Jeffco teachers this week issued a vote of no confidence in Jeffco School Board president Ken Witt, it was announced Wednesday afternoon.
The Jefferson County Education Association said the Tuesday night vote was unanimous across 180 representatives of every non-administrative educator in the district. Those voting included non-union teachers, according to the JCEA.
The no-confidence vote was taken after the board’s conservative majority in late August rejected an independent review that found the district’s teacher evaluation system too flawed to set salaries and moved to restrict pay raises for teachers deemed “partially effective.”
JCEA president John Ford said the community is fed up with “the secrecy, waste and disrespect of this board majority and its president.”
“We are tired of the one-man rule and decisions made in secret by Ken Witt,” Ford said in a statement. “We call on district employees, parents, and the whole JeffCo community to stand together for all students to hold this board majority accountable.”
In the 2013-14 school year, 89 Jefferson County teachers out of more than 5,000 earned a rating of partially effective or ineffective, the district said. The district never considered giving raises to ineffective teachers.
“It’s very important we make certain as a district and an organization that performance means something — that we reward our highly effective teachers in a way that lets them know there is a purpose and a value in striving to be great in what you do,” Witt said during the Aug. 28 meeting.
This week’s flare-up is just the latest clash between teachers and the Jeffco school board since Witt and two conservative colleagues were elected as a slate nearly a year ago.
