LETTERS

children, allowing us to fully control exactly what our children learn.

Douglas County School Board President Mike Peterson agrees with you, that there should be an emphasis placed on reading, writing, math, and not politics. Peterson wants to, “Get rid of some of the other distractions, which aren’t core academic pursuits (i.e., politics).” is is what I would call cloudy slime, because the phrase “core academics” is a dog whistle from conservative elected o cials, aiming to keep students ignorant to di erences. e trick with politics, is to dilute full-strength toxins by reading credible sources, especially after prolonged contact with misinformation.

It is not teachers who are indoctrinating kids, but rather parents and religious leaders who are participating in advocacy groups.

Community members need to be listening for common trigger phrases used by our elected ofcials and not just trigger words: Core academic curriculum, get back to the basics, honest history, historically accurate social studies curriculum.

Both slime and politics are multifaceted like the trigger words and phrases being used.

Ti any Baker Highlands Ranch

Note From The Publisher

news you have come to expect has not changed; in fact, we’re working to make it better than ever.

e change to our nearly two dozen publications gives them a cohesive feel, and combined with a change to a more compact size in printing, allows the news content to special education.

Now there is this emergent notion of “anti-racist” equity policy must rejects those decades of understanding by actively encouraging educators to pick and choose which students to favor academically based solely on immutable characteristics. It actively seeks to prove Ibram X Kendi’s assertion that “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination and the only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

When educators are forced to embrace this philosophy through board directive, racism becomes a moral imperative. It should be self evident that this blind push for equity is stumbling into a truly gruesome place.

I am deeply saddened by the stories some students have told me over the last several months. I wish I could o er my 50 years of wisdom to help them understand that the rise in racial issues isn’t because people are more racist, but because a spotlight has been forced upon immutable di erences for the last two years under the DCSD equity policy. Continuing to divide us by those di erences as required by equity is the problem, not the solution. It is time for that policy to die and to allow the content of our character to return to the core principles of human decency in DCSD.

Allyson Rydwell Parker

School board’s bad look

take center stage, as it should.

Two years ago this week, our publications became owned by a new company, the Colorado News Conservancy. Its mission and purpose are right there in its name: to conserve local news, keep it in local hands and keep it vibrant. We recognized that folks get their news in di erent forms, not just in print, so this is just the rst stage in a project to demonstrate our commitment to innovation and progress. We want you to feel proud and connected to whichever of our publica- for an increase in MLO funds or capital money to fail again but do these political bias gures feel this is the right time. I realize politicians don’t use common sense and tions you receive. We hope you will appreciate the e ort and attention to detail that went into this redesign. We welcome your feedback and comments on our new look, and any part of our newsgathering. Your opinion matters to us, and we always strive to improve to meet your expectations. ank you for your continued support and loyalty to our publication. We believe there are better days ahead.

— Linda Shapley, publisher, Colorado Community Media

feel they are always right in making decisions for us but is asking for tax increase in November realistic?

Dave

Examining equity

E orts to improve schools over the last half century have been built on the foundational principle that all learners are di erent and that educators should strive to meet their individual needs.

Whether it was called an individualized education plan, multiple intelligences, di erentiated learning, whole child or student centered learning, the understanding that every student comes with their own unique needs has guided school improvement e orts since way back in the day when I got my masters in

As Douglas County homeowners experience an increase in auto insurance, homeowner insurance, and now property tax increase, what impact to their insurance will Douglas County School District have after their settlement (through insurance) of the former superintendent? Is the political position of the school board worth the possible increase? Where does the money come from to pay for this insurance, Taxpayers! I recognize that there is a need for an increase in funds to retain teachers and provide for a good education of our youth but is it good timing in light of already increases taxpayers are feeling. I would hate to see asking

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

At e Alley in downtown Littleton, you might nd a musician who’s so into the music, they’ll get up and dance on the bar.

When a local band surprises the crowd with a stellar performance that no one saw coming, “it just knocks people’s socks o ,” said Mary Riecks, e Alley’s bar manager and a Littleton-area native.

e watering hole on Main Street doubles as a music venue that nds and helps grow local talent — and the shows are free. It’s one of the bars in the metro Denver suburbs that o ers a window into up-and-coming homegrown performers amid a music scene that one longtime bar owner says is growing.

“Twenty years ago when I opened up the bar, there were a few bars around that had live music,” said Doug Jacobsen, owner of Jake’s Roadhouse in Arvada.

Since then, he’s noticed that “all of these di erent bars” now o er space for shows, said Jacobsen, who has friends who perform at spots around metro Denver.

“ ere’s a lot of great musicians here,” Jacobsen said.

Here’s a look at places o the beaten path where you can catch some lesser known — and sometimes famous — music artists in person.

‘Something for everyone’ Wild Goose Saloon in Parker o ers a bit of a di erent environment: It’s a bar but also a large event venue. ey’re both longtime musicians themselves — they perform in a band called Lola Black, garnered play on the radio and toured around the country — and have played Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre several times, Dellinger said. ey take their knowledge of the industry to running the Wild Goose, which was built around the concept of serving as a music venue and has a bigger stage, sound and lighting setup than most bars do, Dellinger said.

It aims to be “Colorado’s version of the Knitting Factory” — a unique, independent venue that hosts local and national artists, said Chris Dellinger, who serves as co-owner of Wild Goose Saloon with his wife.

It’s “kind of like every musician’s dream to own their own venue at some place and time, and we just ended up being able to pull it o ,” said Dellinger, who lives in Aurora.

After opening in July 2021, Wild Goose has hosted some large country artists and “some `80s artists that are still big,” Dellinger said. National pop-rock act American Authors is set to play there in late April.

“My motto always is, ‘If you don’t like the music one night, that’s OK — it’ll be completely di erent the next night or the next week,’” Dellinger said. “So we really try to have something for everyone here.”

His venue tries to get exposure for local talent by letting them open for national touring acts. For the audience, the typical admission cost for a national artist’s show at Wild Goose sits around $25 to $30, but local artists’ ticketed shows can cost as low as $10, and most of the local artists’ shows are free.

Dellinger and his wife have

“snuck in” a performance or two at Wild Goose, he said — they were set to play there in late April with the Texas Hippie Coalition, an American heavy metal band. Keeping classics alive

You might also see Jacobsen, a guitarist himself, playing with a band at Jake’s Roadhouse in the north metro area every now and then.

His bar started o ering live music “right away” after opening near the end of 2003. Sitting in east Arvada close to Denver and Westminster, the venue o ers mostly cover bands and blues, and on Wednesday nights, bluegrass is on tap. Sometimes, artists play original songs, but it’s rare, Jacobsen said.

“Our people come in to hang out, and most original bands don’t have four hours’ worth of original music,” Jacobsen said.

But playing covers at Jake’s Roadhouse is one way to get a new artist’s foot in the door in the local music scene.

“We have bands that come to us all the time that can’t get these other bars to give them a chance to play because they haven’t played anywhere before,” Jacobsen said. He added: “We’re not like that. I know a lot of musicians around town, and we will give a band a chance to play just on the word of a friend.”

He feels that live music is im-