LET’S TALK ABOUT IT…
Equity Through Power?

Did you know that your local Poudre School District Board of Education was brought to you by these smiling faces?

The happy education industry leaders pictured here include the President of the National Education Association, Becky Pringle, the President of the Colorado Education Association Kevin Vick, the President of the Poudre Education Association John Robinson, and several other key players from the PEA, including Fort Collins City Council member Melanie Potyandy.

We are concerned that this group may be more focused on using power to force their vision of the world than in imparting knowledge and wisdom to our precious next generation of Americans in Northern Colorado.

Is this a reasonable concern? Well, NEA President, friend and supporter of PSD Pringle made the union’s quest for power quite clear in her recent 2024 address to the NEA delegates gathered in Philadelphia:

The reasonable question to ask is, “Power to do what?”

Pringle followed her power declaration with statements that had religious overtones. She urged union members to harness their “collective strength” to bring their vision of the world into being.

But what is the NEA’s vision of the world?

Pringle was clear about that, too. The NEA’s vision of the world is EQUITY.

Equity which she cleverly covered as ‘joy’. “Joy IS equity. No equivocation,” she said. Since Pringle equates equity with joy, substituting “equity” in place of “joy” in her subsequent statements makes the teachers union’s world vision crystal clear.

NEA Elects Equity Agents

With their quest for the power to force equity clear, the NEA would require change agents in positions of power to implement their vision for equity. In the world of education, the powerful players in each school district are the members of the local boards of education. It is obvious to us that the NEA’s quest for equity by power closely involves PSD. The union facilitated the election of six of the seven current PSD school board members, including the board’s president and vice president.

In 2021, NEA President Pringle visited the union’s local affiliate—the Poudre Education Association—and recorded a video message encouraging the connection of the PEA with the NEA’s desire for power:

Pringle (the NEA), the CEA and the PEA then all campaigned to elect current PSD Board of Education members President Kristen Draper, Vice President Jessica Zamora, Carolyn Reed, and Jim Brokish.

The union helped elect these board members materially and financially. According to the Colorado Secretary of State, union affiliated groups were the largest funders of all four directors’ campaigns, providing thousands of union dollars to achieve political power.

The union repeated their efforts in the fall of 2023 to elect new board members Conor Duffy and Kevin Havelda, and re-elect Vice President and Friend of Equity Jessica Zamora.

NEA Equity Agents Implement Equity Reality

The union influence elected their agents to positions of power on the PSD school board, so the next step was for those union-aligned officials to implement policies and hire district employees who would implement their equitable vision for the community and world.

And there is ample evidence that this has happened, as the actions and policies of Poudre School District appear to reflect the NEA’s vision for the world.

PSD has implemented:

• An overarching Equity Framework they use to guide district decisions

• Grading for Equity

• An Equity Index for schools

• Revised graduation requirements for Equity

• Equity-based hiring criteria

• Curriculum based on Equity

• Both Staff and Student Equity Coalitions.

Equity is a strategic priority for PSD as evidenced by the Board of Education’s District Ends 1.0:

Equity Benefits the Kids, Right?

We wonder how the district’s focus on equity benefits our community’s kids. Their education, after all, IS the designated function of our public schools.

So how are the kids faring under these union equity-by-force, power-obsessed leaders?

According to state-level academic assessment data, not well.

Since 2019, over 50% of PSD’s non-charter elementary school students are Below Expectations in math.

Since 2019, nearly 55% of PSD’s non-charter middle school students are Below Expectations in math.

Nearly 50% of PSD elementary and middle school students score Below Expectations in English Language state assessments.

So while the teachers union is smiling at their successful use of power to implement equity, we are worried that the kids may be left frowning, academically unprepared to succeed. We believe that most people in our community truly want our local kids to make the most of their lives and explore all the individual gifts they have been given. At the same time, we wonder if the union’s and subsequent district’s focus on equity has come at the expense of our kids’ basic understanding of foundational educational elements. Should our community be asking questions about the district’s priorities?

TRENDING CONVERSATIONS
Little Kids, Drag & Paris

The Olympics are underway and they have already exploded the internet.

Little kids, dancing with drag performers-some people say it is art, some say it is horrifying.

What do you think?

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?
Does PSD Deserve More of Your Money?

In the wake of a disastrous year for Poudre School District which featured horrific abuse of vulnerable special needs children by a district employee, multiple arrests of PSD teachers for child sex crimes, and a chaotic and expensive school consolidation process, the Board of Education plans to ask the community for more money.

Many community members have wondered if the district is using the possibility of school closures as a threat to garner support from the community for an unpopular tax increase.

According to the district’s current proposed budget, the district already has 6% more money in its general fund than the 2022-23 school year—and that is without any increased taxes. Additionally, for the 2024-25 school year, the district will already receive nearly $119,000,000 from the community from previous mill levies.

Education is big business and it is reasonable for the district to have a budget of millions of dollars. But we wonder if the district has exhibited good financial stewardship of the funds which they have already been given. What do you think? Should the local community care if public funds are judiciously used?

Read more about possible tax increase HERE and share your thoughts with the district via their survey HERE.

WHY WAS I NEVER TOLD?
American History’s Brave WWI Fighter Pilot

Here at Hi Kid, we are passionate about the fascinating and meaningful ways Americans are connected through our shared American history, which is why we launched our new weekly podcast-Dear Americans.

This week’s letter from American History comes to you not from American soil, but across the sea near a small, picturesque town in France named Murvaux, where the skies above and nearby forest contain one of the most valiant last stands in our long and storied history.

DINNER TABLE DISCUSSION
History or Religious Indoctrination?

Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Ryan Walters recently made headlines by sending a letter to all Oklahoma school districts, calling for an overhaul of the state’s social studies standards and requiring districts to use the Bible as a primary source document for historical lessons.

Is teaching about the Bible’s influence on the philosophical foundation of Western Civilization and our country’s historical origin necessarily the same thing as using the Bible to teach religious doctrine?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:

☑️ ATTEND the PSD Board of Education’s Special Meeting on Tuesday, July 31st at 8am. The BoE is having a discussion of district finances with select community members unelected to serve in PSD. Is this appropriate? Meeting details are HERE.

☑️ CONSIDER your opinion of California’s new law prohibiting schools from informing parents of a child’s new gender identity. Read the article from the Free Press HERE.

☑️ APPLY to serve your community as an influential member of the Poudre Libraries Board of Trustees HERE. Applications are due by August 15th.

☑️ SHARE this newsletter with anyone who believes in asking good questions and having curious conversations! Subscribe HERE.