BRIGHTON — Colorado State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer has had enough with a series of ongoing, often startling issues in Jefferson County public schools and is publicly calling on the elected school board members to “act swiftly” and do something about it.
Kirkmeyer has roots in the Jefferson County system, having graduated from Pomona High School in Arvada.
“Even more shocking is that amid the series of failures, Superintendent (Tracy) Dorland asked the board to increase her compensation — a request that came as the district was mired in scandal and public confidence continued to erode,” Kirkmeyer wrote in a recent letter to Mary Parker, president of the Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBOE), which the Weld County Republican also posted to her Facebook page.
Kirkmeyer was referring to a string of incidents over the past few years that she says are unacceptable, including multiple reports of sex assaults and other inappropriate sexual conduct involving staff members and students, among other things.
Likely the biggest issue in recent history was the firing of former Chief of Schools David Weiss earlier this year. Weiss was reportedly being investigated for possession of materials involving sexual abuse of a child. Weiss was later found dead in Maryland of an apparent suicide.
Also earlier this year, the story broke of staffers at Columbine High School purposefully keeping parents in the dark about helping a 17-year-old female student declare herself homeless so she could me in with a former teacher who, as investigators described, was “grooming” the girl.
The assault accusations continued earlier this month when James Michael Chevrier, a school psychologist in the district, was arrested for allegedly assaulting a high school female.
And just earlier this week, Jefferson County teachers’ union members overwhelmingly gave Superintendent Dorland a vote of no confidence, stating in a news release: “Superintendent Dorland’s continued leadership has exacerbated tensions, widened the gap between decision-makers and stakeholders, and damaged the district’s credibility with employees and the broader community.”
Kirkmeyer had stronger words for the members of the school board.
“I am deeply alarmed by what has unfolded in this district under the leadership of Superintendent Tracy Dorland,” Kirkmeyer said. “The recent arrest of yet another district employee on charges of sexual misconduct is not an isolated failure — it is part of systematic and deeply disturbing pattern.”
Kirkmeyer called on the board to get the district under control and do something about Dorland, adding her asking for a raise was — by itself — an issue.
“That decision alone demonstrates a staggering lack of awareness, accountability, and respect for community she serves,” Kirkmeyer said.
When asked what she specifically wanted the board to do, Kirkmeyer told Complete Colorado that she simply wants the board to make sure Dorland is serving the school district, the parents, the students and the teachers.”
“And quite frankly, she is not,” she said. “They need to be a school board. This is their job. When you start looking at all the problems that have been occurring in Jeffco schools, the headlines that have been coming out of that school district, that is just not good. It is not defensible.”
