CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KDVR) – A big change is coming to the Douglas County school board. Four newly-elected conservative board members will be sworn in, possibly by the end of the month.
Becky Myers, Kaylee Winegar, Christy Williams and Mike Peterson ran on a platform of putting kids first and giving parents choices. They will be doing a lot of listening over the next several months and years.
“I think the voters sent a clear message last night,” Myers said.
“I’m feeling like it was a good night for the parents of Douglas County last night. That was a big thing for us. When you peel back from the micro issues, whether it’s masking or curriculum, or public comment, what I really think this election was about last night was putting parents back in partnership with teachers for education. That is something we really look forward to doing,” Peterson told FOX31’s Deborah Takahara.
They say they jumped into the race because they didn’t like what they saw over the past year and a half.
“Parents just didn’t think they were being listened to. I found that out last year during COVID when my daughter was taking classes out of the house and I was in the house and able to listen to what was going on in school and that’s when I started getting more involved,” Peterson said.
“We started questioning decisions made in Douglas County, in school, being out of school, masks, a lot of flip-flopping and that’s not good for children, students, any age,” Myers said.
They understand there are many issues dividing the community, including the mask policy, which is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit. They said they plan to put politics aside now and do what’s best for the students.
“We are out in the community, wanting to listen to our parents. We’ve been at coffee shops, grocery stores, church, in and out of schools. Just talking to people and getting their feedback,” Myers said.
“They know we are going to listen to them. Them is the taxpayers, the parents, the teachers. We really want to do stuff bottom up. That means going around, honoring what’s common, promoting that, putting the other issues aside. Anything that could be activism, political agendas, on the right, on the left, really just focusing on common areas. Do it bottom up,” said Peterson.
The Douglas County Federation of teachers and staff backed the other slate of candidates. President Kevin DiPasquale said: “We are hopeful the promises in forums and on the kid’s first websites, will be kept and implemented. we are hoping they will work with teachers and staff so there is an ability to continue moving the district in a positive direction.”
The newly elected board members could be sworn at the Nov. 30 board meeting if the results are certified by then. At this point, they do not plan to make a superintendent change, saying they’ve had three superintendents over the past four years.