March 26, 2021
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ParkerChronicle.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
Head of Tri-County on one year of COVID-19 Dr. John Douglas has led the department since 2013 BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
If there’s one word to describe the past year for Dr. John Douglas, it’s “relentless.” As the director of the state’s largest public health department, Douglas has endured a nearly endless slog of meetings, questions, criticisms and suggestions over the past COVID-19 year. Business owners, elected leaders, residents and others from Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties — those communities represented by Tri-County Health Department — have come to him often with their fears, concerns and confusion during this period. “And every question, he provides a great deal of attention to,” said Emma Pinter, an Adams County commissioner. “What I think people don’t realize is … he does that every time, all day, every day.” Douglas, who has been in the position since 2013, is consumed daily by hours of video chat meetings with his staff, the counties he represents and school districts. Often, he also participates in educational efforts like town halls and webinars. His schedule varies, but on average, he’s spending about 11 to 12 hours per day working, he said. Douglas, 68, has hardly taken time off and when he has, work usually wriggles its way into his schedule anyway. “The man never stops,” said Jennifer Ludwig, deputy executive director for Tri-County. “I don’t know how he has the energy to do what he does.” But before the disease took hold locally, causing more than 120,000 infections, 7,000 hospitalizations and 1,500 deaths in Tri-County’s three communities in its first year, Douglas’ name was unknown to
VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 19
Schools’ proposed equity policy sparks ire, hope School board considering first-ever equity plan BY JESSICA GIBBS JGIBBS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Dr. John Douglas poses on his front porch for a portrait. He has been the executive PHOTO BY ELLIOTT WENZLER director of Tri-County Health Department since 2013.
many. Instead of being associated with mask mandates and disease data, he was a guy who enjoyed singing in his church choir, visiting his grandchildren and biking. Before joining Tri-County, Douglas spent the bulk of his career heading up programs on the state and national level with the goal of preventing sexually transmitted
AIMING FOR THE TOP
High school sports teams compete for championships
P22
diseases. After a decade at the Centers for Disease Control, Douglas came to Tri-County, where he adopted the philosophy of focusing on issues that have the greatest impact on health “for which we have some capacity to do something,” he said. SEE DOCTOR, P5
When the Douglas County School Board debuted a proposed policy in February focused on equity in education — a first of its kind for Colorado’s third-largest school district — directors asked community members to read it and weigh in. Public feedback so far shows the policy drew praise from some but caused a furor among many. Roughly two-thirds of the dozens of comments submitted through March 8 expressed fierce opposition to the policy. Critics called it child abuse, leftist propaganda, political indoctrination and antiwhite. They wanted to know why the district would focus on “equity” rather than “equality,” chastised the document for framing meritocracy as a myth and questioned how the policy would affect transgender rights in Douglas County Schools. While equality focuses on ensuring each individual has the same tools and opportunities, equity takes into account barriers or needs that are unique to a person based on aspects of their identity, such as socioeconomic status or race. SEE EQUITY, P18
LOOKING BACK AT A TRYING TIME
Moms recall adjusting family life to the impact of COVID-19 P6