Jeffco’s School Board members promised to increase transparency and improve community engagement. Four years later the school board has conducted more meetings behind closed doors, outside of Jeffco and made more decisions without conversation. They have also moved half of their meeting to mornings when most people are working and unable to attend meetings.
This Jeffco School Board has held all of their major planning sessions outside of the school board meeting room. Each year they have traveled to Colorado Springs in December and have discussed major plans for the upcoming year. Additionally their annual planning sessions have been held at facilities which are difficult to reach. They have held major sessions at Outdoor labs, and at Lookout Mountain where there is very limited parking.
This school board also moved their study sessions from Thursday evenings to Wednesday mornings when teachers are teaching, and parents and community members are working. These study sessions are designed to provide board member with in depth knowledge on topics upon which they will be making major decisions. With study sessions being held during the morning how are parents, teachers and community members supposed to be able to participate in these sessions.
The board is also conduction the Superintendent’s evaluations all behind closed doors. After announcing only one candidate to become the new Jeffco Superintendent in 2017 and offering a compensation package that now reaches over $3 million doesn’t the community deserve to know how he is being evaluated?
Where is the transparency we were promised?
Sources: Jeffco School Board Meeting Schedule
https://www.jeffcopublicschools.org/about/board/board_meetings