Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Parental Rights

Two investigations signal Education Department’s pivot from Pride Month to Title IX enforcement
Approved, Daily Wire, National, State

Two investigations signal Education Department’s pivot from Pride Month to Title IX enforcement

By Mary Margaret Olohan | Daily Wire The news bears a stark contrast to the June celebrations of President Joe Biden's Education Department. WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s Education Department has declared June “Title IX Month” in recognition of the 53rd anniversary of the historic legislation’s passage, The Daily Wire has learned. The department will spend June highlighting the Trump administration’s actions taken to protect female sports and spaces, as well as reversing the weaponization of Title IX that took place during the previous administration. The festivities offer a stark contrast to the Biden Education Department’s “Pride Month” celebrations, which focused on gender ideology, critical race theory, and DEI. The Daily Wire can also first report that the Education ...
Vote of no confidence for JeffCo Superintendent Dorland follows union letter calling it necessary
Approved, kdvr.com, Local

Vote of no confidence for JeffCo Superintendent Dorland follows union letter calling it necessary

By Carly Moore | Fox31 JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Dorland was given a vote of no confidence by a teachers’ union during a meeting Thursday night. Dorland has been in the position since April 2021, but last night the Jefferson County Public Schools teachers’ union said they’re not pleased with the overall direction the district is going. In a letter to the district board of directors on their website, the Jefferson County Education Association Representative Council and Operational Board said the vote of confidence was a necessary step. The letter said that under Dorland’s leadership, there is a disconnect between administration, education and families, and that her leadership has exacerbated tensions and damaged the dis...
Schaffer’s ‘unsafe school choice’ policy gets new life under Trump
Approved, Education Week, National

Schaffer’s ‘unsafe school choice’ policy gets new life under Trump

By Evie Blad | Education Week When the Trump administration urged states to use a little-known provision in federal education law to boost school choice, the congressman who helped author the language 24 years ago had an immediate reaction. “It’s about time,” said former Congressman Bob Schaffer. In a May 7 letter, Acting Assistant Education Secretary Hayley B. Sanon urged states to ease their criteria for labeling schools as “persistently dangerous"—a designation that legally comes with an obligation to offer families an option to transfer to another public school. “The number of persistently dangerous schools reported nationwide appears low particularly given the number of violent offenses in schools reported” in federal data, she wrote. It’s a message that Schaffer, ...
Hunt: Governor signs laws advancing trans agenda, sparking constitutional challenge
Approved, Commentary, State, TownHall.com

Hunt: Governor signs laws advancing trans agenda, sparking constitutional challenge

By Nicole Hunt | Commentary, Townhall Just as a refreshing wave of reality-based, commonsense policy seems to be sweeping the nation, Colorado lawmakers are doubling down on “trans” policies that can only be described as absurd, unconscionable and unconstitutional. For those of us in Colorado who still believe in parental rights and free speech, the speed at which our state is descending into a dystopian nightmare is terrifying. Here in Colorado, transactivists control the State House, the Senate, and the governor’s seat. Whatever they want to do, however far they want to push the envelope, they can, and they did this legislative cycle. Some of the bills are so radical that even California’s governor refused to sign similar legislation. This session we saw two radical trans bil...
Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment
Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette Several organizations and a western Colorado dermatologist have filed a lawsuit seeking to block specific provisions of a recently signed state law that, as originally introduced, would have defined "deadnaming" and "misgendering" as discriminatory acts but whose final version had been heavily modified.   The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Defending Education, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, and Do No Harm. Travis Morrell, a Grand Junction dermatologist and member of Do No Harm, is also a plaintiff. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Colorado Civil Rights Division members are named as defendants. All five groups believe that a person's gender identity "cannot differ from their sex ...
Colorado Christian camp sues state over gender facility access mandate
Approved, Fox News, State

Colorado Christian camp sues state over gender facility access mandate

By Jeffrey Clark | Fox News A Christian camp that has been operating since 1948 in Colorado is suing the state after the camp was told that it had to accommodate gender expression in bathrooms and a variety of other spaces.  "They feel like they're honoring God in what they're doing, and I feel like they should do that, to operate in a way that's consistent with that," camp volunteer and mother Leah Rohwer told CBS News in an interview.  The camp, known as Camp IdRaHaje, which is short for "I'd Rather Have Jesus," has refused to obey the state government's demands that it accommodate gender expression in camp facilities.  It is a conflict that is personal for Rohwer, who told CBS that she has a family member who identifies as transge...
Silent signature, rising resistance: HB1312 becomes law, but parents vow to fight on
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Silent signature, rising resistance: HB1312 becomes law, but parents vow to fight on

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 25-1312 into law on Friday, May 16, without a press conference, social media announcement or public ceremony. While the bill, known as the "Kelly Loving Act," was hailed by progressive lawmakers as a milestone for transgender rights, many Coloradans who opposed the bill say the governor's quiet signature is a telling indication of just how controversial the legislation had become. Parental rights groups and faith-based organizations who protested HB25-1312 throughout the session say the final version still undermines their fundamental freedoms. They argue the amendments stripped from the bill prove public pressure worked – but insist what remains is a direct threat to families, schools and the Constitution. ...
First in the state: District 49 bans boys from girls’ sports, sues state over anti-discrimination laws
Approved, completecolorado.com, Local

First in the state: District 49 bans boys from girls’ sports, sues state over anti-discrimination laws

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado’s 18th largest school district, located about 15 miles northeast of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, appears to be the first to unilaterally develop transgender athlete regulations in adherence to recent presidential executive orders. Saying that “there are inherent differences between boys and girls, meaning biological males and biological females” the Falcon 49 school board last week enacted a new policy specifying in part that “classification of sports team participation by biological sex is therefore necessary to preserve and promote equal opportunity for District 49’s female athletes.” The policy, titled Preserving Fairness and Safety in Sports, goes on to state:  “Allowing boys to compete in girls’ ...
Christian Camp IdRaHaJe sues Colorado over forced gender policy: ‘Let us uphold biblical truth’
Approved, Local, National Catholic Register

Christian Camp IdRaHaJe sues Colorado over forced gender policy: ‘Let us uphold biblical truth’

By Tyler Arnold | National Catholic Register A Christian summer camp network is suing the Colorado government over a state rule allowing males who identify as girls to be given access to girls’ showers, dressing areas, and sleeping facilities. Camp IdRaHaJe — which separates private facilities on the basis of sex rather than self-asserted “gender identity” — filed the federal lawsuit against Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood on Monday. The camp, which derives its name from the 1922 Christian hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” is protesting a regulation that requires access to gender-separated showers, sleeping facilities, changing rooms, and bathrooms in all children’s resident camps on the basis of “an individual’s gender identity” even when the gender identity is dif...
Notarfrancesco: TRAILS goes beyond SEL—it’s activism wrapped in therapy language
Approved, Commentary, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Notarfrancesco: TRAILS goes beyond SEL—it’s activism wrapped in therapy language

By Kelly Notarfrancesco | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Should teachers in Colorado K-12 classrooms be performing daily assessments on the thoughts and feelings of your children? At the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, Pueblo D70 School District controversially implemented a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum which Superintendent Ronda Rein described in an email from September 24, 2024 as a “daily assessment of thoughts and feelings.” SEL is promoted to parents and school administrators as the panacea for kids’ mental health concerns, and SEL advocates believe the concepts benefit students by providing important emotional training which leads to academic success, healthy relationships, and proper civic engagement. Opponents of SEL are concerned that the le...