Colorado Playbook

Is what is currently happening in Jefferson County CO the future of Williamson County? Jefferson County elected a new school board back by the Koch Brothers American for Prosperity last year. It sounds like the new WCS school board has an eerily similar playbook.

Our newly elected school board has gone on record as saying they want to change our textbooks. In a Thursday, August 7 Williamson Herald article, Beth Burgos shared her thoughts about taking the District 10 seat. “I believe God called me to this position,” Burgos said, “We had so many Christians praying. Many parents want textbooks to reflect Christian values. We want to represent the voices that have spoken.”

We already know that they want to rename winter break Christmas Break, review text books, and want to change AP US History. In addition, all of the new school board members said during the election they were for vouchers and charters and are on emails discussing privatizing our schools and experimenting with our children.

There’s a lot of scary stuff happening and percolating with the new school board majority (the “Anti-8”) and Williamson County Schools: terrified teachers, school board members threatening a tribunal to go after their perceived political enemies (aka active parent volunteers), big money extreme right wing funding for a broader privatization agenda, and calling our schools and our current curriculum inferior and un-American. And there’s more to come – we may lose AP classes that some on the new board have deemed insufficiently patriotic (AP US history) based on (again) a national political cadre and without any input from our own WCS educators (or parents). It’s overwhelming to imagine what could happen here, what is already happening here. But you actually don’t have to imagine. See this big article from today in the New York Times about suburban Denver schools and what’s going on there. Same playbook at work.

Seriously, if you read one thing today, read this.