GOLDEN — Jefferson County’s school superintendent threatened to bring disciplinary action against dozens of teachers who called in sick or used a personal day as part of an ongoing protest that closed two high schools Monday.
“Some of our highest-need students didn’t get lunch today because they weren’t in school,” Superintendent Dan McMinimee said.
Golden and Jefferson high schools closed Monday because of the high number of teacher absences that occurred even after principals had urged the teachers not to miss school, McMinimee said.
Lynn Setzer, a spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools, said most teachers called in sick after 8 p.m. Sunday. Fifty-two of the 65 teachers at Golden called in absent, while 27 of 37 teachers were absent at Jefferson.
Teachers who missed school will have to show proof of illness, McMinimee said, adding that personal days need 24 hours’ notice.
“We are going to have our building principals work with each teacher involved in this,” he said.
“We will probably dock them a day’s pay,” McMinimee said of teachers who didn’t follow the guidelines of the collective bargaining agreement. “I think it’s time for this to end. Let’s put an end to this.”
Teachers who were absent Sept. 19, causing the district to close Standley Lake and Conifer high schools, will not be disciplined. Officials said they thought those marked a one-time event, so they decided not to consider discipline.
John Ford, president of the Jefferson County Education Association, reiterated that the union had nothing to do with organizing teacher absences and said union members would honor the contract and provide any information it must to the district.
“The board majority has the ability to put this to an end,” Ford said. “They just have to start listening to the community and the students and the parents. People are frustrated.”
Tammie Peters, an English teacher in Golden, was asked to speak to the media on behalf of the school’s educators.
“I stand with my fellow teachers who are ‘sick’ of the board majority’s actions,” Peters said in a statement. “While we need some reforms in Jefferson County, the board majority is not providing the reforms we need or want. The board majority continues to show disrespect to the voters, the taxpayers, the teachers, the parents and the students of Jefferson County.”
Peters said Jeffco teachers feel the board is treating them unfairly and using a flawed evaluation system.
“I’m very disappointed that some of our instructors have chosen not to turn up for work today,” school board president Ken Witt said Monday. “It is not appropriate for adult matters to impact the education of our students.”
Witt said the district worked “diligently” during the weekend to prepare for and prevent mass teacher absences, adding that he was upset that teachers from Jefferson High School, where students are lagging in some subjects, caused their school to close.
“It wasn’t until this morning that there were enough sick call-ins to force us to close the schools,” Witt said.
Despite the unrest, as Oct. 1 — the official student count day — approaches, state officials said Monday that absences should not affect the district’s funding of $7,021 per student. Extensions and rules in the count allow for students present five days before and five days after Oct. 1 to be included in the funding determination.
The district also can show evidence of attendance outside the 10-day window.
“All is not lost if they are not there on Oct. 1,” said Janelle Asmus, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Education.
Despite canceled classes, students at both closed high schools showed up to support their teachers and protest the school board.
Rachel Hilbrecht, a senior at Golden High School, said she’s been out protesting at 6:30 a.m. and during her lunch breaks every school day since last Monday.
“Instead of seeing it as a day off school, we decided it would be better to come out here and voice our opinion to the public,” Hilbrecht said.
Angelica Dole, a sophomore at Jefferson High School, said the students were 100 percent behind their teachers.
“This is our own time. This was all students. No teachers are here,” Dole said. “Look around.”
Monday’s closure comes after a series of student walk-outs and protests last week at most of the county’s high schools.
While teachers have been voicing discontentment for months, a proposed committee that was going to review the AP U.S. history curriculum provided the catalyst for the protests. As initially proposed by board member Julie Williams, instructional material should promote “positive aspects” of U.S. history and avoid encouraging “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.”
The board tabled the idea for the panel, and significant cuts and changes have been proposed. The committee proposal was not supposed to be on the agenda of this Thursday’s school board meeting, but on Monday a discussion of the proposal was added in response to the student protests.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jesseapaul
Staff writer Eric Gorski contributed to this report.
