‘Equity Cafés’ fail district’s families

Over the past two years, Colorado Springs School District 11 has been laying the groundwork for the implementation of an ideological program they call “Equity” (yes, despite the district’s denials, “equity” is one of a number of pseudonyms for critical Race Theory). In pursuit of this agenda, supported by the D-11 Board of Education and Superintendent Michael Thomas, D11 hired an external audit firm to conduct an “Equity Audit” at a cost to taxpayers that has not as of this writing been disclosed to the public.

Also as groundwork for the implementation of this “equity” program, District 11 established a department of “Diversity, Equity’ and Inclusion” in May 2020, which this past spring began trainings for district principals and assistant principals in professional development topics that have a clear basis in critical race theory ideology. Once these trainings are complete, the principals and assistant principals will be expected to pass the trainings on to teachers and staff.

All this leads to the current stage of implementation in which the district is staging “Equity Community Café” events to “discuss the findings from (D11’s) Equity Audit.”

I’ve attended each of the “Equity Cafes” held over the past several weeks. The most interesting of the three held was the one at Coronado High School on Sept. 30. This meeting was especially interesting because it was overseen not only by the DEI officer, Knox-Miller, but by Superintendent Thomas.

This “Café,” like the others, consisted of a rapid fire slide show in which data and claims are apparently supposed to be taken at face value, followed by presentation of printed questions that the district has scripted and feels comfortable with for the attendees to discuss among themselves. Also provided were little stacks of sticky notes in case anyone had questions not scripted by the district, along with a flat refusal to take direct questions from the attendees.

Maybe the most telling moment of the evening was the thunderstruck reaction of Knox-Miller when asked how the district might make answers to the questions written on sticky notes available to the public. She clearly had not considered such a thing.

The citizens of District 11 have multiple legitimate questions regarding what appear to be baked in assumptions, skewed methodology, and apparently pre-drawn conclusions of District 11’s “Equity Audit.” We discuss those concerns online, in our homes, in our front yards, and in other gathering places — even in real life cafes. We don’t need the district to provide another venue for us to discuss the misgivings and concerns we have about the district’s designs and methods. What we need is for Thomas and Knox-Miller to make themselves not only present, but available to openly, honestly, personally, publicly, and 100% on the record address those legitimate misgivings and concerns.

Choreographed, scripted, “café” events of the sort the district has presented to date do little (nothing actually) to instill confidence in the public that the district is truly interested in engaging in any conversation that is uncomfortable for the district’s current administration.

Joseph Boyle

Colorado Springs

Homeowners should have a say

I read with unbelief that the city is even considering removing the right of neighborhoods to protest the use of land that would affect them!

Most Americans have their largest investment in the family home. What is done around and in their neighborhood affects the value of their most important investment, not only monetarily, but the value of safe environment for their children to grow up in.

It would be unconscionable for the city to remove the ability for individuals to have any say in what goes into their neighborhood!

What happened to “for the people, by the people”? I would hope that the city could never find it in their heart to remove this privilege of defending their property and family.

Marcena Springer

Colorado Springs

Refund the excess TABOR funds

Mayor John Suthers in the Sunday Perspective section makes the case for Issue 2D that would create a Permanent Wildfire Mitigation Fund of $20 million from the 2021 TABOR excess funds that would otherwise be refunded to city residents through a credit on their utility bills. However, the plan would be to only spend up to 5% of the balance (about $1 million) each year on wildfire mitigation and prevention efforts. Such a small expenditure could be better made simply as an addition to the 2021 city budget of $350 million.

Throughout the pandemic, the governor has imposed restrictions on evictions with no guarantee that the landowners will retroactively receive those delinquent rents. Thus, I advocate a no vote on Issue 2D so that all $30 million of the 2021 TABOR excess funds be refunded to the rental landowners and other city residents via their utility bills.

Russell L. Elsberry

Colorado Springs

Taxes, fees and surcharges

I recently had to renew one of my car tags, and there were no less than 13 various charges on the required payment. The basic fee for my ’98 vehicle was only $18.80. No problem right? Wrong. There were 10 additional charges ranging from: bridge safety surcharge; county road and bridge (they don’t even say whether that is a tax, fee, or surcharge); clerk hire fee; emergency medical services; insurance fee and a motorist insurance fee (I do have insurance); road safety surcharge (guess that is to get dead animals off the road); peace officer training fee; and I will add one more — plate number material fee (I haven’t changed my plates in 10 years! My point being is all these fees/surcharges never had to be voted on, the state/county/city just did it.

With the upcoming requests for money to do certain things, I would think any person that has lived here at least 10 years would vote “no” on just about all the proposals. We started a state lottery and approved weed use. Those tax revenues were to go to parks, schools, roads, etc. I wonder if that is still true? You be the judge, but just know that you are being taxed, surcharged, and paying fees in more ways than one, for the same things.

Randall Kliner

Colorado Springs