It is unclear whether the Douglas County School District has an established policy or protocol in place to address the possibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arriving at any of our schools to obtain information about or take a student into custody.

It was eyebrow-raising, to say the least, during the November 19th Douglas County School District Board of Education (DCSD BoE) meeting, when Board President (and apparent chief agenda-decider) Christy Williams unilaterally placed an item on the upcoming December meeting agenda. 

Tuesday night's (Nov. 19) Douglas County School District (DCSD) Board of Education meeting had all the hallmarks of a trite, small-town drama – a consent agenda, a handful of pulled items, and a bit of political theater. On the table were five proposed courses and programs, including one Advanced Placement (AP) option: African American Studies. Spoiler alert: only one course was scrutinized with the board majority’s magnifying glass, and it wasn’t any of the concurrent enrollment programs.

From his humble beginnings as a “Douglas County Wokebuster” to his proclamations of “free speech,” by writing policy that allows transgender students to be misgendered, DCSD School Board President Mike Peterson’s reign of chaos is finally over, two years early. In honor of this bit of good news for our community, here is a roundup of Peterson’s greatest hits (more accurately, misses), in his attempt to serve on the BoE.

In alignment with our mission to educate our community about public education issues, DougCo Collective has compiled a two-part analysis of the DCSD BoE candidates on the ballot this November.

This second iteration focuses on the three candidates, including one incumbent, who are firmly rooted as pro-public education supporters.

In alignment with our mission to educate our community about public education issues, DougCo Collective has compiled a two-part analysis of the DCSD BoE candidates on the ballot this November.

This first edition takes a look at three candidates who coined themselves “Best DCSD” along with the sole candidate endorsed by the Douglas County GOP.

DCSD Board of Education President Mike Peterson has raised the possibility of Able Shepherd training volunteers to provide armed security guards at Douglas County schools and has openly expressed his praise and admiration for this organization.

This is the complicated reality of extremist politics in DougCo. A few extremists have their hands in all the dealings of the county, and so when they break the law, the impact ripples.

It seems like it’s the far-right extremists in our community, not the rest of us, and certainly not the students. And these people don’t have a problem with “identity;” they have a problem with bigotry.