the student body be presented to the board for approval? Why? Why is it necessary to restrict the communication the Superintendent has with the public? Placing controls over this communication limits our access to school leadership that we depend on. How will students and staff be notified of emergency situations? Does this include messages from our school principals? If they have to be presented/approved to the board, then we have to wait for a meeting to be noticed and the meeting to occur. Due to open meeting laws, this will take a long time, especially with emergency messages. Here are some examples: the school buses are running late due to an accident, snow days, etc. Other messages include reminders for upcoming events. Does this include teacher communication with parents? No one knows our schools better than our district staff. This type of tactic is being used to create a hostile working environment that negatively impacts the public. This type of censorship is dangerous, inefficient, and ineffective.

Item 16- Review by Board Members of Board Bylaw 050
Section 4a- This appears to be a tactic to restrict collaboration with the superintendent. This gives too much control of our school board to the discretion of the district's current legal counsel.

Section 4b- This appears to be a tactic to silence the community by restricting public comment. Board meetings are long because the majority of the board is taking on controversial issues not needed in the district. These issues do not affect our students and school district and are clearly politically driven. We do not always know the scope of the issues just by reading the agenda. Limiting public comment to the beginning and end does not give us adequate time to engage in the process. Do not limit public comment and do not silence this community.

Item 21- Review by Board Members of Board Policy 901 – Again, another tactic to silence the Superintendent and make it more difficult for parents to receive timely communication from our district leaders whom we depend on.
Item 22- Review by Board Members of Board Policy 901 – Again, another tactic to silence the community by limiting public comment. It’s our public right to have 3 minutes to comment, and you want to restrict that by a minute. This is clearly a tactic to restrict community input and participation.
Item 24- Full Forensic Audit of Entire District Funds – What is the basis for this audit? Has fraud been identified or suspected? This is a very serious undertaking and very costly. What is the opinion of your current financial auditors regarding this item? If the Board decides to undergo this audit, will they utilize the RFP process for auditor selection of an appropriately experienced auditor? A better use of these funds would be to focus on the compensatory needs of our teachers and staff. What services will be cut to pay for this?

Item 27- Superintendent Evaluation Process - We have an excellent Superintendent. He has a tremendous amount of support from the community. These extensive efforts to fire Superintendent Lewis are timely, expensive, and unnecessary. Stop wasting our time.

I would urge you to change your efforts and instead focus on what matters to the parents, teachers, and community members in our district; better compensation and benefits for our teachers and staff, quality education, and school safety. Instead, you continue to be focused on limiting freedom of speech, silencing our teachers and community, and bankrupting our district.

I don't expect to receive a response as you've continued to demonstrate that public opinion and concern for your actions are not of interest to you.

Best Regards,
Melissa Rousse