Parker Chronicle 1012

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OCTOBER 12, 2018

A publication of

Elections 2018: Voter guide inside

DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO

DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BALLOT QUESTIONS

Mill levy override puts focus on DCSD teachers Ballot question asks voters to approve $40M tax hike BY ALEX DEWIND ADEWIND@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Tim Ottmann, principal of Ponderosa High School in Parker, recalls why a volleyball coach of 16 years who led the team to several state championships left the school three years ago for a position in the Cherry Creek School District: a salary increase of $15,000. In the past decade, Ottman estimates his school has lost 35 educators. “Dealing with a staff that is constantly looking (to leave) is troublesome,” he said. Several factors, including the district’s then-politics and policies, pushed social studies teacher Caley Mitchell in 2015 to leave the Castle View High School community in Castle Rock that she loved. But the biggest reason was financial — a salary increase of $14,000. “It was difficult to leave my friends …but it was not difficult to leave the policies and politics of Douglas County,” said Mitchell, who also was Castle View’s head softball coach. “If I was going to remain in teaching, I needed to be somewhere that values its teachers.”

Wayne Blazek, facilities planning manager at Douglas County School District, holds an outdated manual in a boiler room at Ponderosa High School in Parker. A bond would help address the school’s heating and cooling systems. ALEX DEWIND

Bond measure tackles ‘huge needs’ School district’s $250M measure puts major focus on building repairs BY ALEX DEWIND ADEWIND@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Inside a classroom at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, the threadbare carpet is 25 years old — stained, worn and uneven in places. The handles of outdated wooden cabinets are broken or missing. Light

bulbs on the ceiling are exposed without fixtures. The school’s automotive and welding shops need to be replaced — a cost of $200,000. If not, the programs housed in those shops that serve hundred of students could shut down. Last year, because of repairs needed to Kappas the heating and cooling system, the temperature of one classroom hovered around 49 degrees. Students were told to bring

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sweaters and coats. Principal Tony Kappas has seen kids trip across uneven tiles. He and his staff have had to move their students out of hallways because of ceiling leaks caused by an outdated piping system from the 1960s. “They go to other schools in the district and see the haves and the have-nots,” Kappas said. Nearly 2,000 students attend Douglas County High School, the district’s oldest high school, which opened in 1961. SEE BOND, P6

SEE TEACHERS, P7

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VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 34 | SPORTS: PAGE 36

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VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 50

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