With 12 Ortega Middle School teachers scheduled to be out Friday, administrators of the Alamosa School District suddenly had to weigh their last-resort option: closing school. Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo and his team “briefly” considered the idea, but instead scrambled to find staff to help cover classrooms, drafting Alamosa Online School employees — including the […]
Jessica Gibbs
Colorado Community Media
Email: jessthejourno@gmail.com Twitter: @JesstheJourno
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Masks, COVID vaccines will be optional in Douglas County schools, new board majority decides
Masks are again optional in the Douglas County School District. So is vaccinating against COVID-19 after a new school board majority passed a resolution that prohibits the district from enacting a universal mask-wearing mandate or vaccine policies. The resolution adopted Wednesday — the board’s special Tuesday night meeting ran past midnight — takes effect immediately. […]
Posted inEducation, News
The superintendent of the Douglas County School District forges ahead amid whirlwind
Roughly seven years ago, Corey Wise was making the leap from high school principal in the Douglas County School District to working in central administration. He hoped the new role wasn’t his last stop in a public education system. One day, Wise said, he wanted to be a superintendent. Little could he know that opportunity […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, Health, News
Douglas County health board, faced with lawsuit, is no longer allowing schools to opt out of mask mandates
The new Douglas County Board of Health on Friday amended its first public health order, which had allowed parents to opt their children out of COVID-19 masking mandates, so it would no longer apply to the Douglas County School District, which had sued over the order. The revised order is written so it still applies […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Federal judge extends order blocking students from opting out of Douglas County school mask mandate
A federal judge extended a temporary restraining order blocking the Douglas County Health Board from letting students opt out of Douglas County School District’s mask-wearing mandates. The restraining order was extended for another two weeks. But the entire federal lawsuit may be dismissed by Friday, attorneys said in a court hearing Monday, because the board […]
Posted inEducation, News
Douglas County’s conservative challengers likely to win school board race
Four candidates calling for a new direction on the Douglas County school board appeared to be victorious in the election that ended Tuesday, with three of their four opponents conceding defeat in interviews with Colorado Community Media. The hard-fought Douglas County School Board election — a star political attraction of 2021’s off-off-year election season in […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, Health, News
Fraught Douglas County School Board meeting follows federal judge’s ruling on masks
They’re sociopaths. They should resign. Nothing but dictators. They don’t care about kids, they just use them as political pawns. Those are a few of the comments slung at Douglas County School Board members and the district’s superintendent during an emotional, hours-long board meeting Tuesday. “They are possessed with the spirit of tyranny,” a man […]
Posted inEducation, Health, News
Douglas County School District sues its new county health department over masks
The Douglas County School District and families of students at high risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 are suing the county’s new health department in federal court, alleging a public health order allowing people to opt out of masking rules in the county violates the civil rights of students with disabilities. The lawsuit asks […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Douglas County Health Board approves opt-out of masking mandates
The Douglas County Health Department will allow people to opt out of local masking requirements in schools under a new health order aimed at curbing masking mandates for students and staff. But Children’s Health Colorado strongly rebuked the move, along with the board’s attempts to link masking with mental illness in children, and it remained […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Education, News
Second STEM School Highlands Ranch gunman sentenced to life in prison without parole
The man convicted of first-degree murder in the deadly 2019 shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch was sentenced to two terms of of life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday, plus scores of additional years. The sentencing of Devon Erickson by Douglas County District Judge Theresa Slade in a Castle Rock courtroom followed a lengthy […]