GREELEY – While businesses closed, teachers called in sick and students walked out of class across Colorado as a sign of solidarity with two recent shootings by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Minnesota, one Greeley-Evans School District 6 staffer decided to push her political opinions onto colleagues via the district email system, earning her a sit down with human resources about the appropriate use of school resources.
The recent killing of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE officials in Minneapolis, who were attempting to take into custody suspected criminal aliens in the country illegally, has sparked protests across the country, including in Colorado.
Although District 6 has had classes as usual, and teachers have not called in, one school nurse, Cherie Groulx, decided to take a political stand using her position with the district.
Complete Colorado received emails from several employees at Greeley West High School with screenshots and attachments of an email they received in their district inboxes from Groulx’s District 6 email (see figure 1).
The email read: “If anyone is interested in the Peace Solidarity Ribbon honoring Renee Good and Alex Pretti, I have them in the health office. Visibility and Awareness can help prevent future losses.”
The email also contained a picture with dozens of pictures of the ribbon.
Casey Pearson, assistant director of communications for District 6, confirmed that Groulx was not a nurse specific to the Greeley West building, but a district-wide nurse, which would give her access to teacher and staff member emails across about 40 different schools. It is unknown whether Groulx sent that email to anyone outside of Greeley West, however.
One teacher, who asked to remain anonymous said “What if I wanted to say, ‘I am Charlie Kirk?’” Another said, “I’m pretty confident if I promoted back the blue [pro-police] ribbons, or support for ICE, I’d be reprimanded.”
Pearson said all the messages are inappropriate using school resources and that Groulx was spoken to about her actions.
The “message shared at Greeley West High School regarding support for the Peace Solidarity Ribbon should not have been distributed to the entire school community and kept at a personal level, away from work and using District 6 communication. We understand the concerns this communication may have raised,” Pearson said, adding that human resources officials and the coordinator of health services will have a direct conversation with Groulx. “Moving forward, we will ensure clearer expectations and oversight regarding district-wide communications so that this does not occur again.”
