Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Jeffco Public Schools

Missed Insurance Deadline Could Leave Jeffco Taxpayers Paying $15 Million Sex Abuse Settlement
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Missed Insurance Deadline Could Leave Jeffco Taxpayers Paying $15 Million Sex Abuse Settlement

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette Taxpayers may end up on the hook for a child sexual assault settlement, possibly worth up to $15 million, after Jeffco Public Schools failed to notify its insurance company in a timely manner about the case. The incident stems from the Imagine Kay Ewer case. Ewer, a former paraprofessional in the district, groomed and sexually abused a special needs student for several months in 2023. Ewer pleaded guilty in 2024 to criminal charges for providing drugs and alcohol, and engaging in several sexual acts with the then-16-year-old disabled student.  Ewer received a four-year prison sentence followed by 10-years-to-life probation last year. According to documents obtained by The Denver Gazette, Jeffco and its legal couns...
Read More
Jeffco Schools Lawsuit Seeks Clarity After Federal Challenge to Transgender Policies
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Jeffco Schools Lawsuit Seeks Clarity After Federal Challenge to Transgender Policies

By: Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette In the wake of several threats by the Trump administration to revoke federal funding, Jeffco Public Schools filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education seeking to protect that badly needed money. Jeffco has been under investigation by the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights over the district’s policies regarding transgender students, which the federal government alleges violate Title IX. Jeffco officials said its policies are in line with Colorado state law and that the dispute is between the state and federal governments, not the school district. In its complaint, Jeffco said the district’s policies align with the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which broadly prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identit...
Read More
Former Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Crime Charges
No Comments
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Former Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Crime Charges

By Óscar Contreras | Denver7 JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A former Jeffco Public Schools security guard arrested for child sex assault charges last month kept evidence of child sex abuse material for nearly 10 years before he was caught, according to an arrest affidavit in the case obtained by Denver7 over the weekend. Brian C. Richie, 67, was arrested June 22, 2026, by Longmont police on more than 30 charges, including felony sexual assault on a child from a position of trust, production and possession of child sexual abuse material, and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification. The investigation into Richie began in January of this year after a child disclosed “unsafe touching" by Richie to staff at Blue Sky Bridge child advocacy center following a school safety pre...
Read More
Jeffco Schools Seek $135 Million Tax Hike to Address Deficit and Facility Needs
No Comments
Colorado Public Radio, Approved, Local

Jeffco Schools Seek $135 Million Tax Hike to Address Deficit and Facility Needs

By Melanie Asmar | CPR News Faced with a looming deficit, Jeffco Public Schools is weighing whether to ask voters in November to approve a $135 million tax increase. A community advisory group has recommended the funding be used for teacher salaries, career and technical education programs, technology, and safety and building upgrades. If voters approve the measure, property taxes would increase by $3.58 per month on every $100,000 of a home’s value, according to a district presentation. Although Jeffco is Colorado’s second-largest school district with 74,000 students, it spends less money per pupil than several other metro districts, according to state data. Part of the reason is that Jeffco voters have approved fewer tax increases, known as mill levy o...
Read More
Federal Officials Say Jeffco Must Change Transgender Policies or Lose Federal Funds
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Federal Officials Say Jeffco Must Change Transgender Policies or Lose Federal Funds

By: Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette The U.S. Department of Education on Friday warned Jeffco Public Schools it has 10 days to correct alleged Title IX violations over the Colorado district’s transgender policy or lose federal funding. The Notice of Impending Action is the latest development in an ongoing saga between the district and the federal government that started last year, when the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights started an investigation into Jeffco over alleged Title IX violations relating to the district’s policies regarding transgender students. The results of the investigation, released in March, alleged that the district had 61 “male students” participating in girls’ sports and allowed access to restrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations bas...
Read More
Ex Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Abuse and Exploitation Charges
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Ex Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Abuse and Exploitation Charges

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette A former security guard for Jeffco Public Schools was arrested Monday over charges of child sexual abuse. Brian C. Richie, 67, was arrested by Longmont police and booked into the Boulder County jail. He faces several charges, including sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust, 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing videos, 16 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing photos, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification of a person under 15 and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, according to the jail log and Richie’s arrest affidavit. Richie’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages showed he was employed by Jeffco as a “patrol sergeant” from April 2015 to February 2026, when he ...
Read More
Drake Middle School removed “America, Reloading.” Then another poem fight started.
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Drake Middle School removed “America, Reloading.” Then another poem fight started.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Drake Middle School parents were told last year that students could write spoken-word poems about politics or divisive issues if they personally chose those topics. This spring, one DMS student wrote a pro-life poem about abortion. School officials told the student she could turn the poem in for credit, but could not read it aloud in class. Parents had already spent more than a year warning DMS and Jeffco leaders about the school’s SLAM poetry unit before the story spread nationally. Parents objected to SLAM poetry unit in 2025 Parents began emailing DMS leadership in 2025 after students watched “America, Reloading” and “The Star Spanglish Banner” in class. One email sent to teacher Tanisha Lee and DMS principal Jill Kline des...
Read More
Appeals Court Weighs Parental Rights Case Against Jeffco Schools
No Comments
Approved, Complete Colorado, Local

Appeals Court Weighs Parental Rights Case Against Jeffco Schools

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought against Jefferson County Public Schools for rooming an 11-year-old girl in the same bed as a biological boy during an overnight trip. Plaintiffs’ lawyers told the court that school leaders told the girl to lie to her parents about the reasoning behind her distress while staying with the transgender student. As previously reported by Complete Colorado, the daughter of Joe and Serena Wailes went on a school trip to Philadelphia and Washing D.C. upon finishing the fifth grade. While on the trip, she was assigned the same room and bed as a biological boy who identified as a female. School officials had assured parents that boys and girls would be ...
Read More
Jeffco student barred from reading pro-life poem after school calls it “too politically charged”
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Jeffco student barred from reading pro-life poem after school calls it “too politically charged”

By Kelly Notarfrancesco | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Jeffco School District values maintaining schools where “…all students…feel that their voices and perspectives are valued." Yet one 13-year-old 7th grade honors student said she does not feel respected at school, after school officials told her she is not allowed to participate in her class poetry presentation because her submission is “too offensive” and “too politically charged.” The Drake Middle School 7th grader, whose name is being withheld as she is a minor, submitted a poem titled, “A life is a life, no matter how small,” about choosing life over abortion.  Shortly after submitting her poem Monday, the student was approached by her 7th grade Honors English Language Arts teacher Laura Wolf and told she would...
Read More
JeffCo Parents Demand Answers After Hidden School Safety Audit Surfaces
No Comments
Colorado Public Radio, Approved, Local

JeffCo Parents Demand Answers After Hidden School Safety Audit Surfaces

By Molly Cruse | CPR News Two weeks ago, Lindsay Datko filed a public records request for a school safety audit from JeffCo Public Schools. Datko — a parent of three children in the district and executive director of the parent advocacy group Jeffco Kids First — said she first learned about the audit through school committee meeting minutes. But when she requested the records through Colorado’s open records law, she said the district initially told her only hard copies existed and that they had been destroyed. Now, Jeffco Public Schools parents and advocates are demanding answers.  The unreleased audit was conducted by a student safety company called Gaggle. The report uncovered more than 150 “imminent threats” just weeks before the September 2025...
Read More