Dear Editor:
The recall of the RE-1 CC-V School Board has attracted a lot of attention lately and up to now we have been very quiet.
It is now time to let the public know exactly what is going on. A few former school employees who were either let go and/or lost an election have been very vocal in the press and on social media. They’ve sent emails, letters, postcards, letters to the editor, posted signage and so on. The problem is, everything they have stated is all based on lies, misrepresentations, and half-truths. If I had read the recall petition and didn’t know any better, I may have signed it too; but I do know better and here is the truth.
The Board is made up of residents of the district who volunteer their time. They are good, honest, hard-working people who work only for the best interests of our children. We serve at the pleasure of the voters of the district. One ex-employee, a person who lost an election, has sent over 1000 emails to Board members and staff, and has emailed almost 100 Freedom of Information requests to the school. When you answer one of her emails, you get three more; and if you don’t answer, she accuses the Board of being non-responsive. It has taken hundreds, if not thousands of hours of your School District’s business manager’s and Board members time, and thousands of your taxpayer dollars just to answer that person’s wish-lists requests.
This person continually demands document after document after document, just to see if she can find something to use as a tool in her recall effort. She has even requestedevery check made out by the school for five years. If she is charged for the time it took to obtain all the information, she screams and throws a tantrum that the school is trying to make a profit off of her. This couldn’t be further from the truth as state law allows a $30 an hour fee over the first hour of labor/costs.
When this person couldn’t find several check numbers (because they were not issued in order) she told everyone that there were missing checks, posted all over the internet that the school had missing checks and that there may be some fraud by the school board. When she found out there were no missing checks, did she let anyone know? Of course not; she just went on to her next misrepresentation: The high cost of the annual audit. This person accused the Board of hiring a CPA in 2017 to balance the books at an exorbitant cost of $24,000. This is totally FALSE. The $24K paid was paid to our auditors. Did she ever ask why the school had extra costs that year? NO. Is there a very logical reason for the extra costs? YES. The school had changed the accounting software to standardized software used by most other schools. By doing this, two sets of books had to be analyzed and balanced as one, instead of one set. It was expensive to switch, but will provide a savings to the district in the long run. In maliciously misrepresenting this attempt at economy, this person branded good, hard-working people at the school, and the School Board as incompetent and frauds.
There is at least one person on the “recall committee” and who is also running for a board seat who doesn’t like the security procedures the Board has instituted at the schools. They don’t like having to “check in” or make an appointment with a teacher or staff member they want to speak to. They want everyone to be able to come and go in the school whenever they like, interrupting classes or going wherever they wish, “like the old days”. Well, the old days have come and gone. We had registered sex offenders and ex-felons roaming the school. No more! The Board has repeatedly refused to sacrifice the safety of our students to satisfy the whimsical demands of the “Committee”. Our children’s safety is our primary concern and will continue to be. Period.
Members of the “Committee” also want to do away with after-school activities for our students and re-direct the funds to other functions. This Board will NOT let that happen!
This recall group of mainly ex-employees, friends and family has spread so many lies and misinformation; it has been hard to keep up with them. It seems they will say or do anything to effect their agenda of taking over the school.
One letter put out by a member of the committee said that our “Vice-Principal” has no degrees. FACT: We have no “Vice Principal”. Our “Assistant Principal” has THREE degrees from three different colleges and universities. The letter also stated “The (Acting) Superintendent publicly stated that he would not enroll his kids in CCV.” FACT: The Superintendent’s children live in Colorado Springs where they have gone to school for many years.
Another lie circulated in the document: “We have six upper level administrators.” FACT: We have three – a Superintendent and two Assistant Principals.
If the school board had done any of the things alleged by this group, don’t you think the state would be investigating? As a matter of fact, the leader of the recall group contacted the state to investigate some of their allegations and the state declined. Let that sink in.
A couple of members of the Board resigned instead of putting themselves and their families through this harassment. These were good, honest and hard-working people who care greatly for our children. I don’t blame them for resigning; it has been a rough road and they will be missed.
For more truths about the lies and misinformation spread by these people, go to: StopTheCCVRecall.com
Timothy Braun
President,
Re-1 CC-V School District