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Democratic Socialists Claim Local Victories in Colorado School Board Races
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Democratic Socialists Claim Local Victories in Colorado School Board Races

By: Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado FORT COLLINS – An unusual twist on candidate support appears to have paid off for the Fort Collins chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – an overtly extreme left-wing organization. The socialism advocacy group officially “endorsed” just one candidate, Zoelle Lane in Fort Collins City Council District 5,  while “recommending” two dozen others in local races around northern Colorado the DSA said “represent our chapter’s best advice to voters,” including a pair of Republican school board candidates in Greeley. Although their lone endorsement lost her bid for city council, the group’s recommendations were successful in 15 out of 22 other races, including clean sweeps on both the Greeley Evans School District 6 and Poudre Schools b...
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Durango’s School Board Debacle: Radical Rot, Predator Blind Spots, and a Herald Hug
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Durango’s School Board Debacle: Radical Rot, Predator Blind Spots, and a Herald Hug

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Durango used to be the kind of place where families felt good about sending their kids to school. But things shifted over the years —and not in a good way. With a critical school board election just days away, parents are speaking out. And what they’re saying is hard to ignore. What I learned from the families who helped shape the Durango Dirty Dozen series was both heartbreaking and hopeful. They painted a clear picture of a district losing touch with its mission—and of a community ready to fight back.  They told me about confusing bathroom rules, lavish DEI spending, and a media outlet more interested in enabling coverups than accountability. Their message was clear: kids are being left behind. Let’s start with bathrooms...
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Faith and Free Speech Prevail in Colorado Student’s Parking Space Battle
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Fox News, Approved, Local

Faith and Free Speech Prevail in Colorado Student’s Parking Space Battle

By: Kristine Parks | Fox News Sophia Shumaker's shepherd and sheep design initially rejected under religious imagery ban A Colorado high school student who challenged her school's ban on religious designs for senior parking spaces will now be allowed to repaint her space to reflect her Christian faith. In August, Sophia Shumaker, a senior at Rampart High School in Colorado Springs' Academy School District 20, requested permission to decorate her paid parking space with a design illustrating Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep. The school has a tradition of allowing seniors to reserve and pay for their own parking space and decorate it with school-approved artwork. Shumaker’s design featured a shepherd, a staff and sheep, along with a reference to the Bible verse 1 Cor...
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The conservative candidates—Sheldon Kier and Adena Kreutz—are best for Delta Schools
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

The conservative candidates—Sheldon Kier and Adena Kreutz—are best for Delta Schools

By Angie Many | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As Colorado mandates more and more laws affecting students and school districts, school board elections have become increasingly important. Unfortunately, despite the importance of electing members to guide school policies, such ‘off-year’ elections traditionally have poor voter turnout. ‘We the people’ need to start paying more attention and devoting a little time to learning more about the people who will have such an impact on the education – and the indoctrination – that our children receive. And then we need to vote. Delta County has five candidates in this year’s school board election. Two of them will, in my opinion, help to restore common sense and sanity to school policies and keep government influence at a minimum. ...
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School District Faces Backlash After Banning Bible Verse in Student Artwork
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BizPac Review, Approved, Local

School District Faces Backlash After Banning Bible Verse in Student Artwork

By: Chris Donaldson | BizPac Review A Colorado high school set off a free speech battle after it refused to allow a Christian senior to use religious imagery to decorate her personal parking spot in what she says is a violation of her First Amendment rights. Sophia Shumaker was only looking to express her faith when she submitted her original design depicting a shepherd, a sheep, and a Bible verse to Rampart High School, only to have it denied because the school’s guidelines prohibit anything that is “offensive, negative, rude, gang-related, political, or religious.” “The shepherd and the sheep, the 99 sheep basically represent the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go find the lost one,” she told Fox 21 News. https://twitter.com/FOX21News/status/1981405727550763392 ...
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Parents vs. unions: The battle over Mesa County’s schools
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Parents vs. unions: The battle over Mesa County’s schools

By Kent Zook | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The same people and organizations trying to replace District 51 School board members, Andrea Haitz, Will Jones, and Angela Lema are the ones responsible for neglecting our schools in the first place. Previous board leadership allowed facilities to deteriorate to the point that repair costs became unfeasible. Union-backed leaders pushed for schools to remain closed longer during COVID-19 and for students to continue masking despite mounting evidence that masks did little to prevent transmission. On August 17, 2021, under the old union-backed board, a public meeting abruptly ended after just 30 minutes of comment, even though 45 minutes had been allotted. The board members, backed by the union, simply walked out with a police escort...
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Teachers Union Criticized for Letting Radical Groups Shape Curriculum
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Washington Examiner, Approved, National

Teachers Union Criticized for Letting Radical Groups Shape Curriculum

By: Robert Schmad | Washington Examiner Teaching resources authored by Hamas sympathizers, praise for violent left-wing activists, and activities where students roleplay as “queer liberation” activists fighting against the “Religious Right” represent just a small sample of the material produced by the Zinn Education Project and its parent organization, Rethinking Schools. The nearly three-million-strong National Education Association has gone to great lengths to endorse and embed such materials in the public education system through a series of partnerships with the duo of left-wing organizations.  The NEA, the nation’s largest teachers union, has granted the Zinn Education Project and Rethinking Schools prime space and opportunities to present at its confere...
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Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?

By Christy Anderson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In the Grand Junction area you may have seen flyers in your mailbox accusing our current school board members, Andrea Haitz, Angela Lema and “Willie” (Will) Jones of being “enemies” who “cannot be trusted.” These false attack ads come from Denver’s “Students Deserve Better” campaign. After digging into the financials, Students Deserve Better is also majorly funded by none other than the Colorado Education Association.  The teachers union has a long history that started in the 1970s of using money to influence local elections, but this year’s spending is unprecedented. The Colorado Education Association (CEA) is pouring tens of thousands of dollars into our local school board race to regain control and push their highly...
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Power first, children last: The true legacy of Randi Weingarten’s teachers union
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TownHall.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Power first, children last: The true legacy of Randi Weingarten’s teachers union

By Natalya Murakhver | Commentary, Townhall When America looks back at the COVID era, history will not be kind to Randi Weingarten and the American Federation of Teachers. At a time when our nation’s children needed leadership, compassion, and courage, Weingarten delivered none of it. Instead, she manipulated the crisis of school closures to expand her own political influence, sacrificing the futures of millions of kids and betraying the trust of parents across this country. Let’s be clear: school closures were not primarily about health or science. They were about power. From the very beginning, teachers’ unions lobbied aggressively to keep schools closed far longer than necessary. They pressured public health officials and the CDC to rewrite guidelines in ways that served union int...
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The Union vs. Students: Why I Walked Away
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Union vs. Students: Why I Walked Away

By Priscilla Rahn, M.Ed, NBCT | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice For 32 years I poured my life into teaching, believing the teachers’ union stood for students and educators like me. But somewhere along the way, the mission shifted—from strengthening classrooms to fueling politics. That’s when I knew I had to walk away. I look back on a career that began in Texas in the early 1990s, where my starting salary was a meager $18,000 a year—barely enough to cover student loans, a car payment, gas, rent, food, and utilities after dividing it into 24 paychecks, leaving me with about $700 every two weeks. I was immediately pressured to join the teachers' union, but with no extra money for dues, I declined. It wasn't until I moved to Colorado that I joined, convinced I needed liabilit...
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