Jeffco schoool district denial draws criticism

Legislators and members of the education community gathered around an old schoolmarm’s desk in Lakewood as Gov. John Hickenlooper signed two key educational bills into law.

The catch –; the desk wasn’t located at any Jeffco school.

“It’s another black eye for Jeffco, and a missed opportunity for our students to get a real life civics lesson,” Jeffco school board member Lesley Dahlkemper said at the signing. “Instead, they got a lesson in politics. I think the district is being disingenuous about this as well. Last year we had two bill signings at Standley Lake they were able to arrange with finals and graduation. I find it hard to believe they can’t accommodate this.”

In mid-May, the Jeffco School District was approached about hosting the governor at Lakewood High School on the morning of May 20 to sign two assessment reducing bills, HB 15-1323 and SB 15-056, into law. However, Jeffco spokesperson Lisa Pinto said that, due to the logistics of the end of the year and graduation, the district could not accommodate the governor and his staff with such short notice.

“It was not possible to accommodate the governor, and the media and community members who wanted to watch the bill being signed first thing in the morning during this busy time,” she said.

Following up with Pinto, she said the district would have been happy to coordinate an afternoon signing at a different school, as they’ve done in the past with Kendrick Lakes Elementary School, but failed to provide a reason as to why they didn’t.

The signing, held inside the Old School House building at the Lakewood Heritage Center, featured comments from several of the area’s legislators and dignitaries welcoming the crowd to the center and expressing their excitement for the bills. Along with those statements, several of them, such as Hickenlooper, state Sen. Andy Kerr and Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy, shared their confusion and dissatisfaction with the school district’s actions around the event.

“With who we have sponsoring these bills that show bipartisan efforts and the fact we’ve had bill signings at schools before, it’s very disappointing the students and faculty couldn’t help us celebrate today,” said Kerr, a Jeffco teacher. “This was still a wonderful setting to do this in, and hopefully provides a basis for us to move forward and get the work of the people done and leave politics behind.”

For Murphy, the issue, which the district presented as an impossible security issue, was disconcerting.

“I want to clarify something –; back in 2012 it was announced that Paul Ryan was going to be the vice presidential candidate and his first visit was at Lakewood High School. The police department found out about it on Friday, and the police had full security set up by Monday,” he said. “So no matter what you’re hearing, the Lakewood police can handle it.”

Moving forward, the district said they’ve reached out to the governor’s office and are hoping to host him in August or the early fall.