A Colorado State Board of Education meeting came to a screeching halt today after the board deadlocked over considering a resolution condemning Cherry Creek School District teacher Jay Bennish for a classroom political rant.
Board member Bob Schaffer tried to add the resolution to the board’s agenda. Schaffer, a former Republican congressman, found support from three other Republican board members.
Four Democrats meanwhile, chose not to allow the addition of the resolution that declared that Bennish had “perpetrated upon his students an extreme form of economic, cultural, political and religious bias.”
Schaffer called the refusal to add his resolution to the agenda a “leadership vacuum.”
“Tyrants thrive when there is absence of thoughtful leadership,” Schaffer said.
Board vice chairman Jared Polis said the decision to adjourn the meeting until April 6 harmed the “business of education” in Colorado.
The delay, Polis pointed out, suspended a board agenda that included action on state contracts, the No Child Left Behind Act and the discipline of teachers, some of whom committed crimes including sexual abuse.
“What one teacher said to 20 or 25 students should not delay a response” to larger statewide issues, Polis said.
“Teachers do things everyday I may disagree with,” he added. According to Polis, those issues are correctly handled at the district level.
Board member Rico Munn added, “We had a teacher who taped a child to a bench last week and we don’t have a resolution dealing with that.”
Board chairwoman Pamela Jo Suckla broke the tie over Schaffer’s resolution with a parliamentary decision to end the meeting before action could be taken on 20 agenda items.
“I come to these meetings for business,” Suckla said. Board members “chose to play parties and lock things up …I’m going to stop this to regroup. I don’t want to make harsh statements I can see this is a lose-lose situation…I don’t want to make us look more like idiots.”
But that didn’t stop Suckla from joining Schaffer, and board members Randy DeHoff and Peggy Littleton in signing a letter nearly identical to Schaffer’s resolution.
It was called, “A Statement of ap by Individual Members of the Colorado State Board of Education Regarding Relief for Students and Parents Subjected to the Diatribes of Colorado Licensed Teacher Jay Bennish and the Curricula of the Cherry Creek School District.”
