NewsBreak Original

Judi Reynolds, former Douglas County school board member and a leader of the FEC United Education Pillar, shared a call to action on social media for members to oppose potential changes to the Douglas County school district mission statement. The original post came from the FAIR (Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism) Douglas County Chapter.

(Castle Rock, CO) Time and time again, Misty Martin said her son reported when other students called him offensive, racist names or harassed him for the color of his skin, only to have Castle Rock Middle School administrators say there wasn’t anything they could do.

(Castle Rock, CO) State test results released this week reveal a more significant percentage of Douglas County students met or exceeded expectations on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) than any of their closest neighbors, including Denver Public Schools, the Jefferson County School District, and the Cherry Creek School District.

(Castle Rock, CO) Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews, who President Joe Biden nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Colorado this February, will hear the case of four students of color who allege the Douglas County School District did little to quell the racist hate speech they faced while attending DougCo schools.

(Castle Rock, CO) A local Facebook group called Retain DCSD Teachers hopes to use the kindness and generosity of strangers to provide DougCo teachers with classroom items they might not otherwise afford.

(Castle Rock, CO) DougCo students, teachers, principals, charter school administrators, parents, and community leaders stood up one after another to ask the school board to place a $66 million mill levy override (MLO) and $484 million bond on this year’s ballot, despite facing increased property taxes and high inflation.

(Castle Rock, CO) Students across Douglas County were among the first in the Denver metro area to return to school this week. Yet, many may find their teachers still need to be determined or their classes larger than usual.

(Castle Rock, CO) Days after four students of color filed a federal civil lawsuit against the Douglas County School District for failing to protect them from ridicule, harassment, hate speech, and threats of violence, the district has yet to issue a statement on the matter or respond to an email request for comment.

(Castle Rock, CO) Less than a week before DougCo schools welcome students to their halls, the district celebrated the opening of its Legacy and Venture Academy of Leadership and Entrepreneurship (VALE) campuses this week.

(Castle Rock, CO) The families of four black or biracial students, including Jeramiah Ganzy, who stood before the school this past April and spoke about the hate speech he’d endured while attending Castle Rock Middle School, filed a lawsuit against the DougCo school district, school board, and middle school principal, John Veit, in federal court.

(Castle Rock, CO) Nearly 500 Douglas County students lacked stable housing during the 2021-2022 school year (according to the most recent data). While that number has decreased in the county for the last decade, the ever-increasing cost of living could leave families struggling to make ends meet.

(Castle Rock, CO) With temperatures at an all-time high, it feels like summer is just beginning. Yet, Douglas County students return to the classroom in less than two weeks. For many, a lingering question remains: how will they get there?

(Castle Rock, CO) Thousands of DougCo preschoolers will take advantage of Colorado’s new universal preschool program granting 10 to 30 hours of free tuition each week as schools open next month.

(Castle Rock, CO) Last month, Gov. Jared Polis signed the School Mental Health Assessment law allowing all Colorado middle and high school students to receive free mental health evaluations similar to how schools provide annual hearing and vision screenings.

UPDATE: Maria Sumnicht has lived in Parker for the last year and works remotely for a technology company based in New York City. She says she looks forward to the process of running as a candidate for the District F school board position.

(Castle Rock, CO) Next month, students returning to DougCo schools won’t have to pay for lunch thanks to the Healthy School Meals for All Program that taxpayers overwhelmingly approved last November.

(Castle Rock, CO) The Foundation for Douglas County Schools, a nonprofit that develops private resources to support the district’s students and schools, is conducting its 13th annual Lend-A-Hand school supply drive to collect, purchase, assemble, and distribute backpacks to needy students.

(Castle Rock, CO) When Colorado ruled earlier this year that Denver Public Schools failed to provide speech services to more than 1,000 students, denying them a free and appropriate public education, the state clearly said that staffing shortages don’t excuse a district from its obligations under federal disability law.

(Castle Rock, CO) A federally-funded study published earlier this year found that first-grade students who received an intensive one-on-one tutoring program called Reading Recovery scored lower (about one-half to one grade) on state reading tests in third and fourth grade than those who never received the intervention.

(Castle Rock, CO) For the first time in the DougCo school district’s 65-year history, projected estimates for new construction needs, facility reinvestment, safety and security, information technology, athletics, and more could reach $1 billion for the next five years.