Re: State’s “filtering” of teacher arrests must stop,” June 24 editorial.
No issue compares to the importance of student safety. Children must be provided a safe learning environment — period.
We share The Post’s concerns about the state following the law to provide school districts with maximum information. But the editorial contained four factual errors:
• The editorial implies improvements are being ignored. They are not. Fixes were being made before the editorial was published.
• The editorial calls the process for moving information from the criminal justice system to school districts “a simple, straightforward process.” Hardly. The state law is complex and highly detailed. Many portions of state law contradict each other.
• The Post asserts the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) receives 50 arrest notices weekly. False. The department receives up to 50 notifications a week involving school employees, but the majority are not arrests but instead legal “updates,” whether it’s a speeding ticket or a range of non-arrest-related legal procedures.
• The editorial repeats an error from another newspaper and leaves the impression that the CDE kept a school district in the dark about two individuals who had been arrested for serious crimes. False. In fact, the CDE and the district were in full communication about both cases and it was the district that first alerted the CDE.
We agree it’s time for a more reasonable discussion. To that end, the State Board of Education and department staff have scheduled an extended public hearing on this topic for Sept. 1.
We want to hear from parents, community members, principals, superintendents, human resource directors, teachers and law enforcement experts. There is a balance between a public’s right to know and individual privacy, so we’ll hear legal advice, too.
We are committed to working with school districts to ensure Colorado’s hiring systems are the best they can be and that we are doing everything we can to surround students with the most competent, law-abiding teachers and school staff.
Bob Schaffer is chairman of the State Board of Education and Dwight Jones is Colorado commissioner of Education.
