Members of the Jefferson County Education Association’s opposition to the District’s superintendent caused concerns among former Jeffco School Board members.
During the May 29 Jeffco Board of Education meeting the Jefferson County Education Association’s executive team presented a letter detailing reasons for their vote of no confidence in the District’s superintendent Tracy Dorland, requesting her removal. After reading the letter JCEA’s executive team left the meeting.
The Jeffco School District employs 4,700 teachers. Less than 30 percent of Jeffco teachers belong to the JCEA union. The Association’s executive team of the union consists of 13 people. JCEA’s official letter of no confidence cited three main reasons for the no-confidence vote, including disregard for shared leadership and the community, lack of transparency and accountability and failure to address urgent conditions in schools.
Former Jeffco Board members Stephanie Schooley, Susan Miller and Rick Rush responded with a letter, urging the current Board to disregard the vote of no confidence due to the lack of “real or urgent concerns for Jeffco.” The three former members served on the Jeffco School Board that unanimously voted in Dorland as superintendent.
“It keeps resetting people on what the next priorities are going to be of that new superintendent,” Miller said about the possibility of firing the sixth superintendent in ten years.
The JCEA cites Dorland’s budget decisions made behind “closed doors” to them and the community as one reason for their vote of no confidence.
Miller believes more JCEA involvement with the decision-making process of the Board and Superintendent would not be “appropriate,” Miller said.
“The board’s only employee is Tracy, or the superintendent,” Miller said. “She drives the direction of the District.”
Another concern raised by the JCEA is Dorland’s hiring of outside consultants.
“Rather than relying on the existing experience and skills of district educators and staff, Superintendent Dorland’s administration has often chosen to spend our limited public dollars in concerning ways, making use of high-cost, third-party consultants,” according to their May 29 letter. “These external voices are too often given more power than the professionals working in our schools every day, while educators are told to do more with less.”
Miller points to programs that may be out of the district’s scope, like software program management that can be a useful reason for hiring consultants. Miller also sees the temporary nature of consultant positions as a financially prudent option for the District.
“We want to have outside counsel for that or outside consultants for that because you don’t want it to be biased and you want it to be a comprehensive, thoughtful process,” Miller said. “I think it’s important to bring people in that are specialists in areas that Jeffco may not be, and you get an unbiased and a thoughtful review or report or whatever it is that you’re seeking that helps you make good decisions.”
With the help of JCEA and the Jeffco Board approval, Jeffco teacher salaries have increased by 53 percent in the past six years. This summer the Jeffco Board finalized a budget with deficit spending for the fifth year in a row, with plans to draw down $39 million in reserves. If the District were to sever Dorland’s contract, they would need to pay her out through 2027.
Since the vote of no confidence, Jeffco has held meetings for Dorland’s midterm and third year review. No public statement has been released on the outcome of those meetings.
As JCEA won’t return until August for negotiations, Miller believes matters would get “messy” if the board approved firing the superintendent three months before an election and at the beginning of the school year. The new Board members would then search for a new superintendent, Miller said.
From her experience on the Board vetting a new superintendent, Miller knows the process can be difficult and may impact the students in the district, she said. Each superintendent comes with their own set of goals and visions.
“I’m not saying that you shouldn’t replace leadership if it’s not effective and working,” Miller said. “It needs to be pragmatic and thoughtful about timing and impact.”
To read the letter by Tracy Dorland, please go to: https://jcea.coloradoea.org/vote-of-no-confidence-in-superintendent-tracy-dorland/
