Colorado Politics

Douglas County school board members say former superintendent divided the community

Two Douglas County school board members who voted to fire former Superintendent Corey Wise appeared on Fox News earlier this week to defend their positions.

School board President Mike Peterson and board member Kaylee Winegar told the national TV audience that Wise divided the community and they didn’t believe his views would ever align with their vision for the district.

“Do I think the superintendent was undermining where we wanted to go? No. But he wasn’t supporting,” Peterson said. “Frankly, what’s the point of being elected majority back in November when you’re not moving (in) that direction?”

In a 4-3 vote during an emergency meeting Friday, the school board terminated Wise, a popular educator who had been with the district for nearly 26 years as a teacher and administrator. It was a vote split by two groups with divided ideologies.

In the fall 2021 election, Douglas County voters chose to shift the school board from a 7-0 membership largely supported by teachers’ advocates to a 4-3 board with the majority backed by conservative education groups. Conservative groups spent heavily to support candidates who were part of Vote4Kids, which is opposed to masks in school. Once elected, the board quickly eliminated the mask mandate and voted to review the district’s equity policy.

The four new board members were sworn in Nov. 30, which makes some wonder why they didn’t give Wise more time to get to know them. “That means Wise had just over two months. Couldn’t they have been more patient? That’s not very much time,” said Alan Gottlieb, editor of boardhawk.org, a Denver-based public education watchdog.

CO school board defend ousting superintendent who backed mask mandates, equity policyFox News/YouTube

Winegar said on Monday’s national television program that Wise wasn’t fired for one specific reason, but that his support of teachers’ unions was a problem.

“He did kind of create an environment that pitted teachers against parents,” said Winegar, who added that she sees unions as power grabbers and bullies. “We were hoping we’d see more of that being healed, and I really didn’t see that happen.”

There is no love lost between the new board members and the district’s union. The president of the Douglas County Federation has warned that some school district staff may leave following Wise’s termination.

Peterson and Winegar’s comments were less guarded than the prepared statement they gave local reporters Monday. 

Unofficial numbers from the district’s teacher sickout on Thursday showed 1,000 of the over 3,500 teaching staff members didn’t show up for class in a move protesting Wise’s firing. That kind of reaction didn’t please Peterson, who said: “Strikes are not the way to make things happen. Walkouts and sickouts are not in support of learning.”

Gottlieb says a teacher sickout is not a good look given all of the learning loss from the pandemic and in the end, he believes it’s not very effective.

“Nobody’s going to change their minds on the board,” said Gottlieb. “It’s their right to do it, but it’s not going to change the outcome. This board’s not going to go back on their decision and suddenly say, ‘We made a terrible mistake. Please come back.'”

On Monday, hundreds of Douglas County students followed their teachers’ lead, checking into their final afternoon classes at 1:10 p.m. and walking out in protest. At one point, students rallying at Highlands Ranch High School chanted “People over politics.”

On that, both sides agree, but Peterson seemed resigned to the fact that politics is a part of the equation, telling Fox News: “Have we done a great job getting the politics out? Not yet. Are we working on it and trying to move away from politics and really focus on the district? Yes.”

From left to right: Douglas County school board majority members Kaylee Winegar, Christy Williams, Mike Peterson and Becky Myers(Screenshot of YouTube meeting livestream on Feb.4) 
Haley Allert, 18, holds a sign saying “Douglas County School District Deserves Better” during a walkout Monday afternoon at Highlands Ranch High School in protest to the firing of Douglas County’s superintendent Corey Wise.
Sara Hertwig/for The Denver Gazette
Students from Highlands Ranch High School and Cresthill Middle School line the street, shouting and chanting during a walkout in protest of the firing of Douglas County’s superintendent Corey Wise. (Sara Hertwig/for The Denver Gazette)
Students from Highlands Ranch High School and Cresthill Middle School line the street outside of the high school, shouting and chanting during a walkout in protest of the firing of Douglas County’s superintendent Corey Wise. (Sara Hertwig/for The Denver Gazette)
A Douglas County resident is now asking a judge to nullify the firing of Superintendent Corey Wise and to bar the local school board from conducting the type of conversations that precipitated Wise’s dismissal earlier this month. 
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