June 17, 2021
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
CastlePinesNewsPress.net
VOLUME 8 | ISSUE 43
School district defends equity policy Douglas County education officials respond to community backlash BY LIAM ADAMS LADAMS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
ficulty,” and they turned their loss into an effort that can help others, Polis said at the ceremony. The Colorado Department of Education had already written a “model bullying prevention and education policy” in recent years to provide guidance to school districts developing their own bullying prevention policies. But the state’s model policy was not required to be adopted by any local education agency — rather, school districts are only encouraged to follow the state’s policy, Rick Padilla said.
Despite intense criticism about a new equity policy and some parents threatening to withdraw students, the Douglas County School District isn’t wavering on the equity policy or ancillary initiatives. At a June 1 DCSD Board of Education meeting, administrators and board directors responded to public outrage, but not in the way the outraged desired. Staff presented plans for equity policy implementation in future years and directors commended them. “I want to thank our leaders in this area for listening to our students who have not felt a sense of belonging in our schools and in our community. I am sad to say that over the past couple of meetings, it has become even more clear to me why some students feel that way,” said Director Krista Holtzmann at the June 1 meeting. Holtzmann was alluding to board meetings in May when parents talked for hours during public comments about the perceived dangers of new diversity, equity
SEE BULLYING, P8
SEE POLICY, P10
Gov. Jared Polis sits at his desk June 7 in the state Capitol building to sign a bill aimed at addressing bullying policy among PHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD school districts in the state.
Anti-bullying law signed, two years after boy’s suicide State law to change school bullying policy is enacted in name of two teens BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
After Jack Padilla, a freshman at Cherry Creek High School, took his own life in February 2019, his father, Rick Padilla, made it his mission to make a difference in the lives of youths who face mental health challenges. Along with experiencing depres-
sion, Jack Padilla had dealt with bullying at school and on social media. In western Colorado, a Montrose teenager named Caitlyn Haynes died by suicide in 2015. She, too, experienced bullying. Both teens’ families pushed for a bill in the state Legislature called “Jack and Cait’s Law,” a proposal that hopes to change how schools address bullying. On June 7, Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill in a ceremony with the Padilla and Haynes families standing alongside him. The families were “trying to make meaning of tragedy and dif-
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