Three out of four open seats on the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 School District board have candidates who are running unopposed in this month’s election.
A few of those candidates have said they might refuse to follow statewide education policies if they conflict with their personal values, according to a story by the Colorado Times Recorder.
Chris Clements of KSJD spoke with James O’Rourke, an investigative journalist for the Times Recorder, about his reporting on the school board.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: First of all, thank you so much for joining me today, James. I really appreciate it.
JAMES O’ROURKE: Thank you for having me.
CLEMENTS: So my first question is just, how did you come to be writing this story about these candidates here in Cortez?
O’ROURKE: One of the things that we look to do is sort of cover things in politics that more mainstream outlets like The Denver Post might pass over, especially in the era of newsrooms sort of having funding cut. One of the things we've been focusing on particular across the state has been the school board races, because it seems to be the next political battleground with Republicans and far right interests as a whole sort of seeing these local municipal elections, not just school boards, but local elections as a whole – as a place to gain a foothold and build out build out a base of political power.
CLEMENTS: And could you tell me more about Rafe O’Brien’s comments specifically, that he might not follow statewide education policies once he’s on the board?
O’ROURKE: Yes, both him and Mike Lynch, both of whom are running unopposed – this is me just following up with reporting from The Journal – but both of them did say that they will put their own values over what has been decided by the statewide Board of Education. And so that does create potential conflicts of interest, where, oftentimes these candidates, once they’re on the school boards, intend to carry out their ideologies at the expense of marginalized groups, particularly the LGBT community.
CLEMENTS: And that’s something that we’ve seen here in the Montezuma-Cortez school district with the disbanding of a middle school club for LGBTQ+ students, the Rainbow Club.
O’ROURKE: Yes, I mean, that’s actually a big part of the reason why Cortez caught my eye. Rocky Mountain PBS did a very good series of stories, I thought, about the things that were going on with this district. Particularly with the recall of Lance McDaniel, the former school board member, over his comments supporting the LGBT community, bringing pizzas to Rainbow Club. And so knowing that there was a school board election this year, and seeing how all these things have sort of come together across the state. I just sort of thought, ‘Oh, well, I wonder what's happening there. I think this is something that’s probably important that somebody at least should look into.’
CLEMENTS: So I’m also curious to hear about Brad Miller, the lawyer for Montezuma-Cortez, the school district, and anything that you may have found out about what his presence could mean for the district or what it has meant for other districts potentially.
O’ROURKE: We have followed Brad Miller for quite a while. He definitely has a history in this state. He was at one point involved with an earlier takeover of the Jefferson County school board, trying to push similar policies. And he’s also involved in Woodland Park right now, which has been subject to a lot of national scrutiny. And it’s being sued, I believe, by the Colorado teachers’ union. Brad Miller is a specialist attorney. He specializes in helping this religious conservative takeover of local school districts. And so his presence in a district is often a sign that things have been moving in that direction for a time and they’re going to move further. I would actually direct anyone who's interested in this – Logan Davis, who writes a column for us, did a very deep dive on Woodland Park and Brad Miller. He actually managed to obtain the audio of him at a conservative education conference where he basically just said, ‘Yeah, we move in, we get this done fast. And we try to take over so that people can't really stop us from pulling this off.’
CLEMENTS: Well, thank you for speaking with me, James.
O’ROURKE: Thank you so much for this.
KSJD reached out to Rafe O’Brien to ask for an interview on his candidacy but he declined, responding in an email that: “There are only two genders and will only be two genders. Race theory, or skin color education discrimination, should never be in schools K-12. Both should be over 18 yrs old issues or after high school education. Basic common sense teaching needs to come back.”
In an interview, Mike Lynch said he’s still not sure how he’ll approach a particular policy once he’s on the board if he believes it violates his religious beliefs or the tenants of the U.S. Constitution.
“A person should not be expected to change their core beliefs, just because the policy says something must be done a certain way,” he said. “So it's a conflict for me. I haven't figured out how I'm going to address it.”
Leland Collins is also running unopposed for the Montezuma-Cortez school board in District D.
He has said he will follow statewide education policies once he’s elected.
Candidates J.J. Lewis and Rhonda Tracy are competing for the fourth seat on the school board in District C.
At school board meetings, Lewis has criticized the leadership of the board and its superintendent, Tom Burris, during public comments.
All ballots must be received by county clerks no later than 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
