A conservative slate of candidates for the Douglas County Board of Education has swept the 2021 election, defeating all challengers including incumbents Kevin Leung and Krista Holzmann.
In unofficial results, Mike Peterson defeated Juli Watkins 55.9% to 44.02%; Becky Myers defeated Ruby Martinez by 53.89% to 41.68%; Christy Williams defeated Kevin Leung by 54.19% to 45.81%; and Kaylee Winegar defeated Krista Holzmann by 54.67% to 45.33%.
The board will shift from a 7-0 board largely supported by teachers' advocates to a 4-3 board backed by conservative education groups that spent heavily to support candidates who were part of a Vote4KidsFirst slate.
Tyler Sandberg of Ready Colorado Action, one of the big funders of theKids First Slate, said the wins are "a repudiation of a union-backed board that kept schools closed for too long. The election is shaping up as a tsunami of parent power across the state," he said, pointing to results in D11 in Colorado Springs and D6 in Greeley.
The Vote4KidsFirst candidates opposed the current DCSD board’s decision to sue the new Douglas County Health Department over its opt-in order on masks, which the existing board defied when it mandated masks in all DCSD schools. The current board filed a federal lawsuit October 20 against the health department to overturn that health order.
The group’s campaign web site says, “Once sitting on the Board, we will always support the parent’s right to choose what is best for their child’s health and well-being any time there is not a public health order in effect. Currently, in the absence of a public health order, we do not support a mask mandate in Douglas County Schools.”
Peterson will replace District B director Anthony Graziano; Myers will replace District D director Christiana Ciancio-schor; Williams will replace District E director Kevin Leung; and Winegar will replace District G director Krista Holtzmann.
Incumbents whose terms expire in 2023 include Board President David Ray, Board Secretary Susan Meek and Elizabeth Hanson.
Mike Peterson is a retired Commander and former F-14 fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. He is the father of three girls, two of whom attend DCSD schools. During the election, Peterson championed Coloradans with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Becky Myers is a retired 25-year veteran DCSD teacher who still substitute teaches. Her two children graduated from DCSD.
Kaylee Winegar is a wife and mother whose mother was an educator in DCSD for 15 years. She holds an MBA and has a decade of professional accounting experience.
Christy Williams is a wife and mother of three, all of whom attend DCSD schools. She grew up in Littleton and now lives in Castle Rock. Williams is an advocate for charter schools, which enroll 25% of DCSD’s students.
The district has been mired in controversy in the last few years, particularly over school safety.
On May 7, 2019 the STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school within DCSD, was attacked by two armed students who injured eight and killed one student, Kendrick Castillo, when he, Brendan Bialy and Joshua Jones lunged at one of the killers and disarmed him.
In August 2019, the current board expelled the Ascent Classical Academies K-13 Classical Education Academy charter school from the district when Superintendent Dr. Thomas Tucker objected to the school allowing any staff “other than dedicated security personnel” to carry weapons in any district schools.
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