August 27, 2020
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
LoneTreeVoice.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | SPORTS: PAGE 23
VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 29
County schools delay launch of online instruction Teachers union says district was ‘ill prepared’ for start BY JESSICA GIBBS JGIBBS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
can Commissioner Lora Thomas is trailing by more than $17,200 behind her Democrat opponent, Darien Wilson. Updated campaign finance reports reveal who is funding these campaigns and how successful each candidates’ fundraising efforts have been in recent months. The latest contribution reports, which cover June 22 through July 25, are
As the Douglas County teacher’s union raised alarms about the readiness of schools to launch online instruction for the new school year, the school district announced it was delaying the start for some students enrolled in its “eLearning” program by one week, to Aug. 31. Before the Aug. 21 announcement, Douglas County Federation President Kallie Leyba said that some union members who are assigned to online teaching positions were reporting they did not yet know what classes they are instructing and did not have final student rosters. As of Aug. 21, other teachers had not received login information needed to begin using the online teaching platform purchased by the district for the 2020-21 school year, called Edgenuity. That meant teachers could not begin familiarizing themselves with the program or begin to build classes, the union said. “I am just stunned at what’s going on with the in-person learning and the eLearning,” Leyba said. “I can’t even believe how ill-prepared our district is to go back to this eLearning, and unfortunately, it’s not what they are telling parents and it’s not what they are telling the board.” At the time Leyba spoke to Colorado Community Media Aug. 21, the district was still slated to fully launch its online learning program on Aug. 24. But the district announced later that it was delaying the start to online classes for high school students until Aug. 31. In response to an interview request with Superintendent Thomas Tucker regarding concerns raised by the union, a spokeswoman provided a letter sent to high school
SEE ELECTION, P24
SEE SCHOOLS, P14
Jason Jahanian poses with a T-shirt celebrating his comeback against COVID-19, a battle that took a month and nearly took his life. PHOTO BY NICK PUCKETT
‘If I can beat that, nothing scares me’ Jason Jahanian on his near-death experience with COVID-19 BY NICK PUCKETT NPUCKETT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Alone and isolated in an ICU bed, stuck with three IVs, a feeding tube and connected to a ventilator, Jason
Jahanian prepared himself to die. “I was in a bad place,” Jahanian said. Just two weeks prior to being admitted to the hospital for COVID-19, Jahanian thought he could beat it. “I thought, ‘I’m a healthy guy, no preexisting conditions or anything. I’m going to get this knocked out in a week or two,” Jahanian said. One evening, while Jahanian still battled the disease self-quarantined from his home, he noticed his hands
turned white after washing them. At that moment, he said, he began to quietly panic. “I don’t fit the normal demographic (of being at-risk). That was the confusing thing about it,” Jahanian said. “I was very surprised, more than anything, ‘How is this really happening to me?” The 41-year-old resident of Lone Tree is an avid runner with a love SEE COVID, P6
Dems keeping up with GOP in commissioner fundraising $166K raised so far in contest for open District 2 seat BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
While it’s unusual in Douglas County commissioner elections for Democrats to be competitive with
their Republican opponents in campaign fundraising, so far that’s the case for both open seats. That’s rare, according to a Colorado Community Media analysis of the past 18 years of campaign finance reports in county races. With the election still several weeks away, District 2 Democratic candidate Lisa Neal-Graves is only $3,000 behind Republican opponent George Teal in contributions. In the District 3 race, incumbent Republi-
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