A string of resignations has left five of Colorado’s largest school districts looking for new superintendents this school year, including Denver, Jefferson County, Poudre, Cherry Creek and Douglas County.
Van Schoales, president of the education advocacy group A+ Colorado, surmises that the pressures on superintendents are multiplied in Colorado because it is a local control state. Most of the decision-making about what learning looks like rests on superintendents’ shoulders, compared to many other states where responsibility lies with a state education department or health department or the governor.
School leaders have told Schoales decision-making around COVID-19 is taking up a third of their time, in addition to addressing all the other challenges students and families have.
"In some ways, it's no wonder, what is a really hard job has gotten 10 times harder," he said.
Teacher union leadership has increasingly been at odds with Superintendent Munn over how learning should proceed during the pandemic. Tensions boiled over on Monday, Feb. 15, after the union’s board sent a sharply-worded letter about Munn to the school board. It accused the superintendent of forcing major changes “without regard to concern from teachers, building leaders and the community.”
The letter also characterizes Munn as “seeking out only information, resources, and experts that reinforce his ‘belief’ even when the science, best practices and voices from stakeholders disagree” in his desire to get students back in the classroom during the pandemic.
Munn’s strongly-worded rebuttal came two days later and called the union board letter “dishonest and inappropriate.”
He called the union’s description of how he made decisions around COVID-19 safety protocols “slanderous.” In an interview, Munn stressed his letter was not directed at the whole union but “a small group of people,” the union’s board, and given the gravity of the accusations, required a forceful response.
“I think it's particularly dangerous that they wrote a letter that alleged that we were not following the data and following the science and protecting our staff, our students and they even alleged our entire community.”
"board" - Google News
February 21, 2021 at 09:27AM
https://ift.tt/3k5STou
Aurora School Board Calls For Special Meeting After Tensions Between Superintendent And Union Publicly Boil Over - Colorado Public Radio
"board" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KWL1EQ
https://ift.tt/2YrjQdq
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Aurora School Board Calls For Special Meeting After Tensions Between Superintendent And Union Publicly Boil Over - Colorado Public Radio"
Post a Comment