After a tumultuous two weeks for the Douglas County School Board, an exodus of teachers has begun in the state’s third-largest school district.

Thirty Douglas County teachers have resigned from the school district in the two weeks since superintendent Corey Wise was fired by the Douglas County Board of Education, 16 of whom quit the weekend he was terminated.

It’s not known how many, if any, of those departures were a flag of protest over his dismissal, but district spokesperson Paula Hans warned not to draw conclusions as to the reasons why 30 of the 3,500 teachers have decided to leave.

Hans wrote in a text to The Gazette that the outgoing 30 make up less than 1% of the district’s educators; but the timing is notable for two reasons. It comes in the wake of Wise’s firing and a mass sickout by more than 1,000 of the district’s teachers, but it’s also a time in the school year when teachers tend to make big decisions on their futures.

“It’s important to note that this is the time of year when teachers typically provide notice for next year’s plans,” Hans said, adding most of the resignations won’t go into effect until the end of the school year.

Still, some educators cited burnout and disillusionment behind the decision by Douglas County teachers to stage the sickout that forced the district to shut down schools on Feb. 3.

Through dozens of interviews, The Denver Gazette has learned how the sickout decision came about, and about the vitriol and fear left in its wake.

Members of the Douglas County Federation, the local teachers’ organization, met by Zoom on Jan. 31 after a survey it sent members showed 60% of respondents are considering leaving Douglas County, 15% are disillusioned with education, and some 9% are also mulling early retirement. The survey took a sample size of 136 members, according to DCF president Kevin DePasquale.

Teachers discussed the survey results and decided at that meeting to call for a sickout to show their displeasure with what was transpiring within the district. Rumors were rampant that Wise was to lose his job. The teachers wanted to object, and they wanted the school board to listen. They scheduled the walkout during school hours.

Response from the Douglas County community to the district shutdown ranged from unwavering support to anger, as the planned sickout followed a snow day. Pandemic-weary parents decried one more day of lost instruction on the heels of a pandemic which has left students, educational staff and parents reeling from inconsistent learning practices.

“They felt their profession was under attack and the only way to defend that attack was to express frustration and concern for our schools – they felt it was the only thing they could do,” DiPasquale said.

Despite criticism of the union during this school board battle, Douglas County teachers lost their collective bargaining agreement 10 years ago, so the power of the union is more limited than unions in other metro-are jurisdictions. The number of teachers who are members of the Douglas County Federation is not public, but more than 1,500 teachers requested absences for Feb. 3.

The rally brought attention to the federation’s cause, but it didn’t change any minds. The following night, Wise was terminated during a special meeting of the Douglas County Board of Education by a vote of 4-3. Friday, Wise sent a letter of intent to sue the Douglas County School District with a request for the preservation of emails, texts and documents relating to masks, critical race theory and the name Erin Kane, among other things. Kane has been mentioned as a possible replacement as superintendent as the board moves forward in its selection. Kane is the executive director of American Academy and was an interim Douglas County School superintendent from 2016-2018.

The public turned out in force in a special online meeting to discuss the hiring process. After an hour and 15 minutes of executive session and another six hours going until midnight, the meeting was adjourned. Each person who spoke got two minutes to express their concerns and the board heard from both sides.

“We elected you in November to make change in the district, and I want to thank you for doing so,” said one community member.

“I call on each board member to select a candidate who did not contribute to their campaign,” said another.

“We voted you in for a reason,” another said, “and that was to change the direction of the Titanic of these government schools.”

Many commenters begged the board to take its time selecting the next superintendent, though the district posted the job Thursday and it will end Feb. 25.

A school district known for its wealth, its lack of diversity and now for its battles

The Douglas County school district has been in a pitched divisive political battle since Douglas County voters elected four new board members on Nov. 2.

David Flaherty, CEO of the conservative-leaning polling firm Magellan Strategies, said that while school board elections are described as non-partisan, that’s not the reality in this era of severe political division.

“Education is an emotional issue. It always is. It always has been,” Flaherty said. “Democrats say it’s about paying teachers more. Republicans say we need more school choice.”

Flaherty and other policy-watchers say the pandemic helped divide the country, with conservatives adamant about keeping kids in school and many progressives insistent that educational leaders should follow state health department recommendations, including advocating for masks in school.

There is also division around curriculum, particularly surrounding the teaching of race and history.

The Feb. 4 decision to fire Wise followed party lines as the four conservative board members favored ousting Wise; and the three progressives voted to give him more time.

“My vote is a no. What you are doing tonight is horrific. You have just activated the dark ages for this district,” were the parting words of longtime board member David Ray.

New board president Mike Peterson said he tried to work with Wise, but that he had lost trust in his ability to lead. “Trust is essential for any employee relationships. I have concerns about the superintendent being able to make decisions for our children,” he said.

It may be surprising that an affluent community like Douglas County is wrestling with such division. The county’s median household income, at $119,000, was among the highest in the country in the 2019 American Community Survey, a function of the U.S. Census. By comparison, Denver was at $68,000.

Poverty, while present, is relatively small in Douglas County schools, with 8.6% of students eligible for federal free or reduced price lunch, a common indicator. In Denver, almost half of the students are eligible.

Of Douglas County’s 64,000 students, 72% are white, with Latinos representing the largest group of students of color and Blacks being just 1%, according to U.S. News and World Report. Of Denver’s 90,000 students, 53% are Hispanic, 25% are white and around 14% identify as Black.

Students stage their own walkout

The Monday following Wise’s termination hundreds of students walked out of school in support of him.

“I’m here to have my voice heard, that I care about my education,” said Kailani Smile, a Highlands Ranch High School junior. Other students who chose not to walk out said they didn’t care what the adults were doing. Others acknowledged they walked out simply to skip class.

DiPasquale maintained that a day of disruption can be seen as a negative, but not as negative as the destruction he sees happening in the district by the firing of former superintendent Wise.

“What we saw with teachers in the community stepping up and having our rally is this is our way to mitigate the damage that is being done by someone who is acting as a bully,” DiPasquale said. “Someone who thinks they’re above the law. Sometimes a disruption to the normal daily action has to happen in order to shed light on those behaviors.”

The word “bully” is being used by both sides of a Douglas County School Board, which can’t seem to get along.

“The union are bullies and power-grabbers,” board member Kallie Winegar told a Fox News Channel television audience three days after Wise was fired, adding, “We have great concern when they insert themselves in our district and are trying to cause chaos and trying to get our teachers riled up.”

Peterson, who was also on the program, told the Fox News Channel audience that the disruption caused by the collective action was a political tactic, and not one in the best interests of Douglas County’s 64,000 students.

“Strikes are not the way to make things happen. Walkouts … (and) sickouts are not in support of learning,” Peterson said.

The high stakes of such action became clear last week when an unknown person filed a Colorado Open Record Request, or CORA, for the names of every teacher who called in sick Feb. 3.

Wednesday, before a special board meeting called to discuss hiring Wise’s replacement, someone put threatening leaflets on the cars of union members saying “You are bad! Get out and leave!”

The CORA request to reveal protesters’ names was rescinded minutes before a special Douglas County School Board meeting. The Denver Gazette has filed a CORA requesting the name of the person who filed seeking the teachers’ names, which was not forthcoming by the end of business Friday.

Despite repeated requests for an interview with Peterson through email and through the district, The Gazette was unsuccessful, but in a recent podcast with 850 KOA Radio’s Mandy Connell, he remarked that though he and the teachers union are at an impasse on how to resolve issues, he hopes they can find common ground when it comes to teacher pay.

“Let’s get the get the union on board,” he said. “Not through sickouts and encouraging the students to walk out. … There is a neutral interest of the union and if it’s taking care of teachers financially, I actually support that union initiative. I do not support the rest of the political stuff that’s going on.”

There’s another issue both sides agree on. They both say students are their No. 1 priority and that politics is getting in the way of education.

But students who are caught in the middle say they’re watching a bunch of adults in a boxing ring which seems to have no clear winner.

“There are a good amount of kids who really do care about what’s happening in our schools and how that affects us and our teachers,” said Smile, 16, who watches every school board meeting online with her parents. “I get that we’re teenagers and we’re still figuring ourselves out. We’ve got the internet. We’re smarter than adults think we are.”