August 28, 2020
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ParkerChronicle.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
VOLUME 18 | ISSUE 41
Former Parker mayor drops bid for council return County schools
delay launch of online instruction
Casiano warns voters of Democrats, slate candidates, web BY NICK PUCKETT NPUCKETT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A former mayor of Parker has bowed out of the running for one of three Town Council seats. David Casiano, mayor of Parker from 2004 to 2012, announced his candidacy for Town Council in January, seeking to rejoin the council dais. In explaining his decision to exit the race, Casiano stated in an Aug. 23 Facebook post he had recently “come to a crossroads in my life that will certainly take me in a different direction from being a candidate.” Casiano said he prayed on the decision to drop out of the race. The campaign officially kicked off Aug. 24, the due date for candidates to turn in nomination petitions with at least 25 resident signatures. Casiano warned voters of many things, including slate candidates, technology, Democrats and the fact the race is non-partisan. “Be not afraid to ask (candidates) ‘what is their party affiliation?’” Casiano said in his Facebook post. Do not accept ‘this is a non-partisan election.’ If they don’t answer SEE ELECTION, P15
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, P4
Former Parker Mayor David Casiano announced he is no longer running for Parker Town Council on Aug. 23. COURTESY PHOTO
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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